When Tess Myers enrolled at UT Dallas as a criminology major, she never expected to be engaging with students all over the world in her first semester in college. But as part of her freshman seminar course, she and over 100 of her classmates participated in Global Conversations sponsored by DePaul University. By the time the 10-day event ended, EPPS students had discussed UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with students from Brazil, Australia, Chile, South Korea, Nigeria, Germany, India and a dozen other countries.
DePaul University began organizing the Global Conversations series during the worldwide shutdown in May 2020. The goal was to bring together students and faculty from around the world to discuss issues related to the pandemic.
Two years later, the conversation topics have broadened to include all the SDGs, and the event has become a pathway for every EPPS freshman to engage globally at the very beginning of their college career. All students enrolled in EPPS 1110-Critical Issues in the Social Sciences are required to either participate in Global Conversations or Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) with students in another country.
“Our topic was education for older adults in the 21st century and it was fascinating to see the difference in care and expectations in different cultures,” said Myers who was part of group of students from the United States, Brazil and Mexico. “I learned that in Mexico, it is expected that one’s children take care of them as they age, while in the U.S. it is quite a bit more common to send parents to a home or center made specifically to care for the elderly full time. I really appreciated this opportunity to have an academic conversation with people all throughout the Americas, and I would like to do this again sometime.”
Emily Kraus, Assistant Director of Special Programs at DePaul and one of the organizers of Global Conversations, said UT Dallas’ level of participation was notable. “We were blown away and impressed with the participation by students from UT Dallas. Of the 684 total participants, 114 were from UT Dallas and that was the largest number of students from one institution,” she said.
Meanwhile, student members of the UT Dallas Social Science Living Learning Community enrolled in the same course took part in Collaborative Online International Learning with students at Universidad del Salvador (USAL) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They worked together on a project related to the UN SDG #11, Sustainable Cities and Communities.
Working in teams, students from UT Dallas and USAL created social media campaigns designed to encourage their classmates to choose sustainable transportation options. In the process, they learned about one another’s cultures and universities.
“It was beneficial because I was able to communicate and collaborate with students thousands of miles away from me,” said Johnathan Dang, an LLC member. Nico Luna, also a member of the LLC, said he gained new communication skills in the process. “I have not been able to collaborate internationally before, and this helped me see how much of a fun process it can be.”
