In the academic year 2025, Kansai University’s Institute for International and Global Education (IIGE) successfully organized four sessions of Global Faculty Development, with two sessions held in the spring semester and two in the fall semester. These sessions were coordinated by Professor Adrian Bercea, in close cooperation with Professor Soraya Liu, and were designed as an interactive forum for faculty members to explore innovative approaches to teaching and learning in international and multicultural contexts.

 

The spring semester focused on pedagogical strategies that support student engagement and linguistic diversity. The first session explored active learning techniques, with particular attention to methods such as think-pair-share and their effective use in classrooms with internationally diverse backgrounds. Participants discussed how these techniques can encourage participation, deepen understanding, and foster collaboration among students from different educational cultures.

 

The second spring session was dedicated to the implementation of translanguaging. While immersion-based classes remain valuable in many contexts, the discussion highlighted the growing need, especially in international classrooms, to strategically use multiple languages. Translanguaging was examined as a way to facilitate cooperation, build confidence, and make productive use of students’ native linguistic resources in the development of collaborative projects. Topics such as Differences Between Code Switching and Translanguaging and Tips for Building Confidence in Translanguaging generated lively discussion, grounded in participants’ own teaching experiences.

 

In the fall semester, the focus shifted toward inclusivity and multicultural collaboration. The first session addressed Designing Inclusive Classrooms: Leveraging Student Diversity in Co-Learning. Alongside a reconsideration of inclusive course design principles, participants took part in a short workshop on Redesigning “Barriers” into “Bridges”, encouraging practical reflection on how challenges can become opportunities for connection. The final session complemented this theme, emphasizing strategies for effective teamwork in diverse learning environments.

 

Through these Global Faculty Development sessions, IIGE aims to provide a space for exploration, experience sharing, and collaboration, supporting faculty in understanding and responding to the new and evolving situations they encounter in the classroom and beyond.