Exploring International Collaboration in the Undergraduate Curriculum through the Use of Information Technologies

Early in 2008, Pacific professors Lorely French and Aaron Greer were awarded a "Proof of Concept" grant from the Northwest Academic Computing Consortium (NWACC) to start a program of international collaboration in undergraduate teaching and learning at Pacific University. With the help of NWACC funding, Pacific will pilot two experimental undergraduate courses during the 2008-2009 academic year. Using inPerson, a newly developed portable video conferencing technology, these two classes will team with with two other classes in two countries half-way around the world, in an effort to promote cultural competence and understanding, to offer students in all three countries the chance to study with their counterparts on another continent, and to appreciate the challenges of bridging language and cultural barriers while pursuing a common educational goal.

Students in Professor Lorely French’s German 303, “Topics in German Studies,” in fall, 2008, partnered in dialogue with Ms. Inga Ranft, a student at the University of Marburg in Germany.  Ms. Ranft had been a Fulbright German Language Assistant at Pacific University in 2008-09.  She graciously offered her time and expertise to talk about her life as a student in Germany, to answer questions that students had prepared, and to ask the American students about life here. 

As a previous Fulbright Language Assistant, Ms. Ranft knew several of the students in the German 301 class and was familiar with campus life at Pacific University. Thus, she was able to relate to them on a personal level.  Likewise, students were able to relate to her well.  Having spent the academic year in the United States, Ms. Ranft was curious to catch up on cultural and university developments, and especially on the presidential election. 

The University of Marburg lies not too far from cities with universities where Pacific University has recently sent students abroad, namely Munich, Würzburg, and Mannheim. Therefore, in conversations, the American students were able to acquire first-hand knowledge about the environments in which some of them would study in the near future. 

During one session Ms. Ranft was joined by Ms. Jenifer Jennings, Pacific alumna of the class of 2008, who is a Fulbright scholar in Würzburg during the 2008-10 academic year.  Ms. Jennings spoke about her life as an American in Germany, which also interested the students. 

All the conversations were in German so that students here received valuable practice with a native speaker and a near-native speaker in the target language.

Aaron Greer, Professor of Anthropology and Comparative Religion, will develop course materials that will allow the students in his Anthropology 240 Religions and Cultures of the Caribbean class to work with a group of students in Professor Hosein's class at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. For 4-5 weeks during the spring semester, anthropology students in Forest Grove, Oregon, many of whom have never left the state of Oregon before, will leave Oregon via inPerson video conferencing technology. Together, students in both countries will tackle questions of religious and cultural syncretism and the impact colonialism, post-colonialism and globalization have had on religious and cultural practice. Together they will read materials pertaining to these issues and share responses. This exchange will be a rare opporutnity for students in both countries to learn from, and appreciate each others' perspectives on history, culture, and religion born from radically different positions of global power. In addition to providing students on both sides of the camera with heightend geographical and cultural knowledge, it will also give students a more tangible sense of how global forces affect local practices.

To learn more about NWACC please visit their website by clicking on the logo.

To read the final brief submitted to NWACC on this project,

please click here . For a more detailed report, please click here