Internationalizing Your Curriculum

The pandemic has made many students eager to get out of quarantine and explore the world. While we may be restricted in where we can physically travel at this moment in time, we can still bring a global approach to our course content. During the last year, we’ve had the opportunity to implement a variety of innovative ways to bring a global experience to into our classrooms.

Students typically associate global engagement with courses in programs such as International Business, Global Studies, or Modern Language. However, global engagement can and should be incorporated into any subject matter. By bringing the world into the classroom, our students will develop a more comprehensive and sophisticated perspective of the subject matter from different cross-cultural viewpoints. By incorporating global perspectives into your course, you also support students in developing skills that are highly sought-after by employers and society at large, such as developing communication skills and empathy, working as part of a team, and becoming more flexible and adaptable. Here are a range of ways you can internationalize your curriculum, from small tweaks to designing more immersive global experiences for your students.

Globalize Your Course

You can begin by making small tweaks to your course content. For example, consider devoting a class or two to exploring how your discipline or course topic exists in other parts of the world. This can include, but is certainly not limited to:

• Considering knowledge producers from outside of the United States and the traditions of Western European academia.
• Adding more readings from international authors or authors researching in an international context.
• Consulting international media such as films, television, news, articles, radio, podcasts, music, photographs, design, etc.
• Researching and reviewing international datasets.

If you wanted to add another global dimension to your course(s), you could make more moderate modifications to your syllabi and include learning activities such as:

• Inviting guest lecturers with international experience (or even from partner universities abroad)
• Assigning students to attend or participate in the Annual Student Conference on Global Challenges
• Encouraging students to attend global events in Philadelphia and at Drexel, such as the Global Passport Series
• Taking your students on virtual “field trips” with industry partners, cultural institutions, museums, and other non-profit organizations abroad
• Creating spaces for international students and students with experiences abroad to share their knowledge

Lastly, you could more substantially redesign your course to include immersive learning experiences for students by:

• Re-envisioning your course as a global community-based learning opportunity
• Developing a Global Classroom, in which students partner with their peers at universities abroad through project-based learning
• Creating or adding an Intensive Course Abroad to an existing or new class.

Familiarize Yourself with Drexel’s Global Opportunities

Don’t forget, Drexel University is always generating new opportunities for students to get globally engaged both on and off campus. Here is a list of sites that include ongoing events, courses, and opportunities for students. Help students take advantage of these international opportunities offered to them to maximize their time at Drexel. You can review these and share them with students, and encourage them to research and get involved as international travel starts to open back up!

• Study Abroad (Full Term and Intensive Courses Abroad)
• Global Classrooms

• Global Engagement Scholars

If you are not sure which of these ideas would work best for your course or unsure how to begin, Email the Office of Global Engagement.