As of Fall 2023, there are 51 GNL Projects from the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Health, the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, Glendon, the Lassonde School of Engineering, the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, and the York University English Language Institute. GNL is a pedagogical approach that connects York classrooms with other classrooms and communities abroad through collaborative projects and frameworks, design projects, research, and dialogues with students and faculty.
If you are a faculty member interested in the GNL approach, we encourage you to review the Faculty Toolkit and contact the GNL team for any information and supports you need for your GNL ideas.
GNL-Enhanced Courses:
Click on each course title to learn about the course and how the GNL approach was implemented.
Fall/Winter 2023-24
Designing for Change
Designing for Change
Course Director: Shital Desai
In partnership with Queensland University of Technology, Australia; Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, Germany; Linköpings universitet, Sweden
Course Description: In this course, students will learn how designers can improve the world, how to apply human-centered design to solve complex global challenges, and what 21st century skills are required to make a difference in the world. The course will build towards expanding knowledge of human-centered design and provide practical skills to make a difference in the world. We’ll also explore why we evolved from user-centered design to people-centered design.
GNL Components: The approach to people-centered studies integrates ethnographic research with systems thinking methods. This involves mapping the system and pinpointing intervention points for effective engagement. The experiential learning activities encompass various elements, such as ideation sessions utilizing tools like Lego Serious Play, immersive field trips to comprehend the context of our design, and collaboration with community partners. Reflection plays a crucial role, achieved through presentations, journal entries, and interactive activities like the passing the parcel game. Furthermore, the prototyping activities range from sketching and utilizing everyday objects to employing fabrication tools for building and making, fostering a hands-on and creative learning environment.
Teaching and Learning Core French
Teaching and Learning Core French
Course Director: Jafar Alberuni Hussain
In partnership with Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile
Course Description: This course addresses teaching and learning French as an additional language in Core French contexts in Ontario and Canada. Current research in FSL education is examined, and methods and techniques to develop learners’ ability to interact in French are emphasized. This course is only available to students in the Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree program.
GNL Components: Students from both countries work collaboratively in a group on a specific project, in a language or languages of their choosing. The final product is presented in the language of the course (in this context, it will be French). Several ideas include: students can interview one another and write a reflection piece; using video recording software, create a digital brochure to incite others to come and visit their country; exchange recipe ideas, make the dish, document the process, virtually share the dish with their partner, and produce a video-recorded reflection on this experience.
Performance Measurement Systems
Performance Measurement Systems
Course Director: Marcela Porporato
In partnership with Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Argentina
Course Description: This course provides an overview of performance measurement and incentive systems (PMIS) used by companies; improves students’ understanding of management behaviour related to PMIS; presents examples of financial and non-financial PMIS; provides students with opportunities to develop a PMIS; and make students aware that any accountability, oversight and governance mechanism is based on a set of performance measures designed by managers and directors.
GNL Components: On an individual basis, students are required to upload a word document in the course web site in Moodle. In preparation for each class, students will write a summary including a personal opinion of the material read for the day. The first paragraph shall be a personal opinion of the main ideas and conclusions achieved after reading the assigned material for the day. Each of the following paragraphs can summarize ideas or each element read for the day. Groups of 3 to 4 students are required to upload a document in the course web site in Moodle. Classes rely on their preparation to find real applications of the topics that might inform some class discussions. During the course the students will be constantly linking concepts from the book and other readings with real business situations. In most weeks the activity only requires finding an example from public sources (internet) while in others the activity requires students to prepare a short report.
Intermediate Written Communication in Japanese
Intermediate Written Communication in Japanese
Course Director: Akiko Mitsui
In partnership with Hitotsubashi University, Japan
Course Description: The goal of the GNL project is to share ideas on topics students are interested in, using written Japanese, to obtain new perspectives on them through communication, and to reflect on the issues from new perspectives. At the same time, York students will learn the language with the specific genre for communication in Japanese as their target language in written forms, such as giving comments, e-mail messages and short opinion pieces in culturally specific and appropriate manners with students in the partner school, using on-line platforms.
GNL Components: York students write descriptions about themselves and their life and write short opinion essays, and Hitotsubashi (partner school) students read them and give comments on their content (not language errors) in Japanese, via Google docs or other online platform, considering York students’ proficiency level. When York students write, as part of media literacy, they are encouraged to provide a couple of photos to illustrate their writing effectively. There are 5 Google docs for each team (cohort of 6-7 York and Hitotsubashi students), so that they can post more privately. York students also write a response to the comments they receive. This activity/sequence could repeat bi-weekly during the semester. This year, they created short videos to introduce themselves and posted them on the Padlet. A couple of Hitotsubashi students joined in this activity.
Summer 2023
Collaborative Online International Learning Virtual Exchange (COIL-VE)
Collaborative Online International Learning Virtual Exchange (COIL-VE)
Course Director: Hugo Chen
In partnership with Northeastern University, China
Course Description: This is a staff lead initiative - led by Hugo Chen, Director of International Collaborations and Partnerships, and supported by GLYS members. Due to the pandemic, universities worldwide have increased their activity around VE. The Science COIL-VE allows science students to engage in a cross-cultural learning experience through online discussions, virtual collaborations and shared study life during the pandemic & post-pandemic. Students will explore different perspectives and approaches to various topics with peers from other countries and cultures. About GLYS Global Leaders of York Science (GLYS) aims to provide undergraduate students with professional development opportunities to enhance their employability skills and help them develop a global mindset. GLYS is a volunteer team that works closely with the Office of International Collaborations and Partnerships (OICP), supporting international initiatives at York Science.
GNL Components: The Science COIL-VE allows science students to engage in a cross-cultural learning experience through online discussions, virtual collaborations and shared study life during the pandemic & post-pandemic. Students will explore different perspectives and approaches to various topics with peers from other countries and cultures.
Fall/Winter 2022-23
Hispanic Geopoetics
Hispanic Geopoetics
Course Director: Alejandro Zamora
In partnership with Universidad del Magdalena, Colombia
Course Description: This project-based course centres on the study of the perception, representation and mapping of space in and through literature. Adopting a case-study approach, it focuses on a specific work and author, and furthers its investigation through a fieldtrip to a place relevant to the examined literature. The selected literary work is therefore studied both as a primary source to reflect about place, space, and other categories, and as a method of spatial, in-situ exploration.
GNL Components: This course explores the local geographies and oral heritage in the Colombian Caribbean that populated the imagination and generated the particular language of Gabriel García Márquez. Students further explore this aspect during a fieldtrip to the region. Being a Hyflex course, it is attended as well by 7 students from the Universidad del Magdalena (in the Colombian Caribbean), who also met with our students and participated in all the activities of their fieldtrip.
Learn more about Alejandro’s project: https://yorku.zoom.us/rec/share/VC9C6-BdWxMShUp29cHAf2z6PnhLlb2T-BNx0WXxeV867AcHkTtrcpTllNYyxgET.OYUs7Lkd6KGett9s?startTime=1682535787000
Graduate Studies Preparation Program (GSPP)
Graduate Studies Preparation Program (GSPP)
Course Director: Francesca Boschetti
In partnership with Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra, Dominican Republic
Course Description: The Graduate Studies Preparation Program (GSPP) is a language intensive preparation program offered by York University’s English Language Institute at the School of Continuing Studies. It provides students interested in pursuing graduate studies in North-America with academic English language training and graduate application coaching. GSPP students are also coached on how to thrive in graduate school, with a concentration on skills development (oral and written academic communication skills, research skills, critical thinking skills, professionalism).
GNL Components: This GNL project encompasses three key components: Firstly, asynchronous ice-breakers facilitate student introductions in the partner institution, fostering a sense of connection. Secondly, students engage in teamwork, either in pairs or mini-groups, collaborating on a shared objective, such as creating a presentation. Lastly, the project concludes with a final synchronous session, providing an opportunity for real-time interaction and reflection. These components collectively aim to enhance intercultural understanding and collaboration among participating students.
The International Refugee Protection Regime II: Research Seminar
AP/PPAS 4112 3.0 and GS/PPAL 6040 3.0
Course Director: James C. Simeon
In partnership with Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico
Course Description: Using multi-disciplinary analytical perspectives, the current state of the international refugee protection regime will be examined to reveal the underlying forces and dynamics at the root of the critical problems and the probable solutions facing those seeking international protection.
GNL-Components: Students will be able to have a better appreciation and understanding of the refugee and migration issues and concerns internationally as well as, specifically, in three countries: Canada; Mexico; that is, from North America and, South America. Students will be able to work with students from different countries on various critical issues facing refugees and other forced migrants and in the process further develop and hone their problem-solving skills.
Collaborative Student Outputs:
Check out how it went!
