The Student Global Village®: facilitating student engagement with transnational peer-learning, a three-year reflection

Ruth Fee, Roberta Fiske-Rusciano, Frank Rusciano

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

This paper reviews the experiences of staff & students engaging in the ‘Student Global Village’ which consists of staff-facilitated videoconferencing sessions between undergraduate Global Studies students in Rider University in the US and students from Criminology, Politics and Social Policy undergraduate courses at Ulster University. Students at the two universities share experiences and academically-informed perspectives on specific societal issues, including peace and conflict, to bring into focus issues that are new or unfamiliar to both groups. Students are encouraged to consider the similarities and differences in their outlooks on (active) citizenship in a global context. The authors will review the format and outcomes of the module, seeking student and staff feedback on the extent to which students have improved their communication and mediation skills and evaluate the effects of exposing students to the international community via a dialogue between the United States and Northern Ireland. Students are motivated to become engaged not only with the learning process but also with the wider international political arena. There is a further benefit in internationalising the student curriculum by connecting to communities that are not readily accessible to students.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationUnknown Host Publication
PublisherInternational Sociological Association
Number of pages26
Publication statusAccepted/In press - 17 Sept 2015
EventInternational Studies Association (ISA) Conference - Atlanta, Georgia USA
Duration: 17 Sept 2015 → …

Conference

ConferenceInternational Studies Association (ISA) Conference
Period17/09/15 → …

Bibliographical note

Reference text: 17
in talking with a student club on Rider’s campus that deals with LGBTQ issues.)
As members of a globalized world we are learning from each other, usually without noticing it, and despite present-day tragic clashes, knitting ourselves together into a new expression of humanity. Because of this collective knowledge and having the experience of sharing ideas in a ‘global market place’, not always resulting in agreement, our students from Northern Ireland and the U.S. have expressed a sharpened interest in each other. This process of discussing differing attitudes and expectations concerning the role of a society’s prison system, of guns, of LGBTQ rights, responsibilities of a civil society towards refugees, and students’ hopes for the future had an expressed impact. It increased students’ knowledge of themselves, of their peers in another country, and increased their skills in coalition-building, persuasion, and as future leaders, tackling each society’s urgent problems.
References
Fidelma Ashe, 2012, ‘Harnessing Political Theory to Facilitate Students' Engagement with Graduate ‘Employability’: A Critical Pyramid Approach’, Politics, Volume 32, Issue 2, pages 129–137, June 2012

Ann Marie Gray, Goretti Horgan and Amanda Leighton (2015) Figuring it Out: looking behind the Social Statistics in Northern Ireland http://www.ark.ac.uk/publications/books/FIO2015.pdf

David Killick and Laura Dean, 2013. ‘Embedding internationalisation, and employability through graduate attributes’, Brookes eJournal of Teaching and Learning, Vol 5, Issue 1
http://bejlt.brookes.ac.uk/paper/embedding_internationalisation-2/

Sharon Milner, 2014, ‘The Ulster EDGE Award: Supporting the Development of Student Employability’ in Norman Jackson & Jenny Willis (eds) Lifewide Learning & Education in Universities and Colleges http://www.learninglives.co.uk/e-book.html

Heidi Maurer and Jocelyn Mawdsley, 2013, ‘Students’ Skills, Employability and the Teaching of European Studies: Challenges and Opportunities’ European Political Science (2014) 13, 32–42. doi:10.1057/eps.2013.34; published online 7 June 2013

Maureen Tibby, 2012 Employer and Student Perpectives on Employability, Briefing Paper for Teaching and Learning Summit on Employability, National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement and HEA file:///C:/Users/e27324/Downloads/HEA_briefing_paper_employer_student_perspectives_employability.pdf

Keywords

  • transnational curriculum
  • peer learning
  • active learning

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