Virtual Global Exchange
Highlights
USF has many success stories of how our faculty incorporate virtual global exchanges (VGE) into their classrooms, in addition to how the university incorporates global learning into its overall strategic plan. Read more about selected VGE spotlights below.
- USF Earns National Recognition for Commitment to Global Learning | In late 2023, the University of South Florida was awarded the 2023 APLU International
Impact Award for Global Teaching and Learning. This national award recognizes innovative
and impactful global learning, research, and engagement efforts by the Association
of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).
- USF Celebrates 'International Education Week' All Month | The University of South Florida hosts dozens of events each November for International
Education Month — USF World's answer to the joint week-long initiative between the
U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of State to promote programs
that prepare students for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad
to study, learn, and exchange experiences. International Education Month brings the
benefits of international education to life by celebrating many of the university's
global connections each year.
- Virtual Pen Pals to Travel Buddies: USF Class Tours South Korea | The first study abroad program to begin virtually and lead to a faculty-led trip
abroad, twenty Judy Genshaft Honors College students visited their classroom counterparts
in South Korea during the summer of 2023.
- USF Partners with Brazilian University to Brew Better Beer, Engage in Virtual Global
Exchange | Read about how Joe Askren, a professor of instruction in the School of Hospitality
and Tourism Management on the Sarasota-Manatee campus, first partnered with Priscila
Veiga dos Santos, a professor of food science at the Universidade Estadual Paulista
in São Paulo, Brazil to bring virtual global exchange to his ever-popular Introduction
to Beer Science course. The local Sarasota Herald-Tribune also featured a version of this story here.
- Cheers to 10 Years of Beer Science | Discover how the Beer Science course noted above has evolved over the last 10 years
to broaden its focus and now connect students around the world, using virtual global
exchanges to provide fermentation recommendations for how to modify and enhance the
USF students’ recipes and produce a more robust final product. Students also partner
with local Sarasota-area breweries to gain industry knowledge and practical applicability
for their product(s).
- Global Classroom Collaboration with Moldova Wins International Partnerships Award
Led by Professor Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlin, a global classroom experience that brought together USF St. Petersburg students with peers in Moldova to conduct joint research, while an international humanitarian crisis was unfolding nearby, received the inaugural International Partnerships Award from the American Political Science Association (APSA) and the Political Studies Association (PSA). - USF World Crosses New Frontiers in Global Learning via Virtual Global Exchange
Read about the beginnnings of virtual global exchange (VGE) at USF and learn how students can participate in an authentic international experience without leaving their Tampa Bay classrooms. Considered a cutting-edge opportunity for USF faculty members and their students, VGE has taken virtual reality technologies “by the horns” and implemented them in a manner that helps foster intercultural dialogue in a unique way.