Enquête sur les systèmes éducatifs francophones
Enquête sur les systèmes éducatifs francophones
Course Director: Muriel Peguret
In partnership with Universite D'Orleans, France
Course Description: L’objectif est de faire l’expérience des différences culturelles dans le monde de l’éducation de divers pays ou diverses régions de la francophonie sans quitter Toronto. Cette année le DEF a un partenariat avec la France (Université d’Orléans). Les étudiant.e.s du cours au DEF et à l’Université d’Orléans sont lancé.e.s ensemble dans une enquête active et interactive pour observer, dialoguer, comparer, créer collaborativement et analyser les différences d’approches éducatives. L’étudiant va développer ses compétences de communication en français à l’écrit et à l’oral, ses compétences interculturelles (l’aptitude à interagir avec différentes cultures, l’empathie, la capacité d’adaptation), ses connaissances des politiques éducatives et indirectement sa compréhension de l’internationalisation de l’éducation. Tout ceci se fera dans un cadre favorisant la détente, l’interaction, le partage, la discussion et la collaboration. Quelques exemples de thèmes abordés seront : les chocs culturels, les attentes pédagogiques, la façon de communiquer, les notions de diversité, équité et inclusion, les standards éthiques.
GNL Components: Comparisons based on different themes (equity, FSL teaching, school structures, etc.) Final Task group work : planning an FSL lesson together written synthesis of ideas and translation work personal written reflection.
Intermediate Written Communication in Japanese
Intermediate Written Communication in Japanese
Course Director: Noriko Yabuki-Soh
In partnership with Hitotsubashi University, Japan
Course Description: This course is intended for students with basic knowledge of structures and writing systems of Japanese who wish to advance their skills by engaging in communication with the Japanese-speaking community outside of the classroom context, using on-line platforms.
GNL Components: This project is part of the JP2010 course curriculum. Students work on a bi-weekly assignment on a topic to be communicated in written form with students in our partner school in Japan (i.e., Hitotsubashi University), based on the class discussion covered during that week. Students are required to record their work as a form of portfolio, revise it based on the instructor's feedback, and upload it on Google Docs. York students then further respond to the comments that they received from Hitotsubashi students. Each activity will take place as class-to-class, group-to-group, or one-to-one communication based on the topic of discussion.
Learn more about Noriko’s project: https://yorku.zoom.us/rec/play/EHkEa1J0GcPxwGraRLzMocxWA6NYQNIu0AKwJayoxY-k5WSsDqcBlASRlvy9Rd7dZ58PB_zcl5b1zxYR.3rzv9myFnC-K9T2A?autoplay=true&startTime=1683986157000
Winter 2022
Sustainable Design in Performance & Independent Production Practicum
THEA 5111 3.0 & THEA 3000
Course Director: Ian Garrett
In partnership with Griffith University, and Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Course Description: In this course, students will build their literacy in contemporary sustainable thinking, environmental/climate issues, emerging models of creation, pedagogy, and community stakeholder engagement through a combination of research, modelling and field work as strategic change agents in professional settings. This will be applied to developing experimental stage designs responding to the 50 short plays in the Climate Change Theatre Action in preparation for an exhibition at World Stage Design in Calgary, August 6 - 16, 2022. The course will primarily meet in the evenings on Mondays after the Fall Reading week in the York Term , and then pick-up after the Winter Break to finish before the Winter Reading week, after which students may continue to prepare their work for exhibition leading up to World Stage Design in Calgary.
Traveling to Calgary is not a requirement of the course.
GNL Components: Students will create collaborative scenography projects with their peers in Griffith University and Queensland University of Technology, and then organize the exhibition and performance of performance projects at an international festival.
Spanish Linguistics
GL/SP 3600 3.00 (Winter 2021)
Course Director: Jerzy Kowal
In partnership with Universidad Federal de Pernambuco, Brasil.
Course Description: This course will examine the linguistic structures of the Spanish language: its sound system (phonetics and phonology), its word formation morphology), sentence structure (syntax) and varieties of Spanish (historical, social and regional).
GNL Components: The courses will consist or 12 weeks of interactive lectures, where students will participate in a series of experiential learning activities to learn about Spanish linguistics through experience, and experiential learning tasks. Furthermore, all assignments and project will have a purpose of give students real opportunities to "live" Spanish linguistics and, by the end of the course, acquire a real knowledge what is today's Spanish language and of how it works.
The International Refugee Protection Regime II: Research Seminar
AP/PPAS 4112 3.0 and GS/PPAL 6040 3.0
Course Director: James C. Simeon
In partnership with Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico
Course Description: Using multi-disciplinary analytical perspectives, the current state of the international refugee protection regime will be examined to reveal the underlying forces and dynamics at the root of the critical problems and the probable solutions facing those seeking international protection.
GNL-Components: Students will be able to have a better appreciation and understanding of the refugee and migration issues and concerns internationally as well as, specifically, in three countries: Canada; Mexico; that is, from North America and, South America. Students will be able to work with students from different countries on various critical issues facing refugees and other forced migrants and in the process further develop and hone their problem-solving skills.
Collaborative Student Outputs:
Check out how it went!
Global Health Practicum
HH/IHST 4300 3.00 (Winter 2021)
Course Director: Dr. Mathieu Poirier
In partnership with Universidad Técnica Nacional, Costa Rica.
Course Description: Designed to bridge theory and practice in a variety of health settings, the Practicum is a 250-hour planned, supervised and evaluated research and practice based experience in which students are mentored and supported by qualified supervisors and faculty. The course also includes seminars and reflective and applied assignments. Prerequisites: All 3000 & 4000 courses in the program except for HH/IHST 4400 3.00. Open to: Global Health majors.
GNL Components: The Grounded Project brings awareness to issues concerning environmental sustainability, biodiversity conservation, health, and human well-being in Costa Rica through the creation of a series of documentary films spotlighting rural community lives. Through ethnographic research and grounded theory approach, field teams will record interviews with stakeholder community members, uploading footage to a virtual platform where York students and Costa Rican partners will collaboratively explore themes and issues raised as the foundation for film creation.
Graduate Studies Preparation Program
GSPP (Graduate Studies Preparation Program)
Course Director: Francesca Boschetti
Course Description: The Graduate Studies Preparation Program (GSPP) is a language intensive preparation program offered by York University’s English Language Institute at the School of Continuing Studies. It provides students interested in pursuing graduate studies in North-America with academic English language training and graduate application coaching. GSPP students are also coached on how to thrive in graduate school, with a concentration on skills development (oral and written academic communication skills, research skills, critical thinking skills, professionalism).
Virtual Journal Club
Virtual Journal Club
Course Director: Dr. Claudia Chaufan
Course Description: The goal of this Virtual Journal Club is to expose participants to a broader view of the relationship between health equity and social justice in Cuba, thus expanding their perspectives on comparative health policy as a field of intellectual inquiry and policy practice. This will include engaging students with perspectives that are rarely discussed in the mainstream, as they engage with cutting-edge research on the subject matter, discussion and debate among participants, and opportunities to interact with researchers themselves.
GNL Components: Students in the Virtual Journal Club will gain international global knowledge, skills, and attitudes by virtue of the very nature of the activity, that necessitates their engagement with knowledge about the complexity of a country with a very distinct cultural, social, and political tradition, as they interact within the Club with students from very different cultures. These activities are expected to impact their attitudes towards other cultures that very often are stereotyped in mainstream sources. I am very confident about the likelihood of success because I have taught at the university level in four different countries and in classes with students from widely different backgrounds, not only in Canada but also in the Republic of China.
Social Construction of Girls and Girlhood: Critical Feminist Perspectives
Deborah Roberts, "Black Girlhood"
GS/GFWS 6906 3.0
Doctoral Program of Gender, Feminist and Women’s Studies at York University
The Social Construction of Girls and Girlhood: Critical Feminist Perspectives
Course Director: Dr. Cheryl van Daalen-Smith
with Dr. Sharmila Parmanand, Department of Women and Development Studies, College of Social Work and Community Development, University of the Philippines, Diliman campus
Course Description: Drawing upon multiple theoretical perspectives from contemporary girlhood studies, students will explore the cultural and social construction of “the girl”, girls and girlhood. Critical feminist perspectives and analyses combined with “girls’” own experiences, enable students to uncover the ways in which girlhood, and by default enforced yet devalued femininity, is both socially constructed and regulated through time, place and space. The course strives to facilitate the enjoyment of deep reading and scholarly debate on a variety of topics relating to girls and girlhood where the role of oppression will be explored through a critical, feminist and intersectional lens. Through the physical and emotional manifestations of girlhood as experienced and told by “girls” themselves, students develop an awareness of the connections between the personal and social relations of power as they relate to lived experience, identity construction, subjectification and resistance. Readings, facilitated discussions both online and in class, together with learning evidences enable students to challenge and interrogate how gender, race, class, ability, colonization, and the regulation of girls’ bodies, minds and desires collude to enforce the societal enforcement of normalcy, criminality, sanity, etc. Through deep reflection and critical discourse analysis, what we think we “know” about girls and girlhood as an identity category is interrogated, critiqued and deconstructed.
GNL Components:The GNL components included guest lectures provided by both professors to their respective peer’s class, and a shared field trip assignment involving students in pairs, virtually visiting with a girl-serving organization in Canada or the Philippines in order to understand the pressing issues facing girls and the ways girl-serving professionals are constructing support and intervention. A closing combined class will enable students to share the insights gained in their respective field trips, and to engage in discussion regarding similarities and differences in the issues facing girls and the ways that support is provided.
