2021 Conference on Global Learning
Global Learning Reimagined
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The AAC&U Conference on Global Learning examines practical and theoretical approaches to reimagine global learning at the course, departmental, and institutional levels. The conference provides opportunities to explore tactics and strategies for making global learning more equitable and inclusive and for ensuring it aligns with student and societal needs.
Overview of the 2021 Conference
The coronavirus pandemic and the growing movement for racial justice have affirmed the interconnectedness of the local and the global as never before and revealed the reality of global interdependence. Within higher education, there is now renewed emphasis on the value of global learning for all and strong momentum for the creation of more equitable and inclusive opportunities for global learning. Educators across the country and around the world are responding not simply by adapting to meet the moment, but by reimagining the future of global learning itself through remarkable innovations in curricular and cocurricular design, reconfigured partnerships, and new forms of community and career engagement.
The 2021 Conference on Global Learning will provide a space for critical reflection on past practices and an opportunity to explore the emergence of new and innovative approaches to global learning that are more accessible and inclusive, that are rooted in ethical relationships, and that situate the global within both local and international settings. Conference sessions will highlight models, practices, and examples that
- center equity in global learning policy, practice, and pedagogy;
- connect learning to the UN Sustainable Development Goals;
- demonstrate how global learning is an asset for the institution, individual students and educators, and the broader community;
- examine the intersections of local, global, and international contexts for student learning;
- explore racial equity in international contexts and the impact on global learning;
- prepare students for the realities of work, life, and citizenship in diverse democracies through efforts to build and maintain community despite increased polarization;
- share stories of the resilience and well-being of international and domestic students and educators in global contexts;
- transcend disciplinary boundaries through embedded curricular and cocurricular experiences in local and international contexts.
Conference Themes
- Alignment of Global Learning with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts
- How is global learning aligned with institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives?
- What strategies have you used to ensure your global learning courses, programs, and/or experiences are diverse, equitable, and inclusive?
- How has your course, program, and/or institution centered equity in global learning?
- How are diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts similar and/or different in institutions outside the United States? What have you learned from other countries’ efforts? How are incoming and outgoing students prepared for these differences?
- How have you discussed racial inequities with international students and/or international partners?
- Career Readiness: What’s Global Learning Got to Do with It?
- What types of global learning experiences, practices, and/or assignments contribute to student preparation for careers?
- How have you collaborated with employers to communicate the value of global learning to students, staff, faculty, and members of the broader community?
- How have professional schools and programs embedded global learning into student curricular and cocurricular experiences and made connections to accreditation?
- What strategies and models are you using to prepare students for new COVID-19 workplace realities?
- Civic Engagement in Global Contexts
- How are you building ethical, reciprocal partnerships between institutions and community partners?
- What strategies have you used to address civic-mindedness and community-building or to deepen understanding and increase civil communication at your institution and in the broader community?
- How are students leading and participating in efforts to address global challenges in their local contexts in collaboration with policymakers, community members, corporate partners, and/or nonprofit organizations?
- How are institutions decolonizing and indigenizing the curriculum in partnership with community partners and/or in response to troubling past practices?
- Equitable Digital Global Learning
- How have you leveraged technology and digital pedagogies to expand global learning for more of your students?
- How has technology enabled students, staff, and faculty to have more connections with international partners?
- What strategies have you used to expand global learning across disciplines by utilizing digital pedagogies?
- How have you prepared students, faculty, and staff for digital engagement in the international context?
- How will technology enhance education away and other place-based global learning practices?
- Global Learning for All
- How has global learning been integrated into curricular initiatives across general education and/or the majors to ensure all students have access?
- What are some promising pedagogical practices for global learning across disciplines?
- How has your institution provided opportunities for a variety of global learning experiences for a variety of students and prepared educators to offer these experiences?
- How are you assessing global learning for all students?
- Global Learning and High-Impact Practices
- How are you ensuring global learning is a high-impact practice for your students?
- How have you integrated multiple high-impact practices into experiences for students (community-based global learning, undergraduate research in global contexts, etc.)?
- How are you institutionalizing global learning and other high-impact practices to ensure all students have access to these practices?
