Global Awareness Dialogue Project: Exploring Potential for Faculty Transformation Through a Professional Development Series

Abstract

This article examines a faculty professional development program aimed at engaging faculty in an ongoing discussion about global awareness and the practices surrounding teaching and learning in a linguistically and culturally diverse classroom. The program is modeled on two key components: the engagement of undergraduate students and faculty in a structured dialogue outside the classroom and the contributions of experts to faculty discussions to locate and contextualize best practices. The initiative’s potential to affect faculty perspectives is explored through a transformative learning framework. Short-term and long-term assessments show that participants were motivated to improve and implement new instructional practices.

Assessing transformative learning in international education: Critiques and new directions based on a systematic review of literature

“…Two major topics interrogated in the qualitative studies reviewed here are (1) international training experience for teachers as transformation (for example, Arshavskaya, 2017; Baecher & Chung, 2020; Coryell, 2013; Senyshyn & Smith, 2019), and (2) international learning experience as transformative pedagogy for students (for example, Bamber et al., 2018; Bell et al., 2016; Chang et al., 2012; Chiocca, 2021; Intolubbe‐Chmil et al., 2012; Johan et al., 2019; Monaghan & Hartmann, 2014; Nada et al., 2018; Nalani et al., 2021; Ritz, 2010; Smith et al., 2014). Studies covering these two topics tend to draw from TL theory directly.…”

Education for a Sustainable Future: Strategies for Holistic Global Competence Development at Engineering Institutions

“…When institutional goals and efforts are clear, and when culturally diverse campuses provide fruitful grounds for intercultural learning, a first basis for comprehensive global competence development across the HEI is laid. However, it would be wrong to assume that intercultural learning will happen automatically, and the full potential of such learning can only be realised by providing holistic and meaningful training for everyone, including all faculty and staff members, as well as students [35,41,44,45].…”