Sherry Rice, faculty engagement specialist in Penn State’s Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT), organized multiple site visits to the Dreamery and Maker Commons and provided regular coaching throughout the program’s capstone project work. Penn State University Libraries hosted a dedicated session introducing participants to open educational resources and Creative Commons licensing and digital publishing tools and then hosted the program’s culminating event — the Capstone Symposium and Showcase.
Participants said they left with new teaching resources grounded in their own classrooms and new friendships spanning the globe.
“It was a joy to welcome the exchange program participants into the Dreamery and explore creative ways to use emerging technologies in teaching and learning,” said Zach Lonsinger, interim innovation and experiences manager for Penn State University Libraries. “Their curiosity and creativity made the sessions meaningful and sparked ideas they could bring back to their own classrooms.”
Participants also completed a Capstone Teacher Reasoning Template — an open-ended planning document which had them develop a technology-supported lesson to address an identified gap or need in their teaching. The template explained why that lesson, developed over the course of the exchange, fit their own classroom, students and resources. Workshop sessions — which participants used to build their templates — addressed topics such as AI-supported speaking and confidence practice to ethical and responsible AI use; differentiated instruction; multimodal storytelling and digital literacy; immersive technology applied to global issues; and toolkits for all language environments.
IECP Coordinator of Strategic Initiatives Nikki Mattson, the program’s principal investigator and academic lead, will work with the participants in the coming months to edit and publish the finished work as a single collaborative Open Educational Resource to share with the broader English language teaching field.
“This wasn't participants working alone with a template — it was coaching colleague to colleague, participants sharing their expertise with each other and with our faculty, and faculty asking questions that provoked inquiry and contextualization rather than handing over answers,” Matson said. “Sharing our experiences and expertise in this way is what creates a lasting impact.”
The program concluded with the English Language Teaching (ELT) Professionals Conference, which was held concurrently at Pattee and Paterno Libraries with the Capstone Symposium and Showcase. Borough of State College Mayor Ezra Nanes and Jody Pritt, interim vice provost for Penn State Global and international students and scholars advising, offered welcome remarks that stressed the importance of community engagement, international education, and the evolving intersections of language pedagogy and technology in fostering global collaboration. In addition to participants from Penn State and the surrounding community, the conference drew attendees from the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Pennsylvania, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the University of Cincinnati.
“This conference offered an exciting opportunity for ELT professionals from around the world to share innovative practices, engage in meaningful dialogue, and build lasting professional connections,” said Di Liang, IECP interim director and main organizer of the conference.
Several participants noted that the greatest benefit from participating in the exchange was the relationships that had been built.
“I have made lifelong friends and have learned more [in two weeks] than I had in the last 20 years of my career,” wrote one participant. “What I’ll really take with me from this exchange program is that we need to value every person’s opinion, personality and background; empathy is the foundation,” wrote another.