CourseShare Grows in 2018-2019

A few years ago, if a University of Minnesota (UMN) student asked about learning a language like Tibetan, Romanian or Hungarian on campus, the answer would be a simple no. Today, thanks to CourseShare, the answer is maybe…

The Big Ten Academic Alliance-sponsored CourseShare program provides university students with access to the languages and topics they need to meet their academic and personal goals. Universities throughout the Big Ten use technology to connect students synchronously, asynchronously or a combination of the two. New technology like Zoom (now available at UMN!) makes it easier than ever to bring geographically disparate students into direct communication with one another.

UMN students are leaders in the Big Ten in terms of enrollment in CourseShare courses. The number of university students enrolling in received CourseShare courses has grown every year since the LANG subject was introduced in academic year 2016-2017, with total enrollment more than doubling between then and 2018-2019. CourseShare offers a variety of languages and levels, as well as  cultural topics courses. Some perennially popular languages, like Catalan, Persian, Polish and Vietnamese are offered every year, whereas others, like Danish and Tibetan are received at the request of a particular student. Whenever possible, language courses are sequenced from beginning to advanced.

This opportunity is made possible for students because UMN doesn’t simply receive courses; our departments and instructors are willing to share their language and topics courses with other Big Ten universities. During this past academic year, the following instructors sent at least one complete CourseShare course:

• Monica Barbieri, ITAL 1001 to University of Nebraska

• Zoe Brown, OJIB 3103-3104 to  University of Nebraska

• Hangtae Cho, ALL 3576 to University of Iowa, University of Maryland, Rutgers University and University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Fatima Walji, KOR 1011-1102 to  University of Nebraska

• Travis Workman, ALL 3586 to Michigan State University and Rutgers University

Some of these courses, like Italian and Ojibwe, were sent to a single student, while the Korean e-school courses (ALL 3576 and 3586), were sent to two universities simultaneously with a high total enrollment.

There were other instructors who volunteered to send their courses, but the partnership ultimately did not work out. A successful exchange begins with a creative and collaborative instructor, but also involves factors beyond the instructor’s control, such as how the time slot works for the students on the receiving side. These partnerships can be challenging to create and maintain, but it’s rewarding when the program brings students and scholars together.

Here are some highlights from 2018-2019:

• The Office of Classroom Management (OCM) renovated four classrooms over the summer with video conferencing technology, and all were used for sending courses. OCM staff, especially Technologist Noah Holm, worked tirelessly to improve the classroom experience throughout the year.

• The Michigan State LCTL Partnership launched a fully online Hebrew topics course co-developed by three Big Ten Hebrew instructors, including our own Renana Schneller. A total of six UMN students enrolled in the shared course Spring 2019.

• In terms of courses we send, Korean and Korean topics continue to be the leader in remote student enrollment, with ALL 3576 being sent twice to a total of four universities, and strong enrollments in ALL 3586 and KOR 1011-1102 as well.

• Our most popular received language for undergraduate students was Vietnamese, with a total enrollment of 33 between Fall and Spring.

• Our most popular received language for graduate students was Catalan, with a total enrollment of eight between the University of Chicago’s Autumn through Spring quarters (Chicago is on the quarter system).

Some things to look forward to in 2019-2020:

• A full sequence of received CourseShare courses (beginning through advanced) for some languages, like Polish and Vietnamese.

• More of our university’s signature Scandinavian and American Indian languages being shared in the Big Ten.

• A new small room in Jones for receiving, and potentially sending small courses.

• New opportunities to integrate Zoom into the curriculum.

Coming in next week’s ElsieTalk: Course sharing beyond CourseShare.