The Worlds of Experience: Immersive International Virtual Field Experiences with Language Teachers project is a Professional Development initiative that has guided educators across the US to create Virtual Field Experiences (VFEs) for their classrooms, bringing together digital technologies and cultural learning to advance participating teachers’ and their students’ global and digital literacies. The goal is to encourage a global perspective and open doors to multilingualism, for students at the K-12 and community college level, especially in places in the U.S. where teachers and their students lack access to learning opportunities that encourage a global perspective.
Teachers participated in semester-long programs between 2022 and 2024, with cohorts of language teachers participating in the program over the last year in groups designated as WELL–Worlds of Experience for Language Learning. They worked in group sessions and one-on-one meetings, and were coached in the production of VFEs that are applicable in their own teaching contexts. These cohorts included language teachers from around the United States, including Arabic, French, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
The WELL website contains session materials from a Showcase that took place in Spring 2024, and all teacher and student designed VFE projects. There is a feature to aid other educators in designing VFEs with students.
An implementation guide is coming!
The project is led by Dr. Jill Castek (University of Arizona), with coordinator Dr. Yousra Abourehab. Multiple graduate students at the University of Arizona served as facilitators in individual cohorts, as well as teachers from regional schools: the team details are on the WELL website, here.
The initiative was funded by a CERCLL Faculty Fellowship awarded to Dr. Castek in 2022, and by funding from CERCLL’s current Title VI grant, the University of Arizona College of Education, the three National Resource Centers at the University of Arizona–the Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS), Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), and Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS)–and the Digital Innovation and Learning Lab. Additional support came from Longview Foundation’s Innovations in International Education division, Maria Urquides Laureate Award, and the Jewell L. Lewis Endowment to the University of Arizona College of Education.