Developing a Global Learning Program

As the faculty leader, you should be familiar with the host country and its culture, have strong partnerships in-country, be proficient in the host language (or will arrange for interpreter(s) for the duration of the program). A Faculty Lead without experience living, working, studying, or researching in the host country must use a study abroad provider or local partner organization. You should also consider spending time in the host country before traveling with students, and are encouraged to apply for a Global Learning Development Grant. 

To minimize health and safety risks, University policy requires faculty/staff leading students to countries under a U.S. State Department Travel Advisory to comply with the University policy on POL-U2105.01 Traveling Abroad for Educational Experiences. 

The US Department of State manages all our embassies and consulates abroad, and with the help of US security personnel on the ground in each country, the State Department rates the safety of each county on a Level 1 – 4 scale:

• Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions
• Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
• Level 3: Reconsider Travel
• Level 4: Do Not Travel

WWU allows students to travel to Level 1 and Level 2 countries. The faculty member is required to submit a petition if they propose travel to any Level 3 or Level 4 country. 

You may consider two different strategies to list your class, per ACC policy. 

1. Every department and program will have a generic course number, “X37,” available for study abroad courses. It is analogous to a “special topics” course number for study abroad, and requires departmental approval. This is the easiest way to create the necessary coursework for a GLP. 

2. You may use a specific course number indicating a longer-term commitment to inclusion of a specific study abroad course in the department’s curriculum. Such courses would include study-abroad versions of existing campus-based courses; new courses designed solely for study abroad; or new courses designed with distinct campus-based and study-abroad versions. This requires the faculty member and department to submit a proposal through Curriculum either revising a current course or creating a new one, which requires ACC approval. Please note, this process requires you plan ahead to meet ACC approval timelines. 

GLPS are also subject to ACC scrutiny and require you to meet credit hour and term date requirements for all proposed coursework. These should be detailed in your syllabi, which should also demonstrate assignments and learning objectives that are enriched by teaching the class abroad in a field-based location. 

Please ensure you have talked with your Department Chair before you submit your proposal to lead a faculty-led Global Learning Program. Approvals can be in process, but it is important to have your department's support to teach your proposed class abroad. 

After you submit a proposal, the EdAbroad office will notify your department and ask if your intended coursework is approved or in process. Please note, if you choose not to use X37 credit, you will need ACC approval, in addition to departmental approval before the program can run. We highly recommend you use X37 credit for GLPs, unless you are prepared to ensure you get the approvals necessary to create a study abroad course that will be listed in your department's curriculum. 

Once your course set-up is complete, the EdAbroad office will send the course set-up form to your department as the last step of the process. Course(s) should not be included in course planning spreadsheets, since EdAbroad creates individual budget codes to track each program. Detailed instructions will be sent to approvers when the form is routed. 

Instructional dates include all instructional activities associated with the course. This may be outside of travel dates. All instructional activities must fall within the proposed term course(s) are taking place. If you have questions about your dates, please ask the EdAbroad office. 

Unfortunately, exceptions cannot be made. All GLPs and WWU coursework must abide by the Department of Education policy as it relates to term dates. Failure to do so, puts our institutional access to financial aid at risk. 

Several factors can impact the cost of GLPs. These programs can be expensive because we must budget them to be self-supporting. That means the expenses are divided among the students participating, but there are some steps you can take to build a more affordable program.

Consider a GLP During the Academic Year

During the academic year, some departments allow faculty to teach their program in-load. This means salary costs are not passed on to the students, which can significantly lower the program cost. You can also help out-of-state and international students save money. We are not required to charge out-of-state tuition for academic year programs. This is not the case in the summer, and out-of-state students are subject to the OCE tuition fees for out-of-state students.

Create a GLP Partnership Program (GLP+)

Partner with a local university or study center that can provide a transcript and teach a portion of the coursework. As the WWU faculty member, you may teach a portion of the credits, which is often significantly less expensive for students.

For example, our summer program in Ireland partners with the University of Galway. Students earn 9 credits in total, 5 credits through WWU, and an additional 4 credits are awarded through coursework taught by the University of Galway. Not only is this program affordable for WWU students, but it also continues to strengthen our partnership with the University of Galway, one of our exchange partners.

