Welcome to Global Classrooms

 

WHAT ARE GLOBAL CLASSROOMS?

Global Classrooms are an innovative way to gain international experience, virtually, from wherever you are! Join forward-thinking students and faculty from UMD and international peer institutions to gain real-world skills while collaborating on global challenges and designing contributive solutions for meaningful impact.

Global Classrooms experiences are available every term and range from immersive, project-based Signature Courses to several modalities of global engagement-focused Connections that exist as short-term programs or embedded elements within regular UMD courses. Explore new ways of engaging and collaborating across diverse, multi-cultural environments in the virtual space.

Students: Don’t miss out on this opportunity to gain skills necessary to thrive in our increasingly diverse and interconnected world, all while sticking to your academic plan. Talk to your advisor to see how Global Classrooms can fit into your schedule.

Global Classrooms Signature courses & Global Classrooms Connections courses qualify for eligible Pell Grant recipients to apply for the Gilman International Scholarship. These courses are also open to students in the Inter-institutional Enrollment Program.

Faculty: Global Classrooms can support your teaching, service and research agenda by:

• Creating global connections between your research, teaching and service

• Advancing institutional internationalization goals 

• Maintaining and strengthening your research networks and partnerships

• Enhancing future study abroad programming

• Increasing student exposure to global research and networks, providing alternatives to U.S.-centered policy, practice and ideas

• Providing access to global opportunities for students

Engaging in the Global Classrooms initiative means access to workshops, design sprints, grants and consultations that help you make the most of the experience. Faculty interested in learning more about how to develop a Global Classrooms course can contact Dr. Raluca Nahorniac in the Office of International Affairs.

GLOBAL CLASSROOMS: WHAT OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE?

 

LEARN MORE

• Current/Upcoming Global Classrooms Offerings 
• Past Global Classrooms Offerings
• Schedule an appointment to learn more about Global Classrooms
• Examples of student projects
• Student testimonials​

 

WHERE ARE GLOBAL CLASSROOMS?

 

CURRENT & UPCOMING OFFERINGS

FALL 2021 COURSES (Tentative and subject to change)  

 

SUMMER 2021 COURSES (Registration open now)  

 

SPRING 2021 COURSES 

 

VIRTUAL CLASSROOM, REAL-WORLD IMPACT

Read on for a brief sampling of the many student projects created through virtual exchange with international partners.

 

 

A School of Public Health student presents on waste management in Bangladesh

UMD's Joint Program in Survey Methodology explores big data in immigration research with partners in Germany	A School of Agriculture course offers cross-cultural collaboration on agricultural technology in Liberia
In "Technology, Education and Society," students work with Ecuadorian classmates on medicine and tech-based projects	Students explore technology in education with Cuban peers in "Búsquedas Investigativas"
Architecture students design buildings in "Bridging the Gap," a project exchange with students in Baghdad, Iraq	Students collaborate with Cairo University to explore global food safety and security

“The Global Classroom experience offered an opportunity to engage with a wealth of theoretical and practical knowledge uniquely situated in both American and Ghanaian contexts that helped to broaden my frame of thinking around higher education structures and best practices. It helped to reframe my often binary way of thinking about student affairs and to foster cohesion and complexity in what the future of the field will look like.”  -- HESI771 Student, UMD

“Global classroom for food safety was useful in bringing in students from different backgrounds and expertise into one virtual classroom, to present global food safety issues, understand, discuss and brainstorm ideas on what the public should know about food safety, guidance for public education, and potential impact on community. It was a great introduction to a new culture that has taught us to be more aware of and sensitive to others’ culture and ideas. It provided a platform for communication, critical thinking, and concern for global food safety issues.”  -- MIEH606 Student, UMD

“I learned how to communicate effectively and how to work with people who don't take the same classes as me and think in the same way.”  -- Student Partner, Leiden University, The Netherlands

“This course taught me concepts of multidisciplinary teamwork, as not all students which participated were public health students. I also learned that important work can occur across borders without leaving home. But one of the most important lessons … was that technology of today makes it possible for students to have multicultural, global experiences which will enhance their education and prepare them for work in the global health sector.”  -- MIEH 607 Student, UMD

“I learned how to deal with challenges and benefits that come from working with an international team while maintaining a high standard of work and professionalism.”  -- QUEST UMD Student, UMD

“I learned that business isn't done the same everywhere, and we learned all the steps to have a successful negotiation for anything. [We learned to apply these skills] to a different culture and understand how they do business. I would [not have otherwise] learned that universities students have different views with regards to school in Ecuador.”  -- SPAN 422 Student, UMD

“[We came together] for a gathering with American and Australian students to share our respective countries' culture and politics. It was interesting to gather international perspectives on hot-button topics.”-- QUEST Student, UMD

"Our Egyptian classmates were crucial for this project because they really helped identify which interventions were feasible, which locations we should target, how we should advertise the campaign, etc. That kind of knowledge from people who are familiar with Cairo neighborhoods and the culture was invaluable and I think all my classmates from UMD learned a lot, especially about gender norms and patriarchal societies. That information helped me think more about how I should approach these types of campaigns in the future and it gave me a different perspective on what may work in one country versus another."  -- MIEH607 Student, UMD

 

Students: Please contact your advisor to see how your chosen global classroom fits your academic plan.

Faculty: For more information on the Global Classrooms Initiative, contact Dr. Raluca Nahorniac in the Office of International Affairs. 

See our PAST GLOBAL CLASSROOMS COURSES.

 

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Other ways to globalize your experience on campus:

• Global Fellows in Washington, DC

• Living-Learning Communities

• Learn a Foreign Language

• Engage With the International Campus Community

• Academic Programs with an International Focus

• Featured Academic Program: Global Studies Minor