Tag: Global/International

Global Education

Curious David Redux: Ruminations on global education

on April 24, 2018

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Across the years I have been fortunate to have learned from a number of global educators. Luis Miguel Miñarro, an educator in La Mancha, Spain, shared with me how he used Animoto  to make a Carnival 2014 video. Now we interact on Linked-in.  Thank you, colleague, for helping me to discover new ways of learning and sharing my learning.
I treasure the “care package” received from educator friend, Inci Aslan, in Turkey who was the principal investigator of an Etwinning project I closely followed…
 Thank you, Inci. I hope that you are well, safe, and happy. I admire what you have done in the classroom.
Lithuanian educator Irma Milevičiūtė befriended me on Epals years ago and whetted my  interest in global communication. Heartfelt thanks, Irma–though we have lost touch, what I have learned from you and with you has been enduring
Thank you, Australian educator Julie Lindsay, for expanding my global horizons with your seminar Flat Connections Global Project . My world continues to expand as it shrinks.
How does one keep up with “the learning revolution” or Classroom 2.0? How does one keep abreast of developments in International Education?
I try to keep reasonably aware of international events through reading articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education and The Guardian.  I occasionally shadow Global Education Conferences  and follow several WordPress blogs dedicated to Global Education. And yet I remain so globally illiterate.
Here are my some of the reflections on this topic a few years ago.
 The world is open. I’ve been thinking about how to make our campus and curriculum more global. Here are some incipient thoughts about how that might de done.
  • Increase awareness and use of media such as BBC News and  Google News.
  • Incorporate Kiva into the classroom.
  • Tap into high quality online .
  • Explore other languages.
  • Capitalize on cultural universals such as music, cuisine, sports, and literature. Our international students have so much they can teach us.
  • Reading: We need to encourage faculty, staff, and students to read, discuss, and discover world literature. Ann Morgan’s blog (a “Year of Reading Around the World”) is a wonderful place to start.
  • Though no substitute for reading, excellent audio and video recordings exist of introductions to world literature, world history, travel, and world religions.
And here are even earlier reflections…..
  • What is the appropriate foundation for general education in the 21st century
  • Are we faculty appropriately educated for teaching in the 21st century?
  • What skill sets, traditions, and knowledge are as vital today as when this academic institution was founded?
  • Can we change our general education program without intentionally changing our institutional mission?
  • Should part of a general education be mastery of another language? If so, how does one define mastery— knowing the right phrases to allow one to travel within another country?
  • Should one be fluent in another culture’s history, customs, idioms, national concerns, and language?
  • Can internationalization be achieved through the 21st century equivalence of international pen pals using Skype?
  • What defines global citizenship? Global awareness?
  • How can we continually reaffirm and rediscover our common sense of humanity?
Ayuda me. I’m going postal 🙂  global!
ArtCurious David

Shall I Visit the Netherlands – Wat stel je dat ik doe?

on February 23, 2018

One of my greatest regrets is that over the past forty years teaching here at Carroll I have failed to take advantage of opportunities to take students abroad. My own such personal experiences (Spain and Portugal for a few weeks while attending Howland High School; Guanajuato, Mexico for a 6 weeks while an undergraduate at Oberlin College; 6 months in Bergen, Norway while a graduate student at The Ohio State University) were formative and informative. Fortunately I’ve been blessed with students, friends, relatives, and colleagues whose home is abroad. Hopefully upon retiring Debbie and I will do some international traveling.

Where should we travel? Our passports are in hand; we used them traveling through Canada last summer on our way to the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony. We have friends and relatives in Russia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. I am of Scottish heritage and becoming increasingly interested in genealogy.

Recently the Netherlands has been sending me signals that perhaps I should visit there. I’ve already checked it out on by following a Dutch news feed!

And there are fascinating engaged friends there!

And talented artists like Saskia SE de Rooy have even come to Carroll reminding me about the beauty in life. My portrait sculpture done by the talented Carroll student artist Ashley Goetz under the tutelage of Saskia will be among those displayed in April.

Perhaps I also would attempt to visit Diederick Stapel who has given me so much to think about.

Or look at the museum pieces of the artist Godfried Schalken that Google’s app said my selfie 67% matched.

Debbie ALMOST bought some wooden shoes when we were in Holland, Michigan last summer.

Maybe we should go get the genuine article from the Netherlands.

 

We had to hurry back to attend an important tea-party at North Lake, an important annual event. North Lake living is like living in Neverland. It helps me not grow up and keeps me laughing.

