College of Education News

Missouri State University will connect young people across regions with support from the J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative

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The Stevens Initiative announced Missouri State University is one of 15 schools, higher education institutions and nonprofit organizations to receive funding to run virtual exchange programs that connect young people in the United States and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.  

Missouri State’s Global Teacher Education Exchange brings new and future K-12 educators from Libya, Morocco and the United States into a vibrant professional learning community where they engage in cross-cultural collaboration and prepare to teach for global understanding. 

About MSU’s teacher exchange program 

Global Teacher Education Exchange is implemented by Missouri State and is supported by the J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative (JCSVEI). JCSVEI is a U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs program administered by the Aspen Institute. 

Missouri State’s Global Teacher Education Exchange integrates virtual exchange into teacher preparation programs in Libya, Morocco and the United States. Through the exchange, new and future educators from a variety of backgrounds engage with each other on local and global issues in K-12 education.  

With their cohorts from other countries, they learn to teach for global understanding, and they create and share educational resources about their countries and cultures. As a result, participants enter their careers with experiences in cross-cultural collaboration and with stronger pedagogical skills. 

“It’s thrilling to watch future educators from different cultures learn with and from each other. It’s clear that they want to teach for global understanding, and we’re honored to be a part of their journey,” said Dr. Jennice McCafferty-Wright, Global Teacher Education Exchange coordinator and education professor at MSU. 

McCafferty-Wright and Dr. Minor Baker, the exchange’s project director and education professor at MSU, will soon travel to North Africa to begin working with Moroccan teacher trainers.  

About Stevens Initiative 

The Stevens Initiative is an international leader in virtual exchange, which brings young people from diverse places together to collaborate and connect through everyday technology. Created in 2015 as a lasting tribute to Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, the Initiative invests in virtual exchange programs, shares research, resources and promising practices to improve impact and advocates for broader adoption.   U.S. flag, U.S. logo, Stevens Initiative logo, Aspen Institute logo, MSU logo.

Learn more about the grant 

Developing teaching skills through community engagement

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Community awareness is an essential component of teaching.  

“Teachers are community workers. Effective teaching requires ethical leadership and cultural literacies,” Dr. Jennice McCafferty-Wright said.  

“This is especially true when we engage with the newest members of our community and those who have fled exploited and war-torn homelands.” 

Wright is an assistant professor in the department of childhood education and family studies at Missouri State University. She teaches courses that help students become educators. 

To help her students develop teaching skills and community awareness, Wright incorporated a service-learning practicum into her course, Methods of Teaching Social Studies in Elementary Schools. 

Making a lifelong difference 

The English Language Institute at Missouri State provides free English classes for adult refugees from Afghanistan. While the parents are in class, Wright’s students engage with the parents’ children.  

A few evenings a week, the students provide a safe learning environment for the children to learn through play.  

The students follow the children’s lead. They engage with the children in English to help them learn the language, and express interest in the children’s cultures and home languages, Dari or Pashto.  

The students’ efforts have a profound impact on the children and their families.  

“Some of the mothers of these young children are preliterate. The Taliban did not permit them to learn to read or write in their home languages when they were younger,” Wright said.  

“Now, they live in a country where literacy is an essential requirement for providing for their families. The skills learned in their English classes are essential to their families’ survival in the United States.” 

Molding to the community’s needs 

Through service-learning, the students develop a deeper understanding of their course material.  

Students can connect course topics, such as teaching for global understanding and civic engagement, to their practicum experience.  

By working with children who are refugees, the students learn valuable skills that will help them teach students from all backgrounds.  

“The students practice strategies for working with children who are English Language Learners,” Wright said.  

“They also support the development of vocabulary that will help the children engage with social studies and other school subjects.” 

It is crucial that teacher candidates learn how to adapt their teaching approach to meet their students’ needs, especially those from vulnerable communities.  

“In a perfect world, there would be no need for teachers to know how to support victims of manmade crises,” Wright said.  

“But we must teach both for the world in which we live and the more perfect world our students have the potential to create.”   

Wright plans to incorporate the practicum in future courses to continue serving the community and helping her students become well-rounded educators.  

Learn more about education programs

Building teacher candidates’ cultural understanding

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Missouri State University’s College of Education (COE) teacher candidates will soon connect with peers as far as North Africa through a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. The Virtual Exchange for Teacher Candidates program is made possible by a grant from the Stevens Initiative. 

“The Stevens Initiative is an international effort to build global competence and career readiness skills for young people in the United States and the Middle East and North Africa by growing and enhancing the field of virtual exchange,” a press release states. 

Missouri State is one of only 17 grantees to receive funding for a virtual exchange program. 

Promoting global understanding 

The Virtual Exchange for Teacher Candidates, in cooperation with Moroccan Regional Centers of Education and Formation, will build inclusive teacher education curricula that supports future teachers from Morocco and the United States as they learn with and from each other.  

The program will launch during the fall 2020 semester. The project’s coordinator is Dr. Jennice McCafferty-Wright, an assistant professor in the childhood education and family studies department. 

“The largest component of the project, an eight-week series of student dialogues, will be ready for students in our elementary social studies methods courses in September,” McCafferty-Wright said. “Other components of the exchange, such as an international colloquium series, will be open for the entire COE community. We’ll add more exchange features as the project grows.” 

While traditional, in-person exchange programs have been canceled, programs such as MSU’s will be a sustainable and accessible global learning tool.  

McCafferty-Wright said participating teacher candidates will build critical cultural understanding and literacies, as well as a commitment to global education. The program will help students enter careers with international, professional relationships to create their own virtual exchanges.  

“Teaching requires an understanding of the world. Connecting with teacher candidates in other parts of the world helps us better understand ourselves and our place in the world as educators,” McCafferty-Wright said. “Additionally, students with educators who teach for global understanding are better prepared for critical civic engagement in a diverse democracy.” 

Sharing knowledge 

Created in 2015, the Stevens Initiative is committed to expanding the virtual exchange field through three pillars of work: investing in promising programs, sharing knowledge and resources, and advocating for virtual exchange adoption.  

The Virtual Exchange for Teacher Candidates is supported by the Stevens Initiative, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. Government, and is administered by the Aspen Institute. The Stevens Initiative is also supported by the Bezos Family Foundation and the governments of Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.

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