Udita Gupta
University of Utah, United States
Dr. Udita Gupta is a career-line Associate Professor in the Secondary Teacher Licensure Program in the Urban Institute for Teacher Education at the University of Utah. Originally from India, she holds a PhD in Learning Sciences (Educational Psychology) with a focus on mathematics education from the University of Utah. She teaches secondary field practicum and secondary mathematics methods courses, working closely with undergraduate and graduate pre-service teachers across STEM and non-STEM disciplines in a cohort-based model. Dr. Gupta’s scholarship centers on reflective practice in teacher education, mentoring and induction for new teachers, community-engaged learning, and globalizing curriculum. Currently, she is piloting a COIL project in Spring 2026 with partners in Vietnam to enhance global competency among pre-service teachers. Her innovative approaches foster culturally responsive pedagogy and real-world collaboration skills. A 2024–25 Global Teacher Education Fellow with the Longview Foundation and the University of Utah’s 2025 Public Service Professor, she leads initiatives that build community-engaged teaching and support early-career teachers in Utah schools.
“Collaborative Online International Learning lets me ‘teach with the world, not just about it,’ inviting students into real relationships across borders while we all navigate the very real complications of time zones, technology glitches, and different academic cultures in order to practice the kind of flexible, intercultural collaboration students will need for the rest of their lives.”
Project Information
Project Name: Global Educators United: COIL for Intercultural Teaching Competence
Partner: Dr. Hien Ngo, Phenikaa University (Vietnam)
Project Length: 3 weeks
Modality: Synchronous
Technology Tools Utilized: Zoom, Google Docs
UN Sustainable Development Goals: Quality Education, Gender Equality, Sustainable Cities & Communities, Partnerships for the Goals
Project Summary:
During the semester, you will participate in a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project designed to enhance your global awareness and intercultural competence as a future educator. Through this experience, you will connect virtually with pre-service teachers from a partner university in another country. Together, you will share insights about your respective teacher preparation programs, discuss instructional strategies, and explore how cultural and educational contexts shape teaching and learning. Your collaboration may include exchanging lesson ideas, analyzing classroom practices, and reflecting on how local and global factors influence pedagogy. Throughout the project, you will engage in guided discussions and joint reflections that help you compare educational systems, curriculum frameworks, and approaches to diversity and inclusion. By the end of this experience, you will produce a reflective summary highlighting what you learned about international perspectives on teaching, the similarities and differences between programs, and ways you can apply these insights to your own professional growth and classroom practice.
Learning Outcomes:
- Develop intercultural competence and global awareness: Students will gain a nuanced understanding of how cultural contexts shape teaching practices by comparing educational systems, curricula, and diversity approaches with international peers, fostering empathy and adaptability as future educators.
- Apply reflective insights to professional practice: Through joint discussions, lesson exchanges, and a final reflective summary, students will identify actionable strategies from global perspectives to enhance their own pedagogy, addressing similarities/differences in teacher preparation and their impact on classroom inclusion and professional growth.