Fall 2021
Digital Media Program: Directed Reading in Data Telematics
Course Director: Joel Ong
In partnership with LASALLE Media Lab, Singapore.
Course Description: This course examines the formation of communities and new theories of mobilization in the digital era. Students will examine the recent history of digital media as a tool in the connection of communities globally, focusing on cultural data expression and narrative story telling through data practices.
GNL Components: Students will work with Lasalle Media Lab to think about how to collect, consider and critically evaluate data to develop multi-cultural digital media content. Then over the semester, students will work in teams to co-create digital media expressions and display their projects in a public showcase.
Health and Healing: Global Context of Nursing
HH/NURS 4546
Course Director: Sandra Skerratt
In partnership with Oxford Brookes University (UK) NUTR6003 Global Nutrition, Public Health and Policy
Course Description: This course analyzes the influence of upstream political, social and economic forces on health status and health care, including health disparities, inequities and environmental degradation. Focusing on the nursing role, present and future scenarios threatening individual, population and planetary health will be examined to critically and reflectively consider social responsibilities and actions.
GNL Components: Students from undergraduate nursing and nutrition programs in different geographical locations will engage in dialogue to compare interdisciplinary perspectives on nutritional issues specific to global populations.
International Indigenous Peer-to-Peer Virtual Exchange Program
Fall 2021
Course Director: Dr. Carolyn Podruchny
Program Description
The program provides opportunities for dialogue and collaboration between Indigenous students at York University and their Indigenous student peers located in Australia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, and the Philippines. The goal is to facilitate connections among Indigenous students around the world and share knowledge and experiences.
GNL Components: Faculty leads are hosting 12 facilitated virtual workshops on Zoom on a variety of themes surrounding Global Indigeneity, including knowledge, spirituality, political movements, communication, land, food, and identity. Participating students will also be producing a culminating project to reflect their learnings to be displayed at a Public Forum in December.
To learn more, visit the Program Website.
The International Refugee Protection Regime I: Critical Problems
AP/PPAS 4111 & GS/PPAL 6030 3.0
Course Director: James C. Simeon
In partnership with Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, The Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador, Northwestern University, Evenston, and Illinois, USA,
Course Description: Using multi-disciplinary analytical perspectives, the current state of the international refugee protection regime will be examined to reveal the underlying forces and dynamics at the root of the critical problems and the probable solutions facing those seeking international protection.
GNL-Components: Students will be able to have a better appreciation and understanding of the refugee and migration issues and concerns internationally as well as, specifically, in three countries: Canada; Mexico; and, Ecuador; that is, from North America and, South America. Students will be able to work with students from three different countries on various critical issues facing refugees and other forced migrants and in the process further develop and hone their problem-solving skills.
Collaborative Student Outputs:
Check out how it went!
Social Justice Nursing: Philosophies and Practices
GS/NURS 7045 3.00
Course Director Dr. Cheryl van Daalen-Smith
In partnership with Brookes University, United Kingdom.
Course Description:
Nursing’s legacy in addressing issues of social justice is well documented and extends far beyond individual patients and the care they deserve to include structural, governmental, political, environmental, monetary, and planetary concerns. Doctoral nursing students are guided to develop structural competency through the examination of health equity, rights, justice, oppression, neoliberalism and the social determinants of health. Facilitators and barriers to critical social justice nursing and the requisite advocacy efforts are explored.
GNL Components: Grounded in student-driven cross-cultural dialogue, students will discuss key issues Canadian and British nurses are taking up in so far as social justice. Partners will provide evidence of the uptake of this issue by nurses in their respective country. Discussion regarding enablers and barriers to social justice work for nurses is to be co-facilitated. A reflective and concise reflective paper and brief presentation shall round out the GNL experience.
Methodology of Spanish-English Translation 1
GL/SP 4910 3.00
Course Director Dr. Maria Constanza Guzman
In partnership with Universidad del Magdalena, Colombia.
Course Description:
This course provides intensive practice translating pragmatic texts from various domains. Conceptual and methodological tools from translation studies and applied linguistics are intended to teach students to analyze texts and plan and carry out a variety of translation projects.
GNL Components:
In this course, students will learn how to describe local linguistic landscapes. Throughout this course, students will work together and create a presentation about their linguistic landscape and the impact on the social and professional activities in their context.
Philippine Folk Dance
FA/DANC 2510F 3.00
Course Director: Dr. Patrick Alcedo
In partnership with University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines.
Course Description:
Introduces students to selected Philippine folk dances. The effects of colonialism, plurality of Filipino culture, and contemporary changes on these art forms are examined as well.
GNL Components:
The students at York and the University of the Philippines will have to learn by heart two folk dances, record on video their performances of these dances in costumes/regalia and using appropriate props if needed and have discussions about their cross-cultural engagements. Both the pre-recorded performance and their insights into collaborating with each other will be their final project for the course.
Place and Learning
EDST 1200
Course Director: Patrick Darkhor
In partnership with Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Dominican Republic.
Course Description:
In this course we emphasis on collaborative and community-oriented learning as an effective pedagogical approach that addresses critical issues related to the role of higher education in fostering responsible citizenship and social responsibility. Central to this course is the study of the role of community and physical spaces in learning.
GNL Components:
Students from both courses will: Participate in cross-cultural student dialogues. Collaborate on knowledge-exchange process and research projects. Gain diverse perspectives on community health issues that matter to them most. Students will engage in virtual dialogue to exchange ideas about community health issues and how to promote health education in the community where the live. Students will discuss health promotion initiatives and listen to each other's opinions through conversations that facilitate understanding of what and how a community health promotion project can be planned and achieved.
Virtual Journal Club
Virtual Journal Club
Course Director: Claudia Chaufan
Course Description
The goal of this Virtual Journal Club is to expose participants to a broader view of the relationship between health equity and social justice in Cuba, thus expanding their perspectives on comparative health policy as a field of intellectual inquiry and policy practice. This will include engaging students with perspectives that are rarely discussed in the mainstream, as they engage with cutting-edge research on the subject matter, discussion and debate among participants, and opportunities to interact with researchers themselves.
GNL Component
Students in the Virtual Journal Club will gain international global knowledge, skills, and attitudes by virtue of the very nature of the activity, that necessitates their engagement with knowledge about the complexity of a country with a very distinct cultural, social, and political tradition, as they interact within the Club with students from very different cultures. These activities are expected to impact their attitudes towards other cultures that very often are stereotyped in mainstream sources. I am very confident about the likelihood of success because I have taught at the university level in four different countries and in classes with students from widely different backgrounds, not only in Canada but also in the Republic of China.
Fall/Winter 2021-22
Global Health Policy: Power and Politics
IHST 2200 (Fall/Winter 2021-22)
Course Director: Mathieu Poirier
In partnership with Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Germany.
Course Description: Analyzes the process through which global health policy is developed. As national and global initiatives can intertwine, the course begins by exploring and categorizing the manner in which nation governments are structured, and the factors that influence the process of policy decision-making at the national and global levels. Explores case studies that demonstrate global health policy development. Prerequisite: HH/IHST 1010 3.00
GNL Components: Each of the three course directors (one at York and two at Fulda) will create asynchronous guest lectures accessible to co-learners in both universities focusing on a global health policy topic that draws on their expertise and research area. Group discussion activities will be assigned for every co-learning week to foster intercultural dialogue identifying different assumptions, values, and strategies underlying Canadian and German approaches to global health policy. Finally, an international collaborative group project will allow students from both universities to work together to produce an tangible product focused on a specific aspect of global health policy response to COVID-19, drawing on both their lived experiences in Germany and Canada and the shared lecture content.
yFile: York University's News | Published April 7, 2021 Global Health students meet and collaborate with European peers through GNL
Economics Virtual Journal Club
Fall/Winter 2021-22
Course Director: Karen Bernhardt-Warner
In partnership with Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU)
In this course, 10 strong-performing students from the LMU and from York University, respectively to join us for a virtual journal club. The “Virtual Journal Club” will introduce undergraduate students to the frontiers of economic inquiry and lower the barriers of entry into economic research. Students will learn to present and debate ideas in synchronous (video conferences) and asynchronous digital environments (different tools and plugins in Moodle) while maintaining personal authenticity and professional academic standards.
Communication, Health, and Environment
NATS/SOSC 1605 6.0 (Fall/Winter 2021-22)
Course Director: Charles-Antoine Rouyer
In partnership with Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), Ecuador and Université Catholique de Lille, France.
Course Description: This course connects the three areas of communication, health and environment by exploring the interrelationships between human health and the health of natural and socio-economic environments. It also addresses the influence of mass communication in relation to public policy pertaining to human and ecosystem health. Throughout the course, the sustainability concept is used as a guiding principle.
GNL Components
Fall Term: Students will participate in Hemispheric Student Dialogues on SDGs hosted by the Hemispheric University Consortium and USFQ to explore the connection between natural sciences and social sciences when dealing with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Student Outputs: Showcase of Student Deliverables on SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being
Winter Term: Canadian students will then work with French students during the early Winter 2021 term, to illustrate visually some of the key concepts studied. The deliverable will be a visual production, which could be part of a one day "Sustainability Festival” in Lille in late March.
Teaching English as an International Language
Fall/Winter 2021-22
Course Director: Marlon Cabrera Valencia
In partnership with Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Colombia.
Course Description: The teaching and learning of English as an additional language has historically favored the (monolingual speaker-without interference from any other language) native speaker as the idealized model of language competency (AKA native speakerism).
GNL Components: In this course, York teacher candidates will have the opportunity to learn from/with Colombian teacher candidates and Ph.D. students working with a critical applied linguistics orientation to decolonize English language practices such as native-speakerism. There will also be a new practicum site where Canadian English-speaking student-teachers can learn from Colombian non-native speaker English teachers for their practicum.
Summer 2021
RealEngineering: Space Pilot Project
Course Director: Dr. Franz Newland
In partnership with Universidad Federale de Pernambuco, Brazil
Course Description: In this unique 6-week, student-run pilot program, engineering students from all year levels will be undertaking a space mission design challenge to send up a small satellite that can gather and distribute information from ground-based sensors in bodies of water near remote communities.
GNL Components: Students in this course will be consulting with peers in the ‘Digital Technologies in Health’ course to dialogue and understand the impact of water qualities both in Canada and the Amazon.
Read about how the GNL Project went on the Project Website.
Sustainable Staging Techniques & Independent Production Practicum
Course Director: Dr. Ian Garrett
In partnership with Griffith University, and Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Course Description: In this course, students will participate in a series of collaborative workshops on EcoScenography based on the Climate Change Theatre Action plays in an international remote studio in preparation for exhibition and presentation at the World Stage Design Festival in Calgary in August 2022
GNL Components: Students will create collaborative scenography projects with international partners, negotiate and translate designs ideas and projects for exhibition and presentation at an international festival, organize the exhibition and performance of performance projects at an international festival.
Canadian Children’s Health and Quality of Life: A Rights-Based Perspective
CCY 3698
Course Director: Dr. Cheryl L van Daalen-Smith of the Children, Childhood and Youth Studies Program
In partnership with Dr. Karla Diaz of the Universidad San Francisco de Quito.
Course Description: Students will explore multiple influences on contemporary Canadian and Ecuadorian children's health through a four-layered lens of Children’s Rights, Social Determinants of Health, Health in All Policies and the Sustainable Development Goals.
The course ethos is the respect of children and youth as human beings, with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of The Child viewed as the most important social determinant of health for Canadian children and youth.
GNL Components: York University students will be grouped with peers from USFQ’s ‘Service Learning’ course in Ecuador to compare perspectives and contexts on a chosen Sustainable Development Goal, in relation to Children’s Health. Students will then create INFOgraphics to display their findings, followed by a reflection on the differences and similarities regarding the SDGs and Children’s Health in their respective countries.
Fall 2020 / Winter 2021
Economics Virtual Journal Club
Fall/Winter 2021-22
Course Director: Karen Bernhardt-Warner
In partnership with Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU)
In this course, 10 strong-performing students from the LMU and from York University, respectively to join us for a virtual journal club. The “Virtual Journal Club” will introduce undergraduate students to the frontiers of economic inquiry and lower the barriers of entry into economic research. Students will learn to present and debate ideas in synchronous (video conferences) and asynchronous digital environments (different tools and plugins in Moodle) while maintaining personal authenticity and professional academic standards.
The International Refugee Protection Regime I: Critical Problems
AP/PPAS 4111 & GS/PPAL 6030 3.0
Course Director: James C. Simeon
In partnership with Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador.
Course Description: Using multi-disciplinary analytical perspectives, the current state of the international refugee protection regime will be examined to reveal the underlying forces and dynamics at the root of the critical problems and the probable solutions facing those seeking international protection.
GNL-Components: Students will be able to have a better appreciation and understanding of the refugee and migration issues and concerns internationally as well as, specifically, in three countries: Canada; Mexico; and, Ecuador; that is, from North America and, South America. Students will be able to work with students from three different countries on various critical issues facing refugees and other forced migrants and in the process further develop and hone their problem-solving skills.
Collaborative Student Outputs:
Check out how it went!
The International Refugee Protection Regime II: Research Seminar
AP/PPAS 4112 & GS/PPAL 6040 3.0 (Winter 2021)
Course Director: James C. Simeon
In partnership with Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador.