Create a Place-Based Program

Transportation is often the second-largest expense for faculty-led programs. Choose one to two locations in your destination country, and create a program with a home base. This provides students with more opportunities for immersion, as well as needed downtime to meet their mental health needs. Slow travel/study abroad is also a great selling point for WWU students.

All Faculty Program Leaders are encouraged to work with a study abroad provider or local partner organization to help facilitate the logistics for their program. These organizations specialize in risk and budget management and provide valuable support so that the faculty member can focus on teaching the program. If a Faculty Lead chooses not to use a provider or local partner, they assume personal financial risk, take on higher responsibility for student well-being, and are responsible for following Travel Services policies outlined in the GLP Proposal form.   

A Faculty Lead without experience living, working, studying, or researching in the host country must use a study abroad provider or local partner organization. 

We can help you identify a partner organization to develop and facilitate your program. This may be a local university partner where we already have a partnership, a local NGO or travel agency, or a study abroad affiliate organization. The most common partner for a faculty-led global learning program is one of our affiliate partners. These are professional study abroad organizations that specialize in risk management and study abroad programming. 

Access the Global Learning Program Proposal Form and submit it by the deadline. To submit your proposal: 

1. If you have run your program previously and have Via Administrator Access, ensure you login and select ‘Traveler Access’ before you start your proposal. To log in as a Traveler, go to the EdAbroad Portal, click the avatar in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Click ‘Change Roles’ and select ‘Traveler Access.’
2. If you don’t already have admin access, login to the EdAbroad Portal with your WWU universal ID. 
3. Click the link to the Global Learning Program Proposal Form
4. Select ‘Apply’ and select the term you wish to teach your program, fill out the application to the best of your ability and submit. Please note, we use this form for all course set-up processes and share it with your department. We don’t expect you to know every detail when you apply, but the more information you can provide the better. 

To access a previous years proposal for a faculty-led program: 

1. Log in to the EdAbroad Portal
2. Make sure you are logged in as a Traveler. To do so, click the avatar in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Click ‘Change Roles’ and select ‘Traveler Access’
3. Once you are logged in as a Traveler, select ‘My Programs’ on the left-hand side of the screen and click ‘Past Programs.’
4. You will see all previous proposals submitted through Via TRM. Please note, we no longer us the Esign Proposal Form. 

Submitting your proposal is just the first step to building a successful Faculty-Led Global Learning Program. EdAbroad staff will review proposals in the order they were received to ensure they meet all necessary WWU requirements, including, contact hour and term date requirements detailed in the proposal form. Please ensure the syllabus you submit meets your department and ACC Syllabus Requirements and Guidance. 

We highly encourage you to consider submitting your proposal by the early bird deadline each cycle to maximize your time to recruit students. 

Once your program is ‘Conditionally Approved,’ EdAbroad will: 

• Work with you to finalize logistics, including a budget and a detailed itinerary. This will include you providing quotes and working directly with partner organizations. We will help you create a budget used for students to enroll in your program, once you have the necessary information. Please note, you cannot start publicizing your program until we have an agreed upon, finalized budget.
• Consult with you on course set-up and ensure we attain all appropriate approvals to proceed. These in include:
  • Departmental Approval
  • Title IX and ADA Compliance Review with is required per POL-U2105.01
  • Course Set-Up. Please note, we will prepare the course set-up ensign form, necessary budget codes, etc. and submit it to your Department Chair, Dean, and Department Manager for course approval. This form will be used by OCE in course set-up. It is the last step of the process.
• Work with you to create a program webpage and brochure in ViaTRM.
• Guide you on best practices to recruit students to participate in your program. Please note, all programs must meet minimum enrollment requirements to be approved for travel, and recruitment is your responsibility as Faculty Lead. Once students apply, you will be responsible for reviewing submitted and admitting students. 

Once your program is ‘Approved’ for Travel, you should be prepared to: 

• Work with students after your program has filled and been confirmed for travel to make the necessary travel arrangements, including course override codes for registration.

Pre-departure orientation is an important tool for preparing students for travel, setting expectations, and establishing group norms. The EdAbroad Office has created a Canvas course that may be useful for students getting ready to study abroad, as well as a series of in-person workshops. These workshops can be tailored into a 1-hour session for your group on health, safety, and mindful travel with a particular emphasis on culture and identity abroad. 

