A Collaborative Approach to Faculty Development at FIU
At Florida International University, the Office of Global Learning Initiatives and the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program have joined forces to support faculty in designing meaningful, assessment-driven writing assignments for global learning (GL) designated courses. This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to enhancing student learning through intentional, interdisciplinary faculty development.
Shared Goals, Distinct Strengths
The collaboration emerged from a mutual recognition that many faculty teaching global learning (GL) designated courses rely on writing assignments to assess students’ achievement of global awareness, global perspective, and global engagement. The Writing Across the Curriculum team’s expertise in writing pedagogy was the perfect fit to support professors in developing those assessments. It was a natural collaboration in developing a strong, practical professional development experience for instructors teaching GL designated courses across the university.
For WAC, the primary objective was to support faculty in designing writing assignments as authentic assessments. For OGLI, the goal was to help faculty translate big-picture global learning concepts into tangible classroom practices.
The collaboration aimed to empower faculty to create writing projects that are not only aligned with GL designated course goals and outcomes but that are also engaging and meaningful for students. WAC staff’s contribution to the workshop provided faculty with practical tools to apply global learning principles through writing. Faculty then produced assignments that cultivate students’ intrinsic motivation by encouraging personal engagement with the content.
The workshop session highlighted the power of shared faculty development efforts as a strategy for outreach and engagement. By integrating the expertise of the WAC and GL teams, we showed that professional development in teaching practice is mutually reinforced; teaching practices championed by different teams across the university support each other and encourage a robust culture of teaching and learning.
Advancing Student Learning
At the heart of this ongoing collaboration is a shared vision for student success. Writing Across the Curriculum supports student learning by fostering critical thinking, deep engagement with course content, and authentic communication. When writing assignments are purpose-driven and relevant, students are more likely to connect personally with the material and develop the skills needed to communicate thoughtfully across contexts.
Authentic assessment and engaged problem-solving are central to global learning. Global learning necessitates assessment that allows students to demonstrate not only what they know, but also how they think and engage with issues that transcend borders of all kinds. The shared vision of this collaboration ultimately empowers students to be effective communicators and lifelong learners.
The collaboration has yielded significant benefits for both offices. It has expanded WAC’s outreach to a broader group of faculty and deepened the integration of global learning principles into writing instruction across disciplines. Embedding WAC’s work in the GL Curriculum Design and Instruction workshop helped faculty bring these elements to life through intentional writing assignment design, creating more authentic and relevant learning experiences for students.
The partnership has helped professors to assess the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for global learning. WAC’s contribution ensures that faculty leave the workshop with a concrete, classroom-ready product grounded in these global learning principles.
Early Feedback and Insights
Since the collaboration began, WAC has participated in five Global Learning Curriculum Design and Instruction workshops. These full-day workshops have featured WAC’s mini-workshop, Encouraging Intrinsic Motivation Through Writing Assignments, which offers strategies for designing writing tasks that are meaningful, motivating, and aligned with global learning outcomes.
Initial feedback from the workshop participants has been positive. Faculty have expressed appreciation for the practical, hands-on nature of the sessions and the opportunity to think more deeply about how writing can support global learning. Survey results have indicated that participants found the WAC session particularly helpful in making abstract global learning goals more concrete.
This partnership has demonstrated that when support units collaborate intentionally, they can effectively address overlapping goals and enhance the impact of faculty development. As FIU continues to prepare students for a complex, interconnected world, collaborations like this one will play a vital role in shaping meaningful, future-ready learning experiences.