UW System faculty and staff
who teach international studies use technology in a myriad of inventive
ways. Some of these have been described in more detail within this month's
special section on global studies and technology. Below is a sampling
of other inspired projects currently underway:
- Angela Burger of UW-Marathon
County uses two web-based assignments for her students of international
policy. Both are role-playing exercises designed to teach the complexities
of developing national policy surrounding a particular multi-faceted
issue.
The first, "What
to Do About AIDS in Africa?," was developed in collaboration
with UW System colleagues from various disciplines. It has students
taking on personae within one of six organizations, each with a unique
perspective on how to handle a national health crisis. Represented
parties include the African state, a pharmaceuticals corporation,
United States officials, a non-governmental health organization, the
United Nations, and the Indian government. After reading the background
information provided, students can go to a discussion board to collectively
settle on the best actions to take based on their organization's goals.
The second exercise simulates a military
defense strategy from the standpoint of the Chinese government.
Acting as military officials, students read the on-site research about
China's current military situation and border issues, and then plan
a defense budget that will support China's goals. An online "shopping
cart" provides pictures, descriptions, and prices of the weapons
from which student groups must choose. In both exercises, Burger has
her students collaborate on their decisions and produce papers defending
their final choices. Both sites also include suggestions for using
the exercises within a variety of course frameworks. (Editor's note:
For more information on Angela Burger's projects, please see her upcoming
article in the May 2003 issue of TTT.)
- At UW-Madison, Rod Matthews
teaches two three-credit courses, International Business and Real
Estate Process. In both courses, students can opt for an extra credit,
which gives them the opportunity to interact online with students
from other countries. Currently, Matthews has partnered with business
schools in Kazakhstan and Tanzania for the international business
course, and with Kyrgyzstan for the real estate course. Each international
team of students completes problem-solving activities in English that
relate to course content. While he acknowledges that "there's
a learning curve that everybody is on to make this long distance stuff
work," he says the experience--for students and instructors alike--has
been "electrifying." Because the students participate in
live audio-conferencing, a particular challenge has been to negotiate
time zones and and schedule meetings convenient to all participants.
He hopes to incorporate internet video into both courses in the future.
- Larry Neuman, the coordinator
of Asian Studies at UW-Whitewater, has worked on a number of distance
learning projects, currently in varying stages of development. One
course, Contemporary Japanese Society, was taught with a combination
of web-based instruction and distance video and was offered to students
at UW-Whitewater and UW-Oshkosh. Opening courses to a larger number
of students geographically provides a solution for low demand on one
campus, which Neuman says is often the case in global studies programs
at some institutions.
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