The Global Classroom at Drexel: Connecting Language Learners Through Technology

DOI: 10.5176/2251-3566_L317.57

Authors: Rogelio Miñana and Adam Zahn

Abstract: This essay analyzes Drexel University’s Global Classroom (GC) program as implemented across a variety of courses, and specifically in Modern Languages (Spanish and Chinese). We will examine how COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning), first developed in 2006 out of the SUNY system, has been utilized at Drexel to maximize our global impact. Various forms of online collaborations with our partner institutions in five continents have been tailored to Drexel’s practical, experimental, and project-based institutional character. Assessment models employed in these courses prove that Global Classrooms effectively promote internationalization, as well as intercultural and linguistic competency in language courses. In sum, here we explain how the GC program works at Drexel and how we are assessing its outcomes, particularly in Modern Languages

Keywords: Videoconferencing, Collaborative Online International Learning, Language Learning, Intercultural Competence, Spanish, Chinese, Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages.