Budget:

The Department of Education requests $65,000 in base budget funding to expand the number of informal and formal research, teaching and service learning opportunities for Montana State University faculty and students. We request the following funds to support the Educators Without Borders program.

• Travel for two faculty for one international trip $7500 for two faculty @ 2 trips = $15,000
• Scholarship money to support travel for 6 students @ 2 trips = $1500 X 6 = $18,000
• Faculty Conference Travel to present research with students- 2 faculty @ $2,000 =  $4000
• Student Conference Travel to present research with faculty - 6 students @

            $1,500 each = $6,000

• Project Coordinator – a graduate student will be hired to coordinate the Educators Without Borders program.

• Stipend for one year = $13,600 for yearly stipend
• Tuition for one year = $6,400
• Total = $20,000
• The project director will:
  • oversee student recruiting
  • advertise international opportunities
  • process student applications
  • acquire travel visas for students and faculty
  • complete other miscellaneous tasks to support the Educators Without Borders program operations.
    • Equipment
    • Computer to support Project Coordinator Work = $740

Montana State University’s Land Grant Mission

            Montana State University, the states land grant institution mission educates students, creates knowledge and art,and serves communities, by integratinglearning, discovery, and engagement.It is a priority of MSU to sustain and enhance programs that contribute to the state's need for well-educated citizens who can participate and lead in an increasingly knowledge-based, technology dependent global economy. MSU’s emphasis on preparing students to interact in a global economy is aligned with President Obama’s efforts to build relationships with South East Asian countries such as Thailand to counter China’s exclusive ties to commerce in the region. President Obama has suggested that it is in the United States’ best interests to provide a model that the populations and the progressive elements in SE Asian countries can latch onto as they develop economically and politically. The US’s efforts to establish common political interests and values in the SE Asian region will provide it with future opportunities for economic ties with the ASEAN nations.

Educators Without Borders

The recently initiated Educators Without Borders (EWB) program housed in the Department of Education supports both MSU’s land grant mission to prepare students to interact within global communities as well as President Obama’s efforts to establish relationships with other countries to promote US economic interests. Educators Without Borders is a comprehensive structure designed to deliver systematic opportunities for students and faculty to participate in authentic, experiential educational inquiry and service across formal, informal, and international settings. Educators Without Borders supports MSU’s land grant mission by providing educational opportunities that support research, teaching and service through international experiences designed to promote multicultural understanding and prepare students to engage in global experiences related to their professional aspirations.

            EWB was created specifically to offer MSU undergraduate/graduate students and faculty from the Department of Education, and from other colleges across the MUS system a variety of opportunities to engage in research-based international, professional preparation activities. A major outcome of these experiences is for students and faculty alike to understand how their professions are situated within a global context. Students and faculty who participate in these formal and informal international learning opportunities will be able to (1) describe the international dimensions of their own disciplines, (2) explain their cultural identity, and (3) demonstrate knowledge of other cultures (including beliefs, values, perspectives, practices and products).

            Currently, the Department of Education has few formal and no informal international opportunities available on a continuing basis for students and faculty to engage in. The only formal program currently available is the Thailand undergraduate research experience. In the past two years only eight education students were placed by an outside agency in some type international teaching, research and service learning experience. These students were placed in Australia, New Zealand, Ecuador and Canada where the culture is very similar to that of the United States. Although these placements are technically international, the people and organizations where students engaged in professional preparations were not much different from those found in the US diminishing opportunities to gain multicultural knowledge and understanding. No education majors that the department is aware of have engaged in formal or informal international research, teaching or service learning experiences through another university or privately organization. EWB proposes to establish consistently available informal and formal learning opportunities for students and faculty interested in conducting research related to their disciplines within the context of diverse cultural settings.

