Title VIA Grant - MCCA-MCGE - INTRODUCTION
The Missouri Community College Association’s Missouri Consortium for Global Education (MCCA/MCGE) submits this Institutional Consortium proposal. The Consortium will provide leadership, training and resources to internationalize curricula, enhance foreign languages and build capacity to deliver these enhanced curricula to community college students across the state. The project will revise old curricula, create new courses and strengthen foreign languages in both on-site teaching and in the delivery of languages via distance technology. Distance delivery allows more foreign language courses to be more widely available to community college students. This is especially true of lesser taught languages such as first and second year Arabic and second year French. In the process, the pillars of the new ”Certificate in International/Global Studies” developed and proposed under a previous Title VI-A grant project will be strengthened as faculty and students teach and learn about countries, cultures and religions of Africa--West Africa and North Africa in particular.
THE PRINCIPALS
Three major principals are involved in this proposal: the Missouri Community College Association (MCCA), The Missouri Consortium for Global Education [MCGE], and the 18 community colleges of Missouri. The three are intricately related.
1 The MCCA binds the 18 community colleges together. One of the more active community college associations in the country, it operates in an advocacy role, performing a variety of services to the colleges including sponsoring and hosting the MCGE. The presidents and chancellors of the colleges meet monthly as a council of the MCCA. Instructional administrators also form a council of this body. MCCA’s executive director is the authorized representative for this proposal.
2 MCGE is a consortium of the 18 community colleges of the state of Missouri, and operates under the auspices of the MCCA discussed above. Organized in 1996, the consortium operates with a dedicated group of college representatives who meet on a regularly scheduled basis. The meetings provide a forum for fresh ideas and serve as a storehouse of knowledge about global education activities at sister colleges. MCGE is a valuable resource for individual representatives to move their colleges forward in international education; for example, it has served as a vehicle through which some student study abroad opportunities are coordinated, Fulbright and other international scholars and visitors are shared, and through which a successful Title VI-A grant was completed (2002-2005). MCGE is the vehicle through which Missouri community colleges are meeting global challenges together.
3 The 18 Missouri community colleges represent twelve college districts that are strategically located throughout the state. While the two urban districts, St. Louis and Metropolitan (Kansas City), have chancellors at their head, each of their eight different colleges operates with its own president and administrative structure. The 18 community colleges enrolled 86,242 “for credit” students fall 2005 semester. This represents 45% of the total “for credit” enrollment in Missouri’s public colleges and universities and 31% of total enrollment when private colleges and universities are included. Community colleges play a vital role in educating Missouri residents.
PLAN OF OPERATION
Project design quality, Effectiveness, Purpose, Achievable objectives
The goal of this project is to strengthen international studies and foreign languages at Missouri community colleges, thereby enabling them to produce more globally competent graduates and citizens. This will be accomplished in a staged manner over a 3-year period. The focus will be on providing community college faculty with programs and resources to develop and enhance their knowledge base for internationalizing curricula, for strengthening their teaching of foreign languages, and for expanding their delivery of curricula using distance technology. Within this general framework are a number of important facets of the proposed project are discussed under this and other sections of the proposal.
Project Design
The project design keeps the overall goal and the specific objectives in clear focus in its proposed planning and implementation of activities in pursuit of these. The major objectives are:
1 To globalize/infuse 72 Missouri community college courses with a focus on West and North African societies and cultures, with 20 of these developed for on-line offering. This will include the development of 4 new courses on Africa.
2 To strengthen instruction and offerings in foreign languages through language infusion in general curricula and through enhancement of teaching skills and language offerings for both traditional and non-traditional methods and settings, specifically Arabic and second year French.
3 To promote interest in/knowledge about Africa by sponsoring a conference on “Understanding Africa” geared especially to community college educators.
4 To strengthen and ensure the sustainability of the newly developed International/Global Studies Certificate presently under consideration for adoption by the 18 Missouri Community Colleges.
The following table portrays in a nutshell project objectives, major activities, and addresses to some extent, project administration.
