This Outbound Mobility Development Program for Faculty and Instructors project will be part of the current study abroad programming for our faculty. This project will assist faculty members in creating, facilitating, managing, and assessing taught abroad programs.
Faculty members are our students first point of contact in many cases and truly guide and assist students in making these decisions to go abroad. This program will be available to support faculty and provide training on course creation, risk management, student well-being, ethical engagements and logistics. These tools will help faculty develop and build on their ideas to create programs to give students an intercultural and global perspective that will enhance not only their student experience but their future career goals.
The more faculty-led programs the college has to offer, the more options there will be for students to go abroad. The majority of our students select taught abroad programs when participating in an international opportunity. On average 12-15 students (sometimes up to 25) will participate in a single program and if we offer 15 per year that could equate to 180-225 students going abroad, per year.
The project objective and outcomes we believe will be achieved are:
1. By creating Faculty Champions in the college, there will be greater exposure to students of the study abroad opportunities and faculty will be able to recommend specific discipline options available to students.
2. This program will provide faculty with planning, pre-departure, safety and risk management tools to help them develop innovative, new programs
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3. Faculty and instructors will be able to apply their research towards these programs and share this with students to engage them in undergraduate research as well as developing research skills.
The funding prioritizes the creation of programs that may attract students who traditionally weren’t able to participate in study abroad, most specifically those from economically diverse backgrounds, have disabilities, or who are Indigenous.
All faculty will be encouraged to integrate the Future Skills Innovation Network (FUSION) program organized by Career Services into their courses. As well, they will be guided on how students will benefit by taking the intercultural communication course and competence assessments offered by the International Student and Study Abroad Centre (ISSAC), and the Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning (GMCTL). We will work with GMCTL to provide course creation assistance to faculty on their experiential courses and assist on implementing this into the curriculum.