Department of Education and Nakon Sawan Rajabhat University

            An example of one effort at to build relationships with SE Asia is the Department of Education’s long-standing relationship with Nakon Sawan Rajabhat University (NSRU) located in Nakon Sawan, Thailand. For the past 15 years, Montana State University and NSRU have collaborated to provide professional development opportunities for faculty at both institutions. Most recently, in 2012, NSRU and MSU collaborated to establish an international teaching, research and service learning experience in Thailand. Students participating in this experience will conduct research related to teaching English language and engage in service learning at NSRU and at a rural high school near Nakon Sawan, Thailand. During their experience, students will reside with Thai teachers to gain a deeper understanding of Thai culture outside the formal school and university environments.

            The Thailand experience along with others developed by the EWB program will serve to support student and faculty research. Investigations related to how international research, teaching and service learning opportunities contribute to (1) multicultural understanding and global awareness (2) student and faculty understanding of their own professions within a global context and (3) conducting culturally sensitive research are just a few examples of student and faculty research supported by the Educators Without Borders program. In addition, to the research opportunities, service learning opportunities will also be available for student and faculty. For example, during the Thailand international learning experience, students and faculty will assist Thai teachers with English instruction. English language proficiency has been mandated by the Thai government to prepare future business leaders to conduct commerce within the 16 country ASEAN consortium. Figure 1 represents a visual diagram of the relationship between MSU’s land grant mission, Educators Without Borders and the expected outcomes of the Educators Without Borders initiative.

Alignment With MSU’s Strategic Plan

            Educators Without Borders supports several of the goals embedded within Montana State University’s strategic plan. The Engagement goals specifies that “Members of the Montana State University community will be leaders, scholars and engaged citizens of their campus, local, state, national and global communities, working along-side community partners through mutually beneficial exchange and application of knowledge and resources to improve the human prospect.”  The Educators Without Borders program will provide international informal and formal learning opportunities for MSU students that will serve to increase their global and multi-cultural understanding (Engagement Objective E.2). EWB will also serve to form international partnerships that will strategically increase service, outreach and engagement through cross-cultural study, and service-learning experiences that incorporate academic preparation and post-experience reflection (Engagement Objectives E.1and E.3).

            The research component of the Educators Without Borders program also supports the Discovery Goal area of MSU’s Strategic Plan. The Discovery goal focuses on “raising the national and international prominence of MSU in research, creativity, innovation and scholarly achievement; fortify the university’s standing as one of the nations’ leading public research universities.” Both faculty and students will be engaged in international research collaborations within the context of teaching and service learning activities. Results of the research conducted during these formal and informal learning experiences will be disseminated to regional, national and international audiences through presentations and peer-reviewed publications elevating the research excellence and recognition of MSU’s faculty and their students (Discovery Objective D.1).

            The international experiences offered by the Educators Without Borders program will be designed to clearly integrate learning, discovery and engagement. These international learning experiences will be designed to include the same teaching, research and service learning components embedded within the Department of Education’s current collaboration with Nakon Sawan Rajabhat University located in Thailand. Students and faculty will have opportunities to engage in research that focuses on a comparison of the Thai and US educational systems, factors related to development of curriculum with a focus on global awareness, faculty development and international experiences, and understanding the relationship between international partnership and the global economy. The formal and informal research, teaching and service learning opportunities  created by the Educators Without Borders program will serve to increase the integration of learning, discovery and engagement (Integration Goal I.1) and increase work across disciplines (Integration Objective I.2).

Budget:

The Department of Education requests $65,000 in base budget funding to expand the number of informal and formal research, teaching and service learning opportunities for Montana State University faculty and students. We request the following funds to support the Educators Without Borders program.

• Travel for two faculty for one international trip $7500 for two faculty @ 2 trips = $15,000
• Scholarship money to support travel for 6 students @ 2 trips = $1500 X 6 = $18,000
• Faculty Conference Travel to present research with students- 2 faculty @ $2,000 =  $4000
• Student Conference Travel to present research with faculty - 6 students @

            $1,500 each = $6,000

• Project Coordinator – a graduate student will be hired to coordinate the Educators Without Borders program.