Table I – Objective/Activity/Implementation Year
Objective Activity Year
Internationalize/Infuse 36 courses Provide 2 faculty workshops 07-08 (Emphasis-West African Cultures- Provide area/content consultant
Includes 2 new courses on Africa) Provide foreign language consultant
Provide enhanced library resources
Provide networking vehicles
Provide West Africa immersion
Strengthen Foreign Language Workshop on Issues/Methodology 07-08
Teaching Skills/Experiences Workshop on Use of Technology
Strengthen Capability for On-line Web-based course development 08-09 Delivery of Internationalized Workshop for 10 “West African
Curricula Cultures” faculty
Provide consultation/assistance
for those who need more distance
instruction skill
Internationalize/Infuse 36 Courses Same as above except provide 08-09 (Emphasis – North African Cultures- North Africa immersion
Includes 2 new courses on Africa) experience
Strengthen Foreign Language Arabic Recruit additional faculty 08-09
& French Offerings Distance delivery workshops (2)
Intensive consultation/ assistance
for Arabic & French faculty
Strengthen Capability for On-Line Web-based course development 09-10
Delivery of Internationalized Workshop for 10 “North African
Curricula Cultures” faculty
Provide ongoing consultation and
assistance for those who need it
Strengthen Foreign Language Workshop on Issues/Methods 09-10
Teaching Skills/Experiences Workshop on Use of Technology
Enhance Knowledge/Understandings Plan for/implement “Conference 09-10
of Africa for Community College on “Understanding Africa through
Educators its Languages”
Sustain Global Studies Certificate All above activities 2007-2010
A more detailed discussion of the preceding table follows:
Objective I – Globalize/infuse 72 Courses and Curricula, Focusing on North and West Africa, Developing 20 for Online Offering.
Faculty participation is the first key to the successful implementation of the project. To date, 67 faculty members from 16 colleges have applied to participate in this project. They represent a broad range of disciplines. This is in keeping with the mission of the community college which is to educate for career and vocational programs as well as college and university transfer. As community colleges focus on technical and general education, it is highly unusual for a community college to have an Africanist on staff; therefore, generalist faculty participation is crucial. Acquiring a global perspective is appropriate for people in all walks of life as most students take only a handful of courses outside of their programs, infusion throughout the curriculum is necessary to reach the most students. While some changes and refinements are anticipated, the recruitment of interested faculty members is well underway.
Developing and enhancing faculty knowledge and skills is another key to successful implementation. As such, a variety of interrelated development activities are planned. Workshops – A total of four one and a half day workshops on globalizing/infusing curricula will be provided during Years I and II for the 72 participants. Workshops will occur in August and April (2007-2008) for faculty internationalizing curricula with a focus on West Africa, and August and April of 2008-2009 for the group focusing on North Africa. The August workshops will (1) introduce the Title VI-A project (2) provide two broad based scholar presentations on West (or North) African societies/cultures (3) provide “how to” sessions featuring “expert” faculty colleagues from various disciplines who have been successfully and continuously involved in globalizing/infusing curricula (4) provide for a short presentation of each participant’s draft proposal for internationalizing curricula, with opportunity for feedback from guest scholars, faculty “experts,” and fellow participants and (5) provide wrap-up session designed to clarify issues, reinforce networking and build on the excitement for internationalizing curricula.
The April workshops will (1) provide more in-depth presentations by 2 different scholars targeting areas/issues involving West (or North) Africa emerging from faculty interest, (2) provide for presentations by participants of their “final” projects -to include discussions on role played by foreign language and area consultants and the anticipated impact of future research and immersion experience on their projects, (3) provide a wrap-up session to review the project, explore ideas for the future and build continued support for global education, and (4) provide a pre-departure workshop in 2008 for West Africa immersion participants and in 2009 for North Africa immersion participants.
Consultation-Faculty participants will not be left on their own outside of the workshops. Each participant in each group (West Africa and North Africa) will be provided the opportunity to engage an area/content consultant and a foreign language consultant to assist the participant in internationalizing his/her course(s). Participants will select their consultants by October 1 of their project year. Consultants will receive a modest honorarium of $375 each.
