Amanda Shufflebarger brought an abundant array of personal and educational experiences in Germany to her new role as assistant professor of education at Indiana University East.

She was excited, then, after starting the job late last summer that those experiences and her educational interests would align perfectly with Indiana University’s Global Classroom Initiative.

So perfect, in fact, that she is already leading a Global Classroom this spring semester with her class, Writing for Teachers. She did so with the help of a $3,000 fellowship grant from the initiative.

Among Shufflebarger’s experiences in Germany are a year teaching, a year attending public schools and a visit through a study abroad program.

The new global class for IU East has its roots in a talk between her and Julien Simon last August at the orientation for new faculty.

He is an associate professor of World Languages and Cultures and director of study abroad. In that role, he constantly is on the watch for instructors who are open to adding online global components to their classes.

“She seemed very interested. She had connections,” Simon said about his initial meeting with Shufflebarger. “We thought it would work well.”

And it has worked very well, indeed.

Another country was added to the global educational experience at IU East – and another is coming as early as the next academic year. They are working to set up a nine-day study abroad program to Germany.

By being virtual-based, Global Classrooms are separate from study abroad programs – but they certainly are complementary. “If students participate in a class, they might make the decision to go (on a trip there). That is the premise,” Simon said.

He uses many ways to get the word out about global education possibilities, including workshops, emails, flyers, brainstorming sessions and one-on-one discussions. “I have been heavily promoting the stipend and fellowship since the beginning. I am there to facilitate the process,” he said.

The initiative has helped five other instructors from IU East.

Wazir Mohamed taught a course last fall, titled Global Society, with a fellowship grant. He is a professor of sociology in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

He joined 2021-22 fellows Jaynne Rivas, assistant professor of management, Shari Fowler,assistant professor of accounting, Chien-Chung Chen, associate professor of marketing, and Josh Tolbert, associate professor of education.

The IU Global Classroom fellowship grants will be available again for the 2023-24 academic year.

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IU East also offers its own stipend program for starting new classes.

Online engagement is the cornerstone of the Global Classroom Initiative, which is available at IU and its eight regional campuses. The goal is to encourage classes that are already being taught to collaborate internationally on a virtual project.

The parallel classes can have similar focuses, but there basically is no way to perfectly connect. For example, the class at the University of Hamburg was focused on special education and the class from IU East on writing.

Projects can cover any topic, according to the GCI web site.

Shufflebarger got help in connecting with instructor Claudia Mertens, who specializes in inclusive and special education at University of Hamburg.

Students in their classes used Zoom to meet this semester.

It takes a lot of planning and work for instructors to prepare an international connection. In that realm, Shufflebarger shared the syllabus for Writing for Teachers and communicated often with Mertens about how the collaboration would work. Nonetheless, the connection between classes and instructors depends a lot on learning on the go.

“The goal wasn’t to be perfect. It was to engage and learn from the dialogue,” Shufflebarger said. “We jumped in and made it happen.”

The 25 students from IU East met with their peers at 9 a.m., a six-hour difference from Hamburg. They did follow-up projects after talking together. Some groups needed to meet just once and others needed to connect more often.

“It’s been really fun to do,” Shufflebarger said. “Students were a little uncertain at first with language and expectations. But, they were really engaged and had great conversations with each other. The initial concerns evaporated.”

Junior Halie Scott agreed the experience was educational and fun. “My group had a blast. We talked about a bunch of things,” Scott said.

The interaction was particularly relevant – and fun – for Scott because she is currently learning to speak German and is majoring in creative writing.

“Everyone in my group spoke English, although I know some other groups had some troubles with that,” said the student from Liberty, Indiana. “The time zone was definitely interesting. They were ending their day and we were pretty much beginning our day.”

Scott said it was good “to hear not only about the differences in our education systems but just differences in our lives.”

Shufflebarger wanted the students to be enthused by sharing the similarities and differences in teaching and learning between the countries.

“They collaborate and bring back new ideas,” Shufflebarger said. “They have to think creatively.”

Scott would be onboard with going on a study abroad trip: “I would definitely consider visiting Germany after this experience.” She also is definite about advising other IU East students to take classes that feature a Global Classroom component.

Shufflebarger earned a PH.D. in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching at University of Arizona in Tucson. She has extensive roots in university education in Indiana, earning an M.A. in English at IUPUI and a B.A. at Purdue University. She previously was employed as an English teacher and department chair at Catalina High School in Tucson. She has published several peer-reviewed articles.

She is happy to be at IU East. “My colleagues are supportive and student-centered,” she said. “They are open to me and others taking on projects. There is a lot of support for that.”

Shufflebarger also is happy to live again in Indiana compared to the climate of southern Arizona: “It’s very green here. I enjoy the trees and the seasons.”