Global Shared Learning by Tecnológico de Monterrey: An International Partnership for Sustainable Development Education

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the digital transformation at universities and forced a rapid transition to online education. Tecnológico de Monterrey leveraged its experience in online education to develop and scale a program of collaborative courses with international partners on the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The pilot program, based on Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), and focused on the UN SDGs, aimed to provide international experiences to students who were not able to study abroad due to economic reasons (SUNY Collaborative Online International Learning). The formula involves two professors who co-design and co-teach an online subject or part of the syllabus to their joint cohort of students, highlighting the relevant elements associated with those subjects’ contents included in the UN SDGs. However, generating enough courses that reached a considerable number of students and involved an international diversity of partners and topics, added layers of difficulty. For instance, not all academics were prepared to manage an online joint group of students or to introduce concepts of the UN SDGs in their courses. To solve these problems and scale up these courses, we created ‘Global Shared Learning – Classroom’ a program that addresses the necessary elements of faculty matching, joint planning of subjects, online co-teaching, use of technological tools, and the active participation of students. Today we have involved more than 18,000 students and 500 professors from 150 universities. This chapter shows how capacity building and complementary partnerships were built. It includes the elements to design, replicate the model, and overcome technology issues for other universities asking to be part of this program.

Citation

Montaño-Salinas, L.P. and Páez-Borrallo, J.M. (2023), "Global Shared Learning by Tecnológico de Monterrey: An International Partnership for Sustainable Development Education", Cabrera, Á. and Cutright, D. (Ed.) Higher Education and SDG17: Partnerships for the Goals (Higher Education and the Sustainable Development Goals), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 113-132. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80455-704-420231007