 

Wat stel je dat ik doe?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Curious David

Ruminations on Gratitude: Saying, Giving, and Living Thanks

on November 29, 2016

p1080771Our recent Thanksgiving holiday (a time of joy, happiness, good food, and playfulness) seems so long ago. Why is that? How can we celebrate year round and enlarge that celebration to embrace our common humanity across the globe?
I am giving an exam right now. After all, today is “Giving Tuesday.” You can read about its history here and about this year’s 2016 effort here. There are so many people and organizations in need across the world. How sad it is that we must market, self-promote and commercialize the act of giving rather than internalizing it as a joyful, daily activity. Thank you to my many global friends who strive to make the world a better place through their daily contributions. Here is my best effort to reach you in your native language!

A few years ago I considered (re)creating a course dealing with the topic of “Happiness.” Those thoughts can be found here. And here is a list of a number of “happiness experts.” Giving makes me happy. But I don’t give in order to be happy.

I think it would be be interesting to develop a course investigating gratitude. A lot of research in this area has already been done and is shared by Berkeley’s Greater Good organization. That link can be found here.

Time to collect exams! I give a 2nd exam in an hour. Their gift is that I shall have 40 exams to grade!

 

Curious David

Confessions…

on September 11, 2016

 

photoIt’s the first week of a new semester and I’m preparing for my PSY303 Experimental Social Psychology class.  I’ve written extensively in the past about teaching such a course. As I wind down (or wind up), I’m attempting to re-examine what, how, and why I teach each of my courses.

At the end of this week I’ll password protect blog posts entitled “Confessions” as I use them within my PSY303 class to develop student critical thinking and writing. Contact me if you’d like reading permission to view or participate in this  project.

Confession # 1: That is an old photo from my Social Psychology Network  Web Page.  I truly admire how Scott Plous has developed this web page and has maintained its excellence across the years. I also continue to be sympathetic with its over arching mission:”Social Psychology Network is an educational organization whose mission is to promote peace, social justice, and sustainable living through public education, research, and the advancement of psychology.”

Confession #2: I just now renewed my SPN donation for 2016 and 2017:) Thank you SPN for all you do.

I invite former students (e.g. Deana Julka, Cathy Carnot-Bond,Mark Klinger, Jennifer Welbourne, Pam Propsom, and Terry Kott) and social psychologists (that’s you Tara J. Schmidt and Denise Guastello:)) among many others) to share with me their experiences as social psychologists or who draw upon social psychological principles in their lives (like you Mike Schwerin and Michelle Braun).

 

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Bridging the Academic and Business Worlds

on February 29, 2016

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In my teaching, research, writing and consulting I try to be a bridge-builder across admittedly different disciplines, cultures, and age groups. I enjoy reading the Harvard Business Review as well as Psychological Science. I just had accepted for publication a book review of Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science. I currently am learning much from Andrew Macarthy‘s 500 Social Media Marketing Tips: Essential Advise, Hints, and Strategy for Business: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and More! I am making more use of Linda.com. And I follow with admiration the efforts of Jane Hart to expand the ways that learning can take place in the workplace.

In concert with Michelle Pacansky-Brock‘s Best Practices for Teaching with Emergency Technologies, Susan Manning and Kevin E. Johnson’s The Technology Toolbelt for Teaching, Steve Johnson’s Digital Tools for Teaching, and Alec Couros’ Becoming a Networked Learner, these resources have demonstrably changed how I teach, how I learn, and how I “reach out” to others  via social media. Clearly, as Curtis J. Bonk has evangelized,  my world has been opened and expanded.

Over the past decade I been enriched by discovering, testing, curating and using a number of “technology learning tools” identified by Jane Hart. My students and I are soon to release a series of ebooks sharing how we use these tools. The challenge is to find balance between tool use and the tools controlling the user. For a horrific example of such a dystopia I recommend your reading Dave Eggers novel The Circle.

Though I have explored every year each of the 100 learning tools,  I have no “favorite” tool. Which tool I use most is very much a function of the learning/teaching task I am engaged in, the discretionary time I allow myself for being online, the audience I am working with, and the particular computer/operating system I am using. All these factors change very quickly.

This year I am using Twitter much less often than in the past. Because of an increased need for collaborative work with on campus committees, cross-national collaborations, and with my student research group and because across the course of a day I move between a desktop PC, a desk top Mac, a laptop PC, a laptop Mac, and IPads, I am now using to a far greater degree Google Docs/Drive and DropBox. Without Google Docs or a similar sharing capacity I would be plagued by not remembering upon which machine I  stored information needed to be shared. My international colleagues and international friends are more facile with the use of YouTube than I. Google Search (and Google Scholar) is my search engine of choice though I grossly under-use the sophisticated and nuanced search capabilities it provides.

