Project Title: Gender-Related Inequalities – Collaborative Online International Learning at Guttman

Professor: Jinzhong Niu, Ph.D.

Course: INFT 221 – Web Technologies and Multimedia

Modality: In-person

Partner Institution: Palestine Ahliya University

Links/Conference Presentation:

Course Website: INFT 221: Web Technologies and Multimedia Teaching

Abstract of Project: In this project, students will work with their peers from Palestine Ahliya University (PAU) to investigate gender-related inequalities in the United States and Palestine and build websites to showcase the research results. Students from the two schools work in small groups to collaborate on research and development of the website. To facilitate the virtual exchange and collaboration, assignments and activities will be arranged for students to get to know each other and to learn about the cultural and historical background of the other side. At the end of the project, students will present on their work in an online conference with participants from all the member schools of GSACS.

Crafting the Project with Professor Partner: It’s quite straightforward to work with my partner and craft the project. The weekly long training workshop series for faculty were very helpful. The recommended structure for a project and certain activities during the training allowed us to refine the goal gradually and determine what to provide to students and what to achieve at each step. After the training, my partner and I met quite a few times via Zoom to share thoughts and finalize the design, which was critical for the success of carrying out the entire project eventually. In addition, my course and my partner’s course are both about web development, so we have a lot of common ground to work on and students from both sides can also practice the same body of professional knowledge throughout the project.

Student Engagement During the Partnership: As mentioned above, students from the two schools formed small groups to collaborate on the project. Each group contained 2-3 students from either side, which allowed collaboration across the schools and inside our school. This is very helpful to keep the momentum and student engagement. Instructors shared expectation and requirements with students at the beginning of the project so that students communicated with each other on a weekly basis and synchronize their work.

All student groups were able to complete the project and present their work in the final conference. Some groups were more engaged and had better collaboration with the other side than other groups. My partner and I checked in on students frequently and helped those left behind catch up and cooperate with each other. We also provided as many opportunities for groups and students to share their work with others during the project so that students could learn from their peers and address common issues.

Student Communication During the Project: We used Slack as the main communication channel. Students from both sides were added to the same Slack workspace and they could communicate with each other in the same channel. Meanwhile students from the same school in a group were also put in a channel so that they could coordinate first before they reach out to their peers overseas. We also let students establish their own preferred way to communicate, making it as flexible as possible.

Biggest Obstacles Faced: The whole process was not short of obstacles and challenges. The biggest one was the time and schedule difference. The time difference between the two schools is 7 hours, which means that when students from one side were working on the project, students from the other side were sleeping. This made it very difficult for students to communicate with each other in real time. We tried to arrange more synchronous meetings for students from both sides to meet and work together, but it was not easy to find time slots working for everyone. We ended up having only one synchronous session for icebreaking and having students from both sides in a group to meet separately and then share their work with each other asynchronously. This was not ideal, but it was the best we could do. In addition, there are quite a few holidays during the Spring in Palestine (some are quite long) and we have spring break for almost two weeks. This made it even more difficult to assign group work and set deadlines.

Another challenge was misunderstandings between students from the two schools assigned to the same group. When a group were unable to complete assigned work, members might complain about each other and blame the other side for not doing their part. The lessons that I learned from this experience is that instructors should try to be a patient listener first, allowing students to have this way to speak out their frustration. Then instructors should then help students understand the actual situation and share objective factors that might have played a role in leading to the situation. Encouraging students to be considerate and reach out to offer help usually worked well in handling this kind of situation.

Evaluating Success: Overall, students learned a lot from each other and all groups were able to complete their website and present their work. Students had the chance to learn about cultural and historical background about Palestine and to know what their peers would do in their everyday life. Quite a few Guttman students expressed, “Wow, I didn’t know that before!” In some groups, Guttman students were surprised by the work beautifully done by PAU students. The project provided a golden opportunity for students to get out of their comfort zone and learn about what’s happening in the world remote from them. The experience in collaborating with each other, whether wonderful or mixed, helped students grow and become more mature and more professional in their field.

Class Syllabus:

inft221-syllabus

Icebreaker Slides:

20230318-GSACS-Icebreaker

Images from Semester: