Laura Liu from IU Columbus led the development of the course, Inquiry into Teacher Professionalism, which she first taught in Spring 2023 to BNU students. She applied to turn the course into an IU study abroad learning experience offered to students across IU campuses. In Spring 2024, Liu and A’ame Joslin co-taught the course, offered to IU students as L490/M401 Research in Language Education/Field Experience. Liu shared that after living and teaching in Beijing for three years, it had been a goal of hers to bring IU students to China. She also hopes to invite students from Beijing to experience IU in Columbus as part of a future learning exchange.
“Our students noted how much they enjoyed learning the language and culture,” Liu said. “It was amazing how quickly all of the students formed friendships. We were warmly welcomed in all the school and site visits.”
BNU Professor Zhao Ping said, “The International Collaborative Inquiry program between IU and BNU enhances students experiences as future professionals with rich and broad readings, insightful lectures and deep discussions on different perspectives, parallelled policies and culturally sensitive field research experiences. Students and faculties earn shared visions, mutually understandings and contextualized expertise as professionals.”
For IU Columbus student Ana Hurtado, the highlight of the experience was observing the different ways people interact. “I enjoyed visiting schools and interacting with the teachers and students. I learned different ways of collaborating with teachers and community members to ensure the children’s differing needs are met,” Hurtado said.
A’ame Joslin, IU Columbus Education Professor, also joined the trip, and reflected, “The opportunity to collaborate and learn across nations and cultures is a valuable part of a college experience. Demystifying stereotypes between Americans and Chinese was a rewarding part of the trip and resulted in cross-cultural learning and understanding.”
BNU student, QU Xiaoyu, shared after experiencing the international collaborative course exchange that “collaborating across cultures allowed us to compare practices and discuss the challenges faced in different educational contexts,” as well as benefit from “personal growth and adaptability” to “thrive in diverse settings.” Her classmate, SHI Yitian, added that participating in this course prompted her to “reflect on the core elements and growth pathways of the teaching profession” as well as to “integrate both local and global perspectives in my future teaching.”
Liu appreciated co-leading a study abroad course supporting the cross-cultural connections highlighted by both the IU and BNU participants. She emphasized the need “for universities to create opportunities for students and faculty to have international collaborative learning experiences that enable recognizing shared goals, challenges, and successes. The profession of teaching offers many possibilities for international exchanges like this.”