I intentionally under use  PowerPoint  and force an increased use of Airtable.  Evernote, for me, has potential but is nonessential in my day-to-day activity. WordPress, Facebook, and LinkedIn play an  integral role in my teaching, learning, promulgating, bridge-building and networking modus operandi as well as assorted screen casting tools.

Help me out.  Help me learn. Which of these tools have you used? What am I missing in discovering their utility for teaching,learning and bridge-building?  Which would be most useful in advancing my interests in cross-national cross-generational teaching and learning? Which  tools develop skills that all global citizens should be familiar with?


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Thank You, Global Educators, for Your Impact

on February 18, 2016

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A provocative blog piece by Luis Miguel Miñarro, an educator in La Mancha, Spain… We had “interacted” in prior years when he shared with me how he used Animoto  to make a Carnival 2014 video. Now we interact on Linked-in and, soon,  Skype. Thank you, Colleague, for helping me to discover new ways of learning and sharing my learning via Padlet…

A care package from an educator friend, Inci Aslan,  in Turkey who was the principal investigator of an Etwinning project I closely followed…

 Thank you, Inci, and congratulations on your recent wedding….

A Facebook chat message from Lithuanian educator Irma Milevičiūtė who befriended me on Epals years ago and whetted my  interest in global communication. Heartfelt thanks, Irma—though we have lost touch, what I have learned from you and with you has been enduring….

An informative hour-long  Fuzebox.com  conference with Julie Lindsay, an educator in Australia, about the Flat Connections Global Project —my world continues to expand as it shrinks. Thank you, Julie—I find your China project particularly intriguing and hope that we can be in touch again soon.

How does one keep up with “the learning revolution” or Classroom 2.0? How does one keep abreast of developments in International Education? I try to keep reasonably aware of international events through reading articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education and The Guardian. I occasionally shadow Global Education Conferences  and follow several WordPress blogs dedicated to Global Education. And yet I am so globally illiterate. Here are some of my past musing about these questions

Here are my some of reflections on this topic a few years ago… The world is open. I’ve been thinking about how to make our campus and curriculum more global. Here are some incipient thoughts about how that might de done. I’d welcome your thoughts.

  • Increase awareness and use of media such as BBC News, Google News, and Newsvine.
  • Incorporate Kiva into the classroom.
  • Explore global views of religion, spirituality, and being.
  • Tap into high quality online  or “portable” courses.
  • Explore other languages.
  • Capitalize on cultural universals such as music, cusine, sports, and literature.
  • Reading: Let’s encourage our faculty, staff, and students to read, discuss, and discover world literature. Though no substitute for reading, excellent recordings exist of introductions to world literature, world history, world religions, etc.What suggestions do you have that are simple and cost effective?

And here are even earlier reflections…..

I’m still reflecting on some interesting ideas that emerged in a “listening session” I attended today with two other faculty colleagues concerning a proposed change in our general education program for students at Carroll. I left quite confused, but that is not atypical for me. What is the appropriate foundation for general education in the 21rst century? Are we faculty appropriately educated for teaching in the 21rst century? What skill sets, traditions, and knowledge are as vital today as when this academic institution was founded? Can we change our general education program without intentionally changing our institutional mission? How do we avoid throwing out the baby with the bath water? Should part of a general education be mastery of another language? If so, how does one define mastery—knowing the right phrases to allow one to travel within another country? Or should one be fluent in another culture’s history, customs, idioms, national concerns, and language? Can this be achieved within the traditional four years of a college education and still allow students a traditional major? If we are interested in being more global, shouldn’t we append USA to all our institutional publications? Can internationalization be achieved through the 21rst century equivalence of international pen pals using Skype or VoiceThread?  Through changing the “three r’s” to mastery of 20th century learning tools?   Through BBC language acquisition in 12 weeks courses or by investing time in other such (free) online language learning resources? What does is mean to globalize or internationalize a campus? How can that best be achieved? Is the best way to do so to bring international students and faculty to campus? To send our students and faculty abroad? To create communication opportunities world-wide through Internet means? To expand faculty and students’ knowledge of history, cultures, international economics, and international relations? To conduct collaborative international research and learning projects? Should I join the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology?  Which organizations do I drop out of to allow time and money for these new ones?  What defines global citizenship? Global awareness? How can we continually reaffirm and rediscover our common sense of humanity?

Ayuda me. I’m going postal 🙂  global!

