FYS Students Complete Cultural Artifact Assignment With Partners From Yarmouk

Last semester, students from Shenandoah and Yarmouk University in Jordan shared how coffee brings their cultures together and reflected on their experiences with global virtual exchange and created a video that is available on YouTube. This video was part of a larger Virtually Going Global project that impacted over 1,300 students and institutionalized virtual exchange within Shenandoah’s First-Year Seminar program.

SU’s Virtually Going Global is a virtual exchange program integrated into SU’s general education curriculum that brings together first-year students with undergraduate students at Yarmouk. It’s supported by the J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative (JCSVEI). Every first-year student at SU will engage in a shared experience with their counterparts in Jordan, ranging from a common event (e.g., speaker, performance, documentary), cultural artifact project, or individually designed assignment. SU students will join peers from YU to engage in dialogue focused on designated common experiences or joint projects, led by student leaders trained in dialogue facilitation. Students will develop cross-cultural group projects based on their shared experience or that promotes intercultural competencies and multiple perspectives. Each year, projects will be showcased at a culminating event in both regions. 

Questions? Contact Nada Abdelmalak at ppl51@su.edu or Younus Mirza at ymirza@su.edu.