Global Citizenship Course Goes Global Across the Bard Network
What does it mean to be a global citizen? What forms of political organization are necessary to address problems that cut across national borders and require a global response? During the Fall 2016 semester, students at five campuses in the Bard-HESP network are contemplating these and similar questions in a new course titled Global Citizenship. Faculty members from American University of Central Asia, Al-Quds Bard, Bard-Annandale, Bard College Berlin, European Humanities University and faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg State University met in person and over video several times during the 2015-16 academic year to carefully plan and coordinate efforts to launch a shared course on global citizenship. The result is a set of linked courses that share readings, a similar course structure and common assignments.
One of the goals of the course is to link students in different parts of the world in conversation about a common set of problems and global issues. To this end, all students enrolled in the course regularly participate in an online discussion forum, where they respond to questions posed by the different classes, engage with one another in virtual debate, and sustain a global conversation about how to meet the challenges that an increasingly globalized world presents. To further encourage collaboration between the campuses, faculty have arranged for guest lectures that link the different classes. Michelle Murray, who teaches the course on the Bard-Annandale campus commented on how global problems are conceptualized and studied in the class. “These linkages highlight how very specific local problems can have global significance and demonstrate for students how similar problems unfold differently in different places. Our hope is that this class will be taught annually across the network for years to come.” Murray went on to say plans are underway for future iterations of the course to include more direct collaborations where students will be paired with peers from other campuses to work on a joint project.