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Curious David Revisits His Global Outreach Attempts

on February 10, 2016

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Screenshot 2016-02-10 09.51.02

It’s past time for a more systematic global outreach by me and my students. Today I met briefly with some visitors from China. I wished them a Happy New Year of the Monkey. Then I began setting up some “Skype” dates with family and friends in London, Madagascar, Hungary, and Switzerland. I’d love to reconnect with Reidar (are you in Norway or Spain?), Inci (are you still teaching in Turkey?), Irma (we’ve lost touch since our conversations from beautiful Lithuania), Simone in Costa Rica, Anna in Kenya and Miguel Luis in La Mancha, Spain—his blog is marvelous. If you would put me in touch with your Antarctica bride’s maid friend, Emily, I would have reached out to all continents:).

Alison and Lizzy are focused on developing a student guide to Skype. Here are my latest marching orders to them:

​Interesting Skype draft. Do you all have a Skype account? How does it compare with alternatives (e.g. FaceTime)? Have you ever recorded a Skype session? How many people have you Skyped with comcomitantly?
We should try a group session. Then a couple with contacts abroad.
DS

Here is their draft in progress. How might it be improved?

Technology is continually improving and changing the way the world interacts with one another. Schools are starting to go from hard cover textbooks to textbooks that are completely online. Other resources that schools utilize are programs that allow students to continue practicing and understanding concepts through online homework and additional help online. Many schools, even at the elementary level, require students to have their own computer in the classroom. With this increase in the usage of technology, face-to-face interactions are suffering due to the ease of using email, cell phones, and social media sites to interact with one another.

Skype is a learning tool that utilizes the world of technology while also incorporating face-to-face interactions with other individuals across the world. In our scenario, Dr. Simpson has used Skype to interact with individuals from other countries for business and education purposes. Additionally, the student research team has interacted with Skype inside and outside of the classroom.

For example, Alison has used Skype in the classroom when teachers wanted to bring in guest speakers. Sometimes these speakers are unavailable to drive or fly to that specific location because they may live halfway across the world or do not have the resources to pay for the trip. By using Skype, guest speakers from Qatar, Africa, and different states were able to present and bring insightful information into the classroom.

From a business point of view, Skype can be used to hold group meetings. For example, if a group of individuals need to get together to interact about plans, presentation details, or other business related aspects, but cannot all be at the same place at the same time, Skype can provide the solution. Skype allows individuals to make group audio calls up to 25 individuals and video calls with up to 10 individuals from anywhere in the world. The video call option is limited though to 100 hours per month, 10 hours per day, and 4 hours per video chat.

Some of the platforms you can access Skype on are computers, cell phones, home phones, tablets, televisions, and video game systems. With having a free account from Skype, one can send messages to one another, simply make voice calls, or hold video chats with individuals from anywhere in the world. Also, one can use the option of screen sharing which allows one to view the other person’s screen. With the new chat feature on Skype, one is able to share files and photos. The files can also be shared while the video chatting feature is being used. With the free version of Skype, an individual can text mobile phones or call landline phones at reasonable rates. To pay for these additional rates, Skype allows one to pay through many different options that may be unique to each country.

To access more features, one can purchase Skype Business. The Skype Business rate starts at $2.00 a month per user. Some of the features of Skype Business that the free version is unable to access are that an individual can video chat with up to 250 people. Also, Skype Business allows you to schedule meetings outside of work in Outlook.

Through the technology of Skype, individuals are able to utilize Skype in the classroom, for personal use, and business.

GOTTA RUN TO GIVE MY FIRST EXAMS OF THE SEMESTER.

Anyone thoughts or experience with Skype would be much appreciated. Thank you.

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Why Twitter is Rising in Importance in My Personal Learning Program

on December 3, 2015

DSCN8780It’s my research day. I just helped Leo the Great Pyr onto his Central Bark Doggie Day Care bus

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and had a team meeting with Lizzy and Alison, two of my student research assistants. Before I gave them research assignments, I shared with them my Christmas ritual of opening up Jacquie Lawson’s marvelous Advent Calendar App. Thank you, Jacquie, for giving us reasons to smile and be in awe.

While we are working I receive a Facebook communication (and feedback) that Katerina and Tim Miklos, now in England, enjoyed the wedding video that Alison produced with Imovie as one of her research projects with me on Tuesday. I hope in the near future to research and develop with my students global communication tools such as Skype by communicating with Katerina in England, Ben in Hungary, Maren in Madagascar, Andrew in Switzerland, and Hersonia in Mexico. Who else abroad is willing to help us learn together?

