Jeremy Breaden
Faculty of Arts
What if studying overseas didn’t mean leaving home?
Jeremy transforms online international learning beyond study abroad.
What are you doing differently in your field that you believe is driving real change?
I am leading the development of collaborative online international learning (COIL), which brings Monash students together with students from other universities around the world to work on projects in a virtual environment. This form of international learning is not just a substitute for study abroad: it offers a range of encounters and experiences which can't be gained through physically travelling to any single destination.
How do you help students build confidence, not just knowledge?
Most jobs these days, regardless of the industry, involve working together with people from different disciplines and backgrounds in online environments. My classes are an opportunity for students to gain experience in this kind of online collaboration. They confront a range of challenges in communicating, accommodating different perspectives, motivating one another and achieving results under pressure. They develop the confidence to tackle unfamiliar situations and a sensitivity to different perspectives and styles of working. I try to show my students how these benefits are just as valuable, and even more 'transferable', than the subject matter knowledge they gain through their studies.
Most jobs these days, regardless of the industry, involve working together with people from different disciplines and backgrounds in online environments. My classes are an opportunity for students to gain experience in this kind of online collaboration. ”
What do you hope your students take away from their time with you? I'm always impressed and moved by the way students move from sceptical and hesitant, to enthusiastic and confident in such a short time. One of the units I teach, Social Entrepreneurship Challenge in the Indo-Pacific, is a highly intensive online program in which student teams design an original social enterprise from the ground up in just two weeks. As the name suggests, it's a real 'challenge' and many students struggle both with formulating a viable social enterprise idea and with issues of communication and collaboration within their teams. So, it's always remarkable to see them on the final day presenting their ideas so confidently and reflecting so enthusiastically on the whole experience and the friendships they've made along the way.
What does being a 'Changemaker’ mean to you personally?
Sometimes the word Changemaker is used in the sense of 'someone who changes the world'. But that's not how I see it. Nobody can change the world on their own! What we CAN do, though, is inspire and support one another to achieve positive change together. That's the kind of Changemaker I would like to be.