Abstract
This chapter addresses a global issue of education: the teaching of diverse student populations. Global Education Professional Development (GEPD) programs for both pre-service and in-service teachers have become one of the most important teacher training programs to prepare teachers working with English as a Second Language (ESL) learners in global classrooms. The goal of this chapter is to design a GEPD model to help educators, administrators, and policy makers to: 1) comprehend current policies, practices, experiences as well as strategies in global classrooms; 2) understand how instructors can help ESL learners adjust to the U.S. academic language and culture and how this support could affect learners' effectiveness, attitudes and confidence; and 3) acquire the knowledge of how to integrate technology into the curriculum and consider technology as meaningful learning environments that could support not only language but also intercultural and global literacy skills.
TopPurpose
This chapter addresses a global issue of education: the teaching of diverse student populations. Global education professional development (GEPD) programs for both pre-service and in-service teachers have become one of the most important professional training programs to prepare teachers working with ESL learners in global classrooms. The goal of this chapter is to design a GEPD model to help educators, administrators, and policymakers to (1) comprehend current policies, practices, experiences, and strategies in global classrooms; (2) understand how instructors can help ESL learners adjust to the U.S. academic language and culture and how this support could affect learning in terms of effectiveness, attitudes and confidence; and (3) acquire the knowledge of how to integrate technology into the curriculum and consider technology (e.g., open-source learning platforms) as meaningful learning environments that could support not only language but also intercultural and global literacy skills. This chapter provides a GEPD model created by the English as an Additional Language (EAL) program at Columbia College, requested by the Global Education Provost office, currently being used as a pilot project. This chapter also illustrates how this GEPD model offers a practical framework to global education institutes in higher education. To better understand the connections between developing a global perspective for educators and teaching in global classrooms, this project investigated four questions. These questions have emerged both out of the literature and from the educators’ experiences in the GEPD program:
- 1.
What are educators’ notions of global education?
- 2.
What are some concerns educators have while working with international students?
- 3.
How can educators enhance intercultural competence while teaching course content?
- 4.
How can a GEPD workshop series help educators grow in evolving global classrooms and what are educators’ expectations from the GEPD workshop series?
Key Terms in this Chapter
Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT): A theoretical framework refers to raising awareness and providing strategies for using the cultural backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of learners from diverse ethnic groups as conduits for teaching them more effectively.
Intercultural Communication (IC): A theoretical framework refers to how individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds communicate and interact with others and become competent in acquiring a foreign language.
Global Education: A multicultural learning environment that serves to prepare individuals to perform better in the global marketplace and develops their awareness of global social justice.
Global Education Professional Development (GEPD): GEPD prepares educators to work in global classrooms in terms of learning the skills and knowledge needed to help students learning in multicultural environments.