Immersion Experiences – The opportunity to participate in a 2-week immersion experience in either West Africa (Year I Group) or North Africa (Year II Group) is another means of enhancing participant knowledge and skills for internationalizing curricula. A minimum of 18 faculty participants will be financially supported by their colleges in each of the two years (total 36) for the immersion experience. Federal funds will not be used for this activity. For some who have never traveled abroad, the experience will be “life-altering.” In addition, students respond strongly to their teachers’ personal experiences and ability to talk beyond research, especially as many of these students have not had the opportunity to travel abroad. Faculty who participate in the immersion experience will be required to diffuse their experiences and materials across their campuses. See Appendix for draft immersion experience itinerary.
Training in On-line Course Delivery- Twenty participants will be selected to prepare their courses for delivery via web-based instruction. On-line course enrollment is growing; as at least 4 faculty will develop new courses, opportunities for students in colleges across the state to take courses with international/global content will expand. Two workshops will support faculty training in on-line delivery. A workshop will be held fall 2008 for 10 participants in the West Africa group and another in fall 2009 for 10 participants in the North Africa group. Areas, such as Instructional Methods, Assessment, Media Use and Insertion, Copyright, etc., will be discussed. Participants who need additional assistance may engage a consultant to assist in continued training. Consultants receive a $375 honorarium.
Objective II –Strengthen Instruction and Offerings in Foreign Languages.
This objective will be accomplished in three major ways:
Foreign language infusion -During years I and II of the project, participants internationalizing their courses will infuse these with relevant language concepts according to their disciplines and the particular country or area that is the focus of the project. This will be done with the assistance of each participant’s foreign language consultant, and subsequently for some, the immersion experience. While language exposure through the immersion experience will be primarily Arabic and French, some participants will find themselves involved with other languages as well, as they study West and North African cultures. As faculty incorporate their understandings of languages into their teachings, students will benefit from this knowledge and exposure.
Foreign Language Workshops – During Years I and III of the project, two workshops in each of the two years will be held for faculty members teaching foreign languages at Missouri community colleges. The workshops will target the large number of part-time foreign language faculty in particular, although full-timers will also be encouraged to participate. The first will occur in October of 2007 (and 2009) and will concentrate on issues and methodology. The second will occur in March 2008 and 2010 and will concentrate on the uses of technology in the teaching of foreign languages. The year in between the workshops allows for a build-up of new faculty (part-time in particular) entering the system. General areas for discussion might include collaborative learning in the foreign language classroom, addressing needs of diverse learners, the teaching of culture in foreign languages, creating an interactive classroom, etc. Detailed planning for the workshops will consider both full-time and part-time interests and issues.
Enhancing Offerings in Arabic and French – During Year II, the project will focus on the development and enhancement of offerings in Arabic and French. The project will recruit 6 to 8 Arabic and French teachers for training to teach via distance delivery. Two intensive workshops will be offered during fall 2008 and spring 2009 for these teachers. Based on feedback from the fall 2008 workshop, participants who will need additional assistance may engage a “one on one” distance delivery consultant, as mentioned earlier. French and Arabic were chosen to reflect practical considerations facing community colleges and to reflect both faculty and student interests. In surveys delivered before the construction of this grant, faculty overwhelming indicated interest in studying West and North Africa. Arabic is an official language of Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Chad, Mauritania, and Tunisia while French is an official language of Chad, Niger, Mali, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast, and a language of commerce for Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia. It is not realistic that instruction in all of the languages of all of these countries could be provided to the faculty; in addition, a language course offered in a specific African-indigenous language is not likely to draw enough student interest to support its offering. Second year offerings in French or Arabic are likely to draw adequate student numbers to create sustained offerings, especially if these courses are available via ITV in order to increase faculty resources.
Objective III -Promote Knowledge about Africa
During Year III, the project will sponsor a one and a half day conference on Africa. The conference will be held during April 2010, and its theme will be “Understanding Africa through its Languages.” This theme will be used to look at indigenous populations, the period of colonization and post-colonial Africa, and the continuing challenges of ethnic difference, and economic and social stability. It will feature keynote and guest presenters with expertise in these areas, and will be open to community college educators in general. However, the conference will support, in particular, the continued education of faculty members globalizing/internationalizing their courses and foreign language faculty teaching courses in those languages spoken in African societies.