Overcoming Obstacles to Classroom Based Cross-Border Environmental Education in Universities

Abstract

Solving issues of global environment importance depends upon cross-boundary and cross-cultural cooperation. The Global Liberal Arts Alliance is an organization of 27 liberal arts colleges and universities, located in 15 nations, whose purpose is to strengthen education in the tradition of the liberal arts through the exchange of experience and the development of mutually beneficial programs. The Alliance encourages and facilitates classroom partnerships between professors in different countries around the globe. Professors submit potential courses to an international coordinator who then finds suitable matching courses in other countries. Faculty then meet for planning in the summer prior to teaching to coordinate activities, syllabi, and student-to-student interactions. The authors have engaged Allegheny College students (Pennsylvania, USA) in four different environmental courses with students in parallel courses in Bulgaria, Pakistan, and Morocco. Many students expressed frustration with difficulties in communication, while faculty complained of issues pertaining to technology. Issues of cross-cultural understanding were still achieved, although sharing environmental perspectives was less successful. This paper will describe the many challenges and benefits of having undergraduate environmental students cooperate across time zones and radically distinct cultures.