• Stipend for one year = $13,600 for yearly stipend
• Tuition for one year = $6,400
• Total = $20,000
• The project director will:
  • oversee student recruiting
  • advertise international opportunities
  • process student applications
  • acquire travel visas for students and faculty
  • complete other miscellaneous tasks to support the Educators Without Borders program operations.
    • Equipment
    • Computer to support Project Coordinator Work = $740

Broader Impacts

            The informal and formal international experiences provided for MSU students and faculty created by Educators Without Borders (EWB) program will not only increase research opportunities for students and faculty but also support increases in student and faculty outreach in the form of service learning opportunities. The research that students and faculty conduct during their international teaching, faculty development and internships will be disseminated through presentations through local, regional and national presentations and through peer-reviewed publications.

            Montana State University has been recognized for the service learning opportunities it provides for students and faculty. For example, MSU’s Engineers Without Borders was recently awarded the C. Peter Magrath University Community Engagement Award by the Association of Land Grant Universities for bringing clean water to Kenya. The Educators Without Borders service learning component will also increase MSU’s recognition as university that is engaged internationally. For example, student and faculty participating in the Thailand research, teaching and service learning experience will collaborate with Thai teachers at Kropach school and Nakon Sawan Rajabhat University to teach English. This form of service is important to our international Thai collaborators because the Asian Economic Consortium (ASWEAN) will use English as the common language for conducting commerce among the 16 Asian countries it represents. Both our students and faculty are poised to provide this type of instruction and faculty development in the English language for Thai teachers.

            EWB will also serve to create an infrastructure to support faculty and student international research, teaching and service learning experiences across the Montana University System by establishing partnerships with international collaborators. The EWB program will reach out to new international audiences and build on established partnerships to increase the number of international learning opportunities for MSU students and Faculty across the MSU campus and the larger Montana University System. The creation of more international collaborations will serve to support an increase the percentage of MSU students participating in cross-cultural study, work or service experiences that incorporate both academic preparation and post experience reflection (Engagement Objectives E.1 and E.3)

Annual Educators Without Borders Implementation Plan

Assessment Plan

Expected Outcomes:

• Increased number of international learning experiences for MSU students and faculty.
• Increased number of student/faculty collaborations to present and publish research conducted during international learning experiences.
• Increased number of international student and faculty service learning and outreach engagement activities.
• Increased student enrollment in international research courses.
• Increases in student and faculty understanding of other cultures, cultural identity, the international dimensions of their professions and disciplines and the importance of global collaborations.

The impact of the Educators Without Borders program will be evaluated using the following criteria:

• The number of student and faculty international research, teaching and service learning experiences.
• The number of student enrollment in international research courses designed to teach multicultural understanding, cultural identity, culturally sensitive research methods and understanding of the international dimensions of their professions.
• The number of student and faculty international research presentations and publications in peer-reviewed journals.
• The number of students/faculty international research collaborations.
• The number of international student and faculty service learning and outreach engagement activities.
• Pretest and posttest surveys and retrospective analysis will be used to assess the influence of international learning experiences on student and faculty (1) multicultural awareness/understanding, (2) cultural identity, (3) understanding of the international dimensions of their own disciplines, and (4) understanding of the benefits global collaborations.

Sunset Plan:

We view the program as a successful endeavor that will realistically meet the above assessment criteria. We plan to collect baseline data the first year to use as a comparison in subsequent years to determine if the Educators Without Borders program is meeting the program goals to increase international student faculty experiences, international engagement, research collaborations and dissemination and student/faculty multicultural understanding and global awareness. We will review the project outcomes yearly and revise our assessment criteria if necessary. However, if we are not meeting our assessment targets, we will terminate the existing international collaborations over the course of one year. This action will allow students and faculty to seek alternative arrangements for participating in international learning opportunities. In addition, this one-year extension will allow adequate time for our international partners to seek collaborations with other universities.