ORGANIZATION
Gazelle International is a young nonprofit based in Guilford, CT, USA, with the mission to help colleges and universities provide high quality international education to more students so all have the opportunity to create paths to successful careers and lives in our complex global world. Gazelle's virtual exchange system provides a low-cost, relatively speedy on-ramp for creating sustainable campus internationalization strategies. "CLICK," (Collaborative Learning for International Capabilities and Knowledge), their virtual exchange system harness a troika of tools — faculty talent, technology and travel — to enable students to develop their international capabilities through cross-country teamwork in classroom settings. Building on classroom connections, travel further motivates funders, students and faculty. Gazelle's services include: training for teachers in CLICK /Virtual Exchange, consulting, and assessment. In AY 2021-2022, Gazelle plans to grow the business, building on our first two institutional clients (US community colleges in Connecticut and Wisconsin) while adding their French “cousins” the IUT’s of University of Paris Saclay and other institutional and individual clients and partners in the US and worldwide.
SPONSOR
Nancy L. Ruther, EdD, Principal & Founder of Gazelle International
PURPOSE
The internship will add value in several ways:
- Deepen the knowledge base around international higher education initiatives as well as Virtual Exchange and its results;
- Narrate faculty and student experiences with a compelling story line to attract additional educators and institutions to the work;
- Strengthen and increase institutional partnerships, teaching partnerships and the network of faculty connections with Click, Gazelle's version of Virtual Exchange; and
- Increase the nonprofit’s capacity to serve more and more diverse teachers and students with high quality training and programming around intercultural and 21st century skills
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
This internship will prepare intern for careers in any of the following
- Faculty
- Higher-Ed and research administration
- Entrepreneurship in non-profits
- Education consulting
- Teaching
RESPONSIBILITIES
The “virtual learning liaison” will be an integral part of the training, coaching and materials development activities at the core of work at Gazelle International. Within the overall training framework, the intern will develop training materials and run workshops for teachers involved in Virtual Exchange, especially “first timers”. They will participate in student and teacher assessment, use and adapt existing questionnaires to understand results and provide feedback to teachers and the program. The intern will help facilitate the CLICK network, hosted on linkrEducation, support the CLICK teaching community, help match teaching partners, provide information on different teaching technologies and coaching teachers as they design and run their CLICK projects. The intern will help with conference presentations regarding the training and methods used by Gazelle International to prepare teachers for Virtual Exchange. The intern will communicate with faculty from colleges across the world that work with Gazelle. The intern will also participate in social media and marketing efforts including writing blog posts and other media items in order to share work with prospective college partners and teachers. This internship will give students the chance to contribute meaningfully to the evolving goals and practices of Gazelle International and the larger virtual exchange community.
Professional development areas include:
- Learning to work in a virtual environment across countries
- Communicating with teachers across cultures and time zones
- Coaching teachers and leading workshops in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary areas
- Learning about the community college system in the US and university systems overseas
- Targeting teachers’ learning needs with a mix of compelling, useful materials
- Developing and presenting materials for different audiences via social media, webinars, conferences, and, as opportunities arise, relevant journals
Gazelle provides a unique entrepreneurial environment and insider view of innovation in higher education as a start-up nonprofit that provides training and consulting services for international higher education with a cutting-edge approach in Virtual Exchange and targeting community colleges and under-served institutions.
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
This internship will provide experiences to develop and polish the following skills
- Communication to diverse audience
- Inter-disciplinary team collaboration
- Knowledge of sector and networking
- Thought leadership and innovation
- Problem-solving and analytical
- Project management and leadership
- Teaching, mentoring and training
- Working in a Virtual environment
The intern will receive direct mentoring and supervision from the sponsor, including initial training and orientation with regard to the mission of the organization and standards for communication, with the expectation of increasing autonomy as the internship progresses. As relevant, the intern may be offered the opportunity to attend and present work at professional conferences on international higher education and virtual exchange. As a largely virtual work arrangement, the normal means of communication will be via Zoom, WhatsApp, phone and email. Normally, the work will be conducted on a weekly basis with multi-week goals and weekly team meetings. If possible, the sponsor will travel to UVA to meet with the intern in person, provide orientation and begin developing the specific plans for the work as part of the Gazelle International team.
Prospective interns should have baseline experience in some of these areas and the motivation to develop professionally in each of the following
- Good communication skills in writing and in person by phone or in virtual meetings.
- Problem solving in digital humanities, matching tech to teaching needs
- An understanding of teaching and learning systems (pedagogy, curriculum) and familiarity with different higher education systems and cross-cultural differences around the world
- Ability to work virtually with good project management skills, e.g. schedules and deliverables
Prior experience in teaching and working with a Center for Teaching and Learning or similar techno-pedagogy support center for teachers would be assets. Experience managing initiatives in a professional environment or student organization is preferred. Cross-cultural and/or second language study-work experience helpful. Students with language skills (e.g. French or Spanish) are encouraged to apply.
The internship will commence in Fall of 2021 and continue through Spring of 2022, involving average effort of 10 hours per week over 20 weeks each semester. The intern will work remotely in Charlottesville with regular check-ins with mentor.
The internship will be funded up to $5000 per semester, in wage replacement or augmenting other fellowship support.
INFORMATION SESSION
To learn more about the organization and specific internship opportunity, participate in information session with Founder of Gazelle, Nancy Ruther on February 16, Tuesday at 12 pm, .
Register below to receive zoom link