Required Pre-Departure Orientation for ALL faculty-led programs includes: 

• Review all the content in the pre-departure Canvas course.
• Schedule a PDO session with EdAbroad staff for your group. Attendance by faculty and students is mandatory. 

It may be beneficial to include this as part of a more robust orientation with your cohort before travel. This may include country-specific information, norm setting, team building, etc. If you're not sure, the EdAbroad office can provide guidance and help you brainstorm activities as we build your program. 

Pre-departure orientation and pre-travel coursework cannot count as part of course instruction/contact hour requirements, if it does not fall in WWU term dates. 

Every program is different and it depends on your budget. Each budget is set to a minimum number of students that must be committed to the program before it can be approved for travel. That is because GLPs are budgeted to break even, so it is necessary to cover the cost of running the program. 

We don’t consider a student to be included in the minimum until they are committed to the program, and opt to pay a $1,000 non-refundable down payment. Students can commit to the program after they are accepted in the EdAbroad Portal. 

We also advise that you indicate the minimum and maximum number of students to participate in your program. This alleviates many of the challenges in recruitment. 

The #1 way to recruit students is through classroom visits. Ask your colleagues to visit their classes and tell their students about your program. You can also use Browse Classes to identify classes and reach out to faculty to see if you might be able to visit their class and let students know about your program. 

Classroom visits are, without a doubt, the best way to get students excited about your program. You may also consider sending emails to students who may be interested in your course. This can be done through Bullseye or Navigate. If you wish to use Navigate to target students who may be interested in your program, you must complete the mandatory training. 

In addition to emails, your department may have a Canvas course or a List-Serve that students are enrolled in, which can be a great tool for communication. The benefit of Canvas is that messages will be sent to both a student’s Canvas Messages and their email inbox. 

One of our student employees is happy to help you create a flyer. Email EdAbroad@wwu.edu to connect with them to request a flyer. Provide pictures, a short description of your program, and any other information you would like included on the flyer. Once you approve your flyer, we can get it printed for you to post on campus. Please plan for a minimum of two weeks during the academic year when requesting flyers.

1. Click the EdAbroad Portal Login 
2. Click the green Go to Portal button
3. Log in to your WWU Single Sign On account 

The My Notifications tab in settings allows Admins and Travelers to turn on/off receiving certain mailers; not all mailers can be turned on or off.  

To turn mailers on/off…

1. Log into your Via account
2. Click the photo silhouette icon/avatar in the main navigation menu
3. Click Settings
4. Click the My Notifications tab
5. Use the ^ icon to expand each section and see all the available notifications
6. To turn on/off a specific mailer, click the toggle to the right of the desired mailer
7. To turn on/off an entire category of mailers, clicking Turn All On or Turn All Off respectively

For more detailed instructions, see the Via TRM Knowledge Base. 
 

You can see the students that applied to your program through the application dashboard. 

1. Login to the EdAbroad Portal Login
2. Click Applications on the top screen navigation
3. From the application dashboard, you can see who has applied to your program, their application status and outstanding requirements. Please reach out to EdAbroad@wwu.edu to set up an appointment to learn how to customize the application dashboard. 

NOTE: You will get an email when a student favorites your program when researching study abroad. You can see the students who favorite your program by going to the Traveler dashboard. You're welcome to reach out to these students to encourage them to apply to your program. 

To accept a student, please fill out the recommendation request sent by email. It will ask you if you want to accept, reject, or waitlist the student. 

As a faculty director, you will also be the group leader for your Travel Plan. The EdAbroad office will use your Travel Plan to contact students and faculty in case of an emergency. We ask that you update itinerary details before you travel, including hotel information, to ensure Clery Act compliance. 

Group Leaders can:

• View all travelers on that plan
• View individual traveler itineraries on that plan
• Add, edit, or remove travel details in the group itinerary
• Email & send SafeCheck messages to travelers on that plan

You can update the itinerary details associated with your Travel Plan to share with your group. To access your Travel Plan. This may include information on transportation, housing, and activity information. 

The EdAbroad office asks that you add housing information to your Travel Plan before departure. This will ensure we can track your group's location in case of an emergency. To update this information: 

1. Log in to the EdAbroad Portal admin dashboard
2. Click Via Travel
3. Find your Travel Plan in the search bar and click the link
4. Click Group Itinerary
5. Click Add Details and select housing
6. Please make sure to include the address of each lodging location for your program