PsTL’s Molly Rojas Collins, Rhiannon Williams, Jill Trites and graduate student Sumitra Ramachandran have received funding from the International Student Academic Services Fee to develop and facilitate a professional development cohort experience to support University faculty who are teaching international students in blended classrooms of international students and domestic students. From research conducted by PsTL faculty and a graduate student in the fall of 2014, faculty expressed a need for having the resources and training to support international students in their classrooms.

Through Intercultural Pedagogy Development Workshops and sustained engagement, faculty from across the University will be encouraged to look for changes they can make based on best practice research and principles of universal design for international students, share their struggles with each other, and receive support and practical strategic advice from experts. Faculty will be given pedagogical resources they can begin to integrate, test, and modify within their own classrooms. In addition, they will gain a greater awareness about various institutional supports for both international undergraduate students and faculty seeking to support international students’ learning and development.

The Intercultural Pedagogy Development cohort program will be open to all University faculty. The program will launch in Fall 2015. For more information, or if you are interested in participating, please contact Molly Rojas Collins at colli038@umn.edu.