Campus Connection

Collaborative, virtual class will connect continents

An American Council on Education grant will allow UWL education majors and others in the course “Education in a Global Society” to study alongside university students from Japan during the fall semester. Using various online platforms, the two classes will connect virtually through a variety of education topics over six-weeks during the course.

This Collaborative, Online, International Learning (COIL) grant will be an opportunity to increase students’ intercultural communication skills while broadening their perspective of what education looks like and how education challenges are met in another part of the world, explains Heather Linville, associate professor of Education Studies who collaborated on the grant and will co-teach the COIL component of the course.

Through these inter-cultural interactions, students can become more “globally-responsive” teachers, she adds. “This helps them see possibilities of how they can bring the world into their classroom.”

UWL’s International Education and Engagement, Educational Studies and UWL’s Center for Advanced Teaching and Learning collaborated on the grant. The grant also provides supplemental funding for UWL students and students from Kagoshima University, the Japanese partner school, to study abroad. Six UWL students will have the opportunity to go to Kagoshima University to meet partners.

Read more School of Education news in the spring issue of Eagle Edge.