Elon research teams promote global engagement at ISSoTL and AAC&U conferences

Elon’s Center for Research on Global Engagement (CRGE) was well-represented at the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning conference in Atlanta, Georgia, and the American Association of Colleges and Universities Global Learning conference in San Antonio, Texas. Faculty, staff, and students presented research sponsored by the CRGE and the Colonial Academic Alliance related to student reentry post-study away and mentoring high impact practices in global contexts.

At ISSoTL, Associate Professors Kirstie Doehler (Mathematics and Statistics), Associate Professor Nina Namaste (World Languages and Cultures), and Associate Professor Amanda Sturgill (Communications) presented preliminary findings from a study undertaken in tandem with James Madison University as part of a grant project sponsored by the Colonial Academic Alliance and titled “Engaging Difference: A Deep Dive into the Assessment of Transformative Learning.”

Co-researchers Associate Professor Matthew Buckmaster (Music & Assistant Dean of Global Education), Associate Professor Olivia Choplin (World Languages and Cultures), and Professor Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler (Psychology and CRGE) and undergraduate Elementary Education major and Spanish minor Emily Ford ’20 presented preliminary focus group findings on student reentry post-study abroad as well as data related to the pre-, during-, and post-study abroad course offered by the Department of World Languages and Cultures.

Professor Eric Hall (Exercise Science), Assistant Professor Mussa Idris (Sociology and Anthropology), Professor Caroline Ketcham (Exercise Science), and Vandermaas-Peeler shared best practices for mentoring undergraduate research in global contexts and for helping students to engage with the global even while they are studying at Elon. Assistant Professor Pablo Celis-Castillo and Senior Lecturer Ketevan Kupatadze (World Languages and Cultures) also led a round table discussion on the meaning of the term “global citizenship.”