With the many challenges facing global higher education today, it is important that we be creative in the way we teach and support students. This poster will show how blended learning tools can be used to create innovative ways to foster transnational collaboration. If Skype name is still a submission requirement, I use the platform under the account jthroop.
International education is an important driver of our foreign diplomacy, our national security and the global economy. The meaning of “international education”, however, is changing as education evolves, borders blur, and policies shift. According to the Institute for International Education, international students contributed US$32.8 billion to the U.S. economy in 2016, up 2.3% from US$30.5 billion the previous year. As participation in study abroad programs continues to rise, schools across the US struggle define a new era in student mobility.
This poster will discuss the changing landscape of international higher education, and the need for a reconceptualization mobility amid the lived experiences of students and participants today. This poster will offer a new term, Academic Nomad, to characterize participants amid these trends. This term captures both the fluidity and the intersectionality of today’s global citizen, and offers an adaptive approach to the future of international education.
Online and blended learning academic programs are products of our industry’s changing landscape. The International Relations Online program at American University’s School of International Service is a hybrid two-year Master’s degree, and one program that addresses the needs of an evolving industry. This poster will use the program as a case study to highlight the challenges and complexities in our field, and offer tips and strategies for solution.
By visiting our poster, audience members will gain an understanding about the direction of industry shifts, changes in our community of student participants, and learn about sustainable ways to address shifts and adaptations.