Bosscher’s Global Virtual Class Featured on CNN Indonesia

Amidst a global pandemic, the Trinity community is still making a difference around the world! Recently Emily Bosscher, Director of First Year Experience, taught an online English class for students in Indonesia. The class was featured on CNN Indonesia.

The students attend one of Trinity’s international partner schools, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman (Unsoed), a large public university located in Purwokerto in Central Java. Bosscher had visited the school last summer at the invitation of Trinity Professor of Theology Yudha Thianto, Ph.D., a native of Indonesia.

“Yudha has been influential in starting the Department of English at Unsoed and helping them raise their standards of teaching,” said Bosscher. “During my time there last summer, I did some guest lecturing in their College of English, along with delivering several public lectures, visiting a couple of boarding and village schools, and meeting with various faculty to talk about teaching methods and Generation Z students in general.”

Bosscher has remained friends with several of the Unsoed professors, particularly Ibu Nisa Roisaya. When Unsoed moved to virtual learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Roisaya reached out to Bosscher and asked her to consider teaching a virtual class as part of a creative writing course. “Nisa, who is also doing some certification work with this project, decided to bring in more global interaction. Along with myself, two guest lecturers from India participated as well,” said Bosscher, who focused her lesson on figurative language. “Since they are meeting virtually anyway, why not bring in voices from around the world?”

She said it was an amazing experience to teach the class and meet her fellow instructors virtually. “Since every single country, religion, and person is affected by this global pandemic, we have a wonderful opportunity to learn globally and be more creative in our teaching,” she said. “This is a great time for all professors to reach out to their international connections to collaborate in education, because we are all using platforms that are universal.”