Launching EDGE

Module 1

After making the decision to participate in EDGE, launching EDGE involves two steps: Find an International Partner, if you do not already have one and determine which course you will EDGE.

Step 1: Find an International Partner

The first step is to find an international partner.

Do You Have a Partner with Whom to Work?

Locating the right partner can be the most challenging aspect of your design process because having the right partner can literally make or break your EDGE course. As in developing any type of close working relationship, you need to find a good fit where there is an alignment of goals and a sense of trust, but in this case you are adding the complexity of crossing cultures, which may demand real sensitivity on both sides. If you have already established a working relationship with teachers from other international institutions, you may want to draw upon that established relationship for an EDGE course.

If you already have a partner, then you can go directly to Module 3: Developing and Delivering Your Collaborative Project.

If You Don’t Have a Partner, Where Can You Locate One?

A 2012* survey of European practitioners engaging in EDGE-type activities found that two-thirds of respondents found their partner through their own network of colleagues and collaborators, and the remaining third through colleagues they had met at professional conferences, through their institution’s network of partner institutions and/or through partner-finding websites and/or social networks.

The list of Penn State’s EDGE partnerships continues to grow each year. If you find yourself in the remaining third (using institution’s network), here is what you can do to find an international partner:

1. Review the most recent list of EDGE-partnered institutions found on our EDGE website.
2. Talk with the EDGE coordinator at your campus location.
3. Contact the Professor in Charge to see what institutions are seeking additional partners. (This information is also shared at the monthly EDGE meetings during the fall and spring semesters.)
4. Explore Penn State’s Global Programs’ list of institutional partners.

Next, discuss the idea of EDGEing a course with your Director of Academic Affairs (DAA) and then continue to update him/her throughout the collaboration. Once you have a partner institution in mind and you have spoken to your DAA, contact the Professor in Charge so that introductions may be made.

As you begin your search for an international partner, consider these key questions:

• What geographic global perspective(s), if any, would best suit your course content?
• Do you have colleagues in that part (or those parts) of the world? Do any of your colleagues?
• Does your college have a partnership with an institution in that part of the world from which you can draw?
• Are there academic communities or disciplinary associations that could help you connect with a colleague?
• Do they have listservs or other portals through which members can communicate directly with each other? If so, you may consider directly posting a clear description of what you want to do, while stating the key goals of your course and the value of the proposed academic collaboration.

*In Moore, A. S., & In Simon, S. (2015). Globally networked teaching in the humanities: Theories and practices.

Step 2: Identify a Course to Be EDGEd

Both you and your international partner should share with one another the content and assignments of the courses you teach. Then brainstorm which courses might best lend themselves to developing a collaborative project. Think of common, complimentary, or relatable themes present in the two courses. Look for points of intersection.

What Qualities Make a Course a Good Candidate for an Experiential Digital Global Engagement Experience?

There are very few courses which cannot be adapted to the EDGE model; however, it may not always be obvious what specific qualities within the course make it a good candidate. Here are a few reflective questions that you can ask yourself to help determine how EDGE could help enhance the delivery of your course content and your students’ learning experience:

• Which components of your course would be enhanced if students could discuss their implications with peers in another geo-location?
• Which components of your course might be de-emphasized and which could be more foregrounded to encourage time for extensive discussion and collaboration?
• How would having multiple or different cultural perspectives enhance your students’ understanding of the course content and energize your classroom?
• Are there projects that the two student cohorts could develop together or are there photos, videos or other course-related artifacts that students could exchange and discuss cross-culturally?

Please remember that EDGE courses do not need to be paired with courses from the same discipline. EDGE courses have great inter-disciplinary AND intra-disciplinary potential.

Are You Ready to Teach Your Course in a Technologically Enhanced Way?

Regardless of the tools you choose, there is a minimum level of comfort you should have with technology before embarking on an EDGE course. The good news is that you and your partner will first determine learning goals; the technology tools come later.  Also, you and your partners are in control of the tools that you use. If you are only comfortable with one or two technologies, such as email and Skype, then design your course within those boundaries. If you or your partner’s university has a learning management system (LMS) such as Canvas, Blackboard, or Moodle and access can be shared, then you can build your course on that platform. If you want to explore other technological tools, then that is another avenue to consider. The real point is that you both should feel comfortable enough with the technology before the class starts to facilitate the technology gradually “fading into the background” so you, your partner, and both sets of students can focus on the course content and on their exchange. In a similar way, you’ll usually have to allow some time and possible training at the beginning of the EDGE course for the students to become familiar with the tools used. (You may even consider assigning an icebreaker activity that will allow students to experiment with the technology in a low-stakes assignment.)

If you are basing your collaboration on courses that are already fully online, you will probably want to stay with that format. However, if you or your partner has been teaching in a traditional classroom setting, you have a few options:

1. Overlay your usual face-to-face sessions with the online collaborative component that you are now developing
2. Replace some of the usual classroom meetings with online sessions.

This type of combined class format is called a blended or hybrid learning model, and when well-executed combines the best of both worlds.

Do You and Your Partner Have the Support of Your Institution?

In institutional settings, while there may be some flexibility regarding course content, there may also be boundaries that limit curricular changes. Fortunately, EDGE courses can be considered a means to internationalize your curriculum, so you may be able to gather support centrally from administration to accommodate course alterations. The key point is that the course content is not about to dramatically change, but rather your delivery of the content is about to be potentially enhanced with an international or global component. You should be aware that administrative support can be vital to receiving technological and teaching resources as well as providing teachers time to design, develop and deliver the course so every effort should be made to get an institutional commitment to the developmental process.