Collaborative Projects Abroad

Steps to Utilize and Set Up a Global Collaborative Project

Global connections and experiences provide the best path to authentic global career readiness. Utilizing projects that involve a connection and collaboration with students in a community many time zones away can provide your students with these experiences. Developing a globally collaborative project involves several steps:

Step 1. Begin with the right mindset.

• Seek to build partnerships, not solve your global partner's problems. Both sides have a lot to offer.
• Don't assume what they do or don't have; ask and learn.
• Train your students to recognize negative mindsets, and how to shift them if they emerge.

Step 2. Find a partner.

• See our updated page of organizations that can help you find a partner. Make sure to delineate your curriculum goals and seek partners that are working on the same concepts.

Step 3. Find curriculum connections and a project you can work on together.

• Mitigate potential downfalls by first producing something separately and then sharing it.
• Based on these goals and concepts, co-design the project and activities.
• Modify the project through constant feedback and communication.

Step 4. Prepare your students to:

• Use the Internet and technology safely and effectively.
• Make good decisions and exhibit proper etiquette online.
• Have meaningful engagement with others and respect differences.

Step 5. Do the project!

• Set a timeline for collaboration with your partner. Consider holidays and school breaks on each side.
• Check-in with your global co-teacher frequently, a weekly basis is recommended, to evaluate student progress and coordinate upcoming activities.
• Manage and encourage student collaboration.
• Provide coaching and feedback to students to enhance global connection.
• Lead student reflection activities after each global interaction.

Additional Reading

• The Global Education Guidebook: Humanizing K–12 Classrooms Worldwide Through Equitable Partnerships by Jennifer D. Klein
• The Global Educator: Leveraging Technology for Collaborative Learning and Teaching by Julie Lindsay
• "How to Encourage and Model Global Citizenship in the Classroom" blog on Education Week.
• "Building Partnerships Outside the Classroom That Work" article by Principled Learning.
• "Evaluating Virtual Exchange Toolkit," from the Stevens Initiative.

Want to collaboratively solve a problem by connecting your students with students in another part of the world? Take Module 8: Enhancing Instruction with Global Collaborative Projects, a short 20-minute online professional development module that is part of the Career Readiness in a Global Economy: STEM and CTE program. This module is available for free (log-in required).