Discussions

Your Name and Title: Carlos S. Huerta Jimenez - USMEXFUSION Executive Director

School or Organization Name: USMEXFUSION

Co-Presenter Name(s):

Area of the World from Which You Will Present: USA

Language in Which You Will Present: English

Target Audience(s): College/University Faculty and Staff

Short Session Description (one line): Empowering Students through the Open-Access Teaching Method Students Empowered (STEMP)

Full Session Description (as long as you would like):
In 2012, after realizing that many classrooms in Mexico and the United States still resemble traditional power structures, competencies were not developing at a desirable rate, and internationalizing the classes was not common practice, the presenters created an open-source method to share with HEIs.
STEMP serves to empower students and allows teachers to perform formative competency-based assessment on a daily basis. To let students LEARN, we let them LEARN for themselves. So they can BE, we let them BE and so they can DO, we let them DO. To achieve this, we need to remove the teacher from the front of the class and let the magic happen. The teacher then becomes a guide, a planner and an evaluator. S/he guides the progress of the course in order to achieve the class outcomes, plans the entire course, and assigns responsibilities to all students from the beginning of the course, while at the same time carries out ongoing formative assessments. This type of assessment helps students better themselves in the learning process.
In this method, students take ownership of the course and become protagonists of the learning processes that occur both inside and outside of class. In teams, students facilitate classes, prepare materials, and monitor learning. They create and perform scenarios where they represent real life situations applying the knowledge, skills and attitudes covered in class. They become linking agents, both international and intercultural, and link the class with reality by bringing guests speakers from the community.
Participants will learn how to implement USMEXFUSION’s competency-based teaching method STEMP® in their classes. They will leave with concrete tools to reverse the traditional power structure in the classroom and take action towards creating in their students an international and an intercultural awareness.

Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session: http://usmexfusion.org/en/stemp/

Biodata: Carlos Huerta, MA, is co-founder and Executive Director of USMEXFUSION, A.C. USMEXFUSION is a young Mexico-based bilingual non-profit organization that focuses on promoting and developing the institutional comprehensive internationalization of HEIs. He holds a BA in Modern Languages with an emphasis on English teaching and translation, and an MA in HEI Administration. He is co-creator of Si3, an open-access System for Institutional Comprehensive Internationalization (Sistema de Internacionalización Integral Institucional) and STEMP – Students Empowered, an open-access innovative teaching method.