Grassroots Leadership Program

Transcription

1 Grassroots Leadership Program Expanding Language Learning Opportunities at the Illinois Institute of Technology By Ashley Sinclair, Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, Illinois Expanding Language Learning Opportunities at the Illinois Institute of Technology 1

2 About the Grassroots Leadership Program NAFSA: Association of International Educators, whose 10,000 members worldwide power Connecting Our World, launched the Grassroots Leadership Program in 2010 in response to the growing demand at the state and local level for training and resources to help address public policy challenges faced by NAFSA members. Notice of Liability The information in these documents is distributed on an As is basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of each document, neither the submitter(s) nor NAFSA shall have any liability to any persons nor entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alledged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in any of these documents. Please note that while NAFSA verified the website links included in this report, NAFSA cannot guarantee that every link will be current at the time of download. Acceptable Use Guidelines Electronic resources are provided for the benefit of the international education community. However, commercial use, systematic or excessive downloading, and electronic redistribution of these publications are all expressly prohibited. Released NAFSA: Association of International Educators. All rights reserved 2 Expanding Language Learning Opportunities at the Illinois Institute of Technology

3 Expanding Language Learning Opportunities at the Illinois Institute of Technology What was the problem you identified in your community? The problem I identified is the lack of language-learning opportunities at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). As of last summer, we had no language programs taught by IIT professors. This is a problem because many of our study abroad program partners require language proficiency before admitting students, so our ability to grow our study abroad program was stunted and affected our relationship with program partners. In addition, students who know multiple languages are more marketable in the job market. What did you plan to accomplish at the local level (first six months of the program)? Hold an informal coffee hour for faculty and staff, where they could learn about current opportunities for study abroad and language learning, and how we could work together to improve offerings to students. Invite faculty, staff, and other student influencers to our events. Place a story in IIT s student newspaper. Create a resource guide of organizations, outside my institution, that can help advance the goal of language learning and study abroad. What did you plan to accomplish at the state level (second six months of the program)? Create a state budget letter-writing campaign to increase funding for study abroad opportunities for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students. Develop a toolbox for STEM programs and/or small offices for language learning opportunities. Invite state representatives to visit IIT during an event. Expanding Language Learning Opportunities at the Illinois Institute of Technology 3

4 What did you accomplish at the local level? I m very lucky that I live and work in Chicago, as it is a city with many resources available to me and my students. I did a great deal of research into the various language schools, cultural organizations, and community colleges to find places that can offer language opportunities to my students. Once I identified opportunities, I put them in our pre-departure and returnee sections of IIT s website. I also sent invitations to these groups for our study abroad fair. I sent a list of all schools and cultural organizations to every professor, and we had quite a few of them roaming around and asking questions of providers. Later, Berlitz came to campus to do language demos on Mandarin and French during International Education Week. When students entered the demos, we did a survey to determine interest of future language options, and French was overwhelmingly popular, followed by Spanish and Japanese. We were planning to launch an on-campus program in French in the spring, but it was delayed until the end of October. The courses will be held on campus, and will be offered at a discount. Due to students requesting more language-learning opportunities on campus, professors in the humanities department approached me to inquire about our current study abroad partners, languages required, etc., and asked if we would help promote language study in our office as part of ways to get students abroad. We had faculty who accepted our invitation to attend the study abroad fair and International Education Week events, which led to them being more receptive to us entering their classrooms for visits. This summer we are trying to go to every department or college for one of their staff or faculty meetings to talk about our study abroad programs and resources available to help students prepare to go abroad. Lastly, we had a student who wrote a regular column in Tech News, our student newspaper, about her experience studying in Germany and learning the language. This, combined with other promotional activities, led to the highest application rate for IIT for the DAAD-RISE internship program. What did you accomplish at the state level? I was on maternity leave for the majority of the second half of the program, so I didn t complete all of my state-level activities yet, but I plan to continue to work on finding outside resources to achieve my department goals in study abroad, and increasing state funding for more STEM students to have the opportunity to study abroad. Before my maternity leave, I invited senators and state representatives to participate various events on campus, but unfortunately none of them were able to attend. Who are three people you met that you didn t know before, who were able to help you with your project? 8 8 I made a great connection with a professor on campus who was working on an IPRO, which is a program at IIT where all majors come together to work on a project to gain valuable first-hand experience under the tutelage of Professor Laura Batson. This IPRO was called Language Link, and it 4 Expanding Language Learning Opportunities at the Illinois Institute of Technology

5 was designed to be a new social medium that would connect IIT students with language ability with others who wished to learn that language. Two students have taken over the project as independent study, and it is expected to launch this spring semester. It will be prominently featured on our study abroad website, and we are looking to support it through an international coffee hour. My student worker, Sarah Lim, whom I hired after our time in DC last year, turned out to be on the student government association and part of the once-stalled push to have languages on campus. She helped me with ideas on marketing language learning and study abroad on campus, and was the person who introduced me to Language Link. Finally, Brian Rovito, who works with Berlitz in Chicago. We met when I was making calls around the city to help find resources for our students. We are working together to offer French on campus to help prepare our students, as that is our biggest host destination. As a result of our connection, Berlitz regularly attends the study abroad fair, and offers a raffle for language classes for our students. What were two roadblocks you encountered and tips for overcoming those roadblocks (based on your experience)? Though not necessarily a roadblock, my pregnancy and maternity leave kept me from completing the second half of my project. What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is interested in taking on this issue in their community? Tell everyone and anyone what your goal is. You never know who will be willing to help you, what their ideas are, or who they are connected to. You may have similar goals, and they may have already made headway on a similar project, but you won t know unless you start the conversation. What was the biggest outcome of your year-long project? I made excellent contacts and developed some great resources for my students. I like our sections on preparing to go abroad and staying global on our website. I m looking forward to developing an on-campus language course in French to help our students become prepared to study there; France is our number one destination for study abroad students from IIT. In addition, I m excited about promoting study abroad in various classrooms and in the new Spanish Language and Culture class being launched in fall I wouldn t have access to most of these places without having reached out to learn about resources. What s next for you, with regard to the work you ve started? I m looking for ways to encourage students to take advantage of the resources I found. We are considering developing a global competence program at IIT, in which experience and class work would be equals. The allies I have made throughout campus will help in creating such a program, and I m looking forward to facing this challenge with the tools that I gained during my year as part of the GLP. Expanding Language Learning Opportunities at the Illinois Institute of Technology 5

6 Additionally, I hope to implement an idea to help financially support our students as they study abroad by paying them to blog for us. Read More Don t Recreate the Wheel: Advocacy as a One-Person Study Abroad Office, by Ashley Sinclair 6 Expanding Language Learning Opportunities at the Illinois Institute of Technology