Course Description: Analyzes and examines specific international asylum and refugee issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. Students will conduct independent research on international asylum and refugee issues and will have an Experiential Education opportunity with an organization working with refugees. Prerequisite: AP/PPAS 4111 3.00.
GNL-Components: The refugee and migration issues and concerns vary dramatically across and within these three countries. For instance, the Canadian refugee status determination (RSD) system is different from either the Mexican or the Ecuadorian systems. Students will be able to compare and contrast how the RSD systems are structured and function in these three countries and how refugee law and practice works on a transnational basis. And, in the process, be able to analyze and evaluate the respective RSD systems with respect to how fairly, effectively, and efficiently they handle refugees' applications for refugee protection.
Global Health Policy: Power and Politics
IHST 2200 (Fall/Winter 2020-21)
Course Director: Mathieu Poirier
In partnership with Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Germany and Babeș-Bolyai University in Romania.
Course Description: Analyzes the process through which global health policy is developed. As national and global initiatives can intertwine, the course begins by exploring and categorizing the manner in which nation governments are structured, and the factors that influence the process of policy decision-making at the national and global levels. Explores case studies that demonstrate global health policy development. Prerequisite: HH/IHST 1010 3.00
GNL Components: Each of the three course directors (one at York and two at Fulda) will create asynchronous guest lectures accessible to co-learners in both universities focusing on a global health policy topic that draws on their expertise and research area. Group discussion activities will be assigned for every co-learning week to foster intercultural dialogue identifying different assumptions, values, and strategies underlying Canadian and German approaches to global health policy. Finally, an international collaborative group project will allow students from both universities to work together to produce an tangible product focused on a specific aspect of global health policy response to COVID-19, drawing on both their lived experiences in Germany and Canada and the shared lecture content.
yFile: York University's News | Published April 7, 2021 Global Health students meet and collaborate with European peers through GNL
Oral Histories in Amazonia
Course Director: Ian Martin
In partnership with Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador.
Course Description: In this course, students will gain an understanding of two key elements in the construction of Indigenous (Quijos) identity in the Ecuadorean Amazon: visual communication and language. They will also gain linguistic fieldwork experience and develop their digital storytelling skills (scripting/shooting/editing) to gain an appreciation of the role of video/film communication in the construction of Quijos identity.
GNL Components: Students will spend one week preparing online with participation from Ecuadorean partner university faculty. They will then travel to Ecuador to complete the field work: one week preparation with members of the Quijos nation and preparing scripts for video; one week in the field, on Quijos territory filming; one week back in Quito editing and finalizing the project. Glendon students will document their participation by video and text.
Sample Lecture: Challenges and Strategies in Quijos Linguistic and Cultural Revitalization in the Ecuadorian Amazon
by Etsa Sharupi Tapuy et Cheryl Martens
Delivered as part of the Centre for Research on Language and Culture Contact (CRLCC)'s Brown Bag Lunch Talks on Jan 13, 2021
Communication, Health, and Environment
NATS/SOSC 1605 6.0 (Fall/Winter 2020-21)
Course Director: Charles-Antoine Rouyer
In partnership with Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), Ecuador and Université Catholique de Lille, France.
Course Description: This course connects the three areas of communication, health and environment by exploring the interrelationships between human health and the health of natural and socio-economic environments. It also addresses the influence of mass communication in relation to public policy pertaining to human and ecosystem health. Throughout the course, the sustainability concept is used as a guiding principle.
GNL Components
Fall Term: Students will participate in Hemispheric Student Dialogues on SDGs hosted by the Hemispheric University Consortium and USFQ to explore the connection between natural sciences and social sciences when dealing with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Student Outputs: Showcase of Student Deliverables on SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being
Winter Term: Canadian students will then work with French students during the early Winter 2021 term, to illustrate visually some of the key concepts studied. The deliverable will be a visual production, which could be part of a one day "Sustainability Festival” in Lille in late March.
International Indigenous Peer-to-Peer Virtual Exchange Program
Winter 2021
Course Director: Dr. Carolyn Podruchny
Program Description
The program provides opportunities for dialogue and collaboration between Indigenous students at York University and their Indigenous student peers located in Australia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, and the Philippines. The goal is to facilitate connections among Indigenous students around the world and share knowledge and experiences.
GNL Components: Faculty leads are hosting 8 facilitated virtual workshops on Zoom on a variety of themes surrounding Global Indigeneity, including knowledge, spirituality, political movements, communication, land, food, and identity. Participating students will also be producing a culminating project to reflect their learnings to be displayed at a Public Forum in December.
To learn more, visit the Program Website.
