Developing a Sustaining Partnership

Module 2

Because of the work that it takes to develop and deliver an EDGE course, our hope is that partnered faculty will continue to work together in future semesters. Just as it takes several iterations of the same course to learn how to tweak the course content and delivery to find the most effective combination, the same is true for the EDGE collaboration. Delivering the EDGE content in the same course with the same international partner will provide opportunity to fine-tune the project.

When Seeking a Partner, What Are Some of the Key Criteria for Their Selection?

Equal Commitment

Both you and your partner need to be relatively equally engaged, committed and responsive to negotiating the course content and teaching load that you will be sharing. Without equal input the course can become unbalanced and will only reflect one cultural perspective. This can undermine the most valuable aspect of the course as you and your partner should ideally be modelling productive cross-border collaboration to your students. Understandably, this can be challenging because most initial partnered relationships, especially across international borders, are never completely equitable. Nevertheless, this should be a goal.

Shared Global Learning Objectives

The starting point for these discussions is often an existing course syllabus, but it can be useful to step back from this foundational document to discuss each teacher’s global learning objectives (See AAC&U’s Global VALUES rubric shown on page 14) for the course and for the cross-cultural exchange. Once global learning objectives have been identified, teachers can then create a collaborative project that will help students meet the global learning objectives in their EDGE course.

Differences in Institutional Cultures

In many countries and at many institutions, professors are not expected to propose major structural changes to the way their course is taught. Modifying their class assignments may require authorization from a supervisor. Additionally, proposing to work in partnership with a colleague in another country may require the direct involvement of a senior administrator. In the early stages of planning an EDGE project, it is important to discuss openly the institutional cultures and hierarchies that may need to be navigated if there is to be a successful outcome of the collaboration.

Open Mindset

The aim is usually not to find an exact copy of your existing course in another cultural context or even to find a course in your discipline, but to look for ways another teacher’s material, approach, or discipline might enrich your existing course. The more open-minded both partners are and the more flexible they are, the better the end product is likely to be.

Negotiating with Your International Partner

Once you have found a partner and determined that you both have the commitment and institutional support needed to embark on the development of an EDGE course, the next step is to begin your negotiation.

1. Arrange a Face-to-Face Meeting with Your Faculty Partner, If Possible

Since you and your partner probably live in different countries, arranging a meeting can be difficult (and costly). However, developing a working relationship takes time and having some face-to-face contact with your partner will help build trust as you get to know each other, and develop your syllabus together. If meeting in-person is not possible, then meeting via Skype, Zoom, or some other format of audio/video conference can be a very productive alternative.

2. Foster Honesty and Open Communication

Because of the cross-cultural and technological nature of this work, many issues will likely arise for you and your partner the first time you deliver an EDGE course. Having open communication about the challenges that you face will help you to help each other. Pretending that things are always fine, when actually you are undertaking something quite challenging and even disruptive, may make things more difficult while teaching the course. Some ways to avoid serious dislocations are to outline collaboratively in advance how the communication is to proceed:

• Specify the maximum wait time for an email response

• Schedule virtual meetings on a regular basis to discuss how the class is progressing

• Use What’s App text messages for more urgent communications.

Similar alignments are also important for your students. Having a set of ground rules for communication for the class can help prevent misunderstandings while having a support system in place for students (and communicating that to them) can prevent undue stress when issues arise. You may consider requiring that students communicate with each other using technology that allows for both teachers to view all correspondence (i.e., group chat using What’s App or threaded discussion boards such as Slack) so that you can make adjustments if a task is misunderstood or see communication challenges as they unfold.

3. Work through Important Questions that Impact Your Collaboration

It is essential to have this discussion at the onset of your collaboration to provide an opportunity to “work through the details” of your collaboration and reduce the “surprises” that may arise.

Important Information to Collect from Your Partner

All of this information can be collected  during your initial meeting with your partner. It is not an exhaustive list, but it provides a good starting point of discussion.

Contact Information 

• Email address
• Preferred method of remote meetings (Zoom, Skype, Other?)
• What’s App contact information
• Preferred program for sharing files
• Agreed frequency of communication for project planning and project delivery
• Agreed response time for electronic communication (24 hours?)
• Preferred day and time for remote meetings
• Time zone (in relation to GMT)
• When does daylight savings time begin and end?

Semester Calendar 

• During which semesters might this course run?
• What are the days and times of your EDGE course?
• What holidays/breaks are scheduled during your EDGE course?

Language 

• What is the primary language spoken by your students?
• What is the language of instruction used at your institution?
• If the course will be taught in English and English is not your students’ first language, generally how fluent are your students when reading, writing and speaking in English?

Course-specific Information

• Timeline for collaboration
• Technological resources available for the collaboration.
• Course content
• Shared learning objectives
• Timeline of student tasks
• Assessment tools
• Aspects or units of your existing syllabus that would lend themselves best to cross-cultural critical reflection by students (Please list). Timing in the course the unit would  occur (for example, mid-October)
• Use of rubrics

Technology

• Name of institution’s primary (centrally supported) Learning Management System (LMS) (such as Moodle, Blackboard, or Canvas), if applicable
• Engagement in synchronous (real-time) in-class activities such as videoconferences vs. students communicating synchronously and asynchronously outside of class time
• Issues of technology that might be most troublesome or threatening and plan to overcome those issues
• Preferred platform for student discussions and submissions