I’m monitoring my Twitter feed as I write this blog piece and find 10 ideas, resources, and thought-leaders worth following. The dross is outweighed by the nuggets as I refine my Twitter filters and make better use of Twitter applications. I still am not quite ready to explore Twitter Chats. Just because a technology learning tool HAS capabilities, doesn’t mean that I need them –or that I should change my teaching to accommodate them.

Thank you Teri Johnson and Jane Hart for firmly but gently nudging me into exploring the use of Twitter.

Here are 10 tweets that informed me or guided my personal learning today:

  1. I see that Maria Konnikova has a new book out in January. She writes so well about psychology and pseudo science. I preorder the book and send her a brief note. Thank you, Maria, for your clear thinking, your lucid writing, and your thought-provoking ideas.
  2. Alec Couros recommends a Ted Talk about “Where Good Ideas Come From.” If I can find time, I’ll take a look at that before teaching my research Seminar. Thank you, Alec, for the inspiration.
  3. The indefatigable Richard Byrne alerts me to some free Technology Tools for Teachers.
  4. While I am data mining resources from K-12 I take a quick glance at my Edutopia feed.
  5. A colleague on LinkedIn suggests reposts an article about skills every young professional should have. I see value in sharing this with my advisees.  Thank you, Rebecca!
  6. I see a Mac 911 MacWorld piece about how to incorporate special characters into documents. I’ll need this as i try blog pieces in different language. I snag it (oops, gotta be careful. I own that App and I am starting to use my Dictation software as I write blogs).
  7. Richard Kiker’s use of Paper.li motivates me to return to exploring its utility as a curating tool. I assign that protect to Arianna.
  8. I am reminded and convinced that it is important that I incorporate thinking about climate change—and doing something about it into my life.
  9. I take a quick look at a recent EverNote blog post since I continue to struggle with most best to master its features.
  10. I glance at recent posts from LifeHacker—always fun to read and read one about how there just doesn’t seem to be enough time.

YIKES! Tempus fugit (or as Mrs. Bode, my Howland  High School Latin teacher often punned, Time fidgets!)

Time to protect myself against Internet Distractions.


Curious David

¿Puedo aprender más español?: Aventuras de un viejo profesor de psicología

on October 15, 2015

As I have written elsewhere, I have a long fascination with language and language learning and find very useful the compilations that Jane Hart makes of language learning resources. I continue to be wary of language translation software though it seems to becoming better and better. On my short list is to investigate Duolingo.

A student (Luis E.) recently shared with me some preliminary results of some research he is doing as part of an internship in Milwaukee. He showed me a survey which he had designed and a web page he had created that clearly showed evidence of his talent, his potential, and some possible ways we could learn together—and I could learn from him.

Finally I might have an excuse to see whether there are any traces of the Spanish I learned at Howland High School and the 24 credit hours of Spanish earned at Oberlin College and Guanajuato, Mexico.

Doy la bienvenida a tus comentarios — especialmente aquellos de ustedes que hablan español!



Curious David

Adieu Summer Reading Time

on August 25, 2015

Tomorrow I’ll doff my invisibility cloak for a few hours while listening to President Hastad’s opening remarks. Then I’ll attend a talk about changes in the higher education market and trends in strategic enrollment management. It is always good to reconnect with colleagues and other members of the Carroll community after a rejuvenating summer.

I read a number of interesting books this summer (As always, I hope to give them away to those who love to read).

  1. Ann Morgan’s The World Between Two Covers: Reading the Globe could easily be a foundation for some of our global education courses. My bibliophile friends might enjoy her thoughtful reflections about books, reading, publishing, and the role of global/international literature. She writes well, thinks clearly, and raises important questions. (See also her marvelous blog documenting her ambitious project to read a book translated into English from each of 196+ countries in a year).
  2. Naomi S. Baron’s Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World. I published a PsycCritiques review of this marvelous book this summer.
  3. Neal Stephenson’s seveneves.
  4. Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven.
  5. Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See.
  6. Kazuo Ishhiguro’s The Buried Giant.
  7. Cixin Liu’s first two translated books The Three Body Problem and
  8. The Dark Forest of his three part science fiction trilogy.
  9. Sian Beilock’s How the Body Knows Its Mind: The Surprising Power of the Physical Environment to Influence How You Think and Feel. I have a review of this interesting book scheduled for publication in PsycCritiques later this year.

I’ve begun exploring the marvelous Words Without Borders resources as an attempt to expand my reading diet. What books do you recommend that I read?

 



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