Stage 1: Profiling
Task: Who are you, Where are you based and Why are you here?
Deadline: October 20, 2014, 11:59 pm EST
In today's digital world, the first impression people often have of us may come from one of many of our online profiles, e.g. on an institutional website, on LinkedIn, on Facebook, etc.The information you provide in these profiles may very well influence the impression a possible COIL partner may have of you at first glance. Therefore, we will begin our work together by asking you to take a thoughtful approach to completing a profile for this course.
We have created a Google Document for you to complete this task. The Document can be edited by you and only viewed by people who have a link. For those of you unfamiliar with this free online tool, this will also give you an opportunity to explore how it can be used.
To access your Document, click on your name below.
Annetta Centrella-Vitale
Simone Hackett
Rebecca Gagliano
Andrea Wade
Joseph Ziolkowski
Lisa Bullard
15 comments:
I enjoyed seeing everyone's profiles. I especially like reading why people want to participate in the COIL project.
I also enjoyed reading the profiles. I thought that Andrea's and Joe's comments about the other countries they visited was really good, it demonstrates an appreciation for other cultures and people. I see how important it is to put at least 2 pictures. I found Andrea's particularly good at introducing herself. I was able to see a person (just a person without distractions) which made me feel connected and something she enjoys. I think however that I am still confused about what exactly we should portray (our personal side or professional side). I loved Joe's photos! I thought they were great just not sure how effective a large number of photos would work in most people's profile (unless of course you are a talented photographer like Joe)
For some reason I was not able to see Lisa's profile when I clicked on her link it took me to a google mail page not sure why.
After some false starts, I am very pleased to have gained access to this page. Thank you to everyone for posting a little information about themselves-- I can see how knowing a little bit about each other starts to build a sense of community.
I was also unable to open Lisa's profile- perhaps there is a technical issue?
Hi Andrea,
I sent a link to Lisa's profile to the latest gmail address you sent me. Click on it, then you should be able to see Lisa's profile.
Let me know, please, whether it works.
Warm wishes,
Mirjam
Thank you, Mirjam! Lisa's profile is now visible to me.
Choose a course you would like to adapt into a COIL course or, if you are not primarily participating here as a faculty member, think of a course that a faculty member at your institution is planning to adapt into a COIL course.
I am not primarily participating as a faculty member, but I am not aware of a specific course that a faculty member at my institution is planning to adapt. I do teach a microbiology course as an adjunct at my college, so I will base my answers on that field.
Propose 3 interdisciplinary variants and reflect on how each of these three choices would create different opportunities for student engagement.
1. I have long wished I could do a course on "Plagues and Peoples" that would have interdisciplinary connections between science, medicine, and history. This could pair a science class with a history class and create opportunities to examine the impact of plagues on such things as politics, arts, language, economics, religion.
2. It would be interesting to adapt a course on the topic of "Bioterrorism" and pair with a class interested in Ethics. The class could examine the ethics of researching potential bioweapons, use of bioweapons in warfare, and the ethics of diverting resources from other potentially more altruistic causes (malaria vaccine research, for example) for bioterrorism research and defense.
3. I would love to do a Food Microbiology class and examined how microorganisms are used within the local/regional cuisine (cheeses, wines, pickled foods, beers, spirits, breads, and unique local foods). It could be a pairing between a microbiology course and a food science course. The course could examine the history of the development of the art and science of food "culture", and introduce students to some foods that may be very unfamiliar. The classes could attempt to make microbially-produced foods from their own and the partner's culture
Propose 3 possible geographic locations for a partner class and suggest how this choice could influence the outcomes of the COIL course.
1. It would be very interesting to partner with a Western European class for the Plagues and Peoples course. In particular, the impact of the Bubonic Plague was so widespread that in that region that it had impact in essentially every aspect of life. The impact was so profound that it has continued to influence the direction of change for centuries.
2. There are a number of potentially interesting geographic collaborations for a bioterrorism course. Connections with a country that was formerly part of the Soviet Union would be particularly interesting, since it could bring up some of the activities that the US and Soviet Union participated during the Cold War. There have been incidents of bioterrorism in virtually every part of the globe, including the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
3. For the Food Microbiology Course, there are also many good choices for partner locations. Asia is home to many fermented foods that would be considered very unusual in our culture (natto, stinky fish). Western Europe has some highly developed cheese. wine. beer, and spirits that have been developed as regional specialties. Nearly every culture have developed a "menu" of microbially-derived foods, so perhaps part of the course would be to research lesser known products.
Andrea,
Those pairings sound so interesting and are very creative. It makes me want to enroll in those courses, particularly the plagues and people's course. Your answers are making me think more about what creative pairings I might be able to imagine. Thanks!
Hi Andrea,
your proposed COIL courses and partner locations including their potential for students engagement are very insightful and inspiring. That's exactly the beauty of the COIL model that there is lots of room for new approaches and course contents. All you or other faculty need is to find a like-mined and equally creative partner :-)
Could the other member of the group please add their proposals.
Thank you all!
Mirjam
I think I have finally successfully signed onto the blog!
Rebecca
Sorry I am so delayed. My SUNY Ulster account does not allow blog use. It took all this time to determine that was the cause of my issues.
I did create a profile. I was not aware that we were to add other information. The format of my profile did not appear to have areas for all the questions.
Now that I have access, I will work on our next task.
HELLO TO ALL
Rebecca
Hello Rebecca,
I have had trouble interfacing with the blog as well, with the same issue, which makes sense since I am also from SUNY Ulster. Welcome to the group!
To our group:
I have been brainstorming possible cross-curriculum course pairings and different locations and here are 3 ideas I came up with for each:
I teach English 102, a literature survey and research focused writing class. I had originally envisioned collaborating with another literature focused class, but this exercise is pushing me to see other interesting possibilities.
1. Pair ENG 102 with an ethics course, where we could look at several short stories and analyze and discuss the ethical implications of character motives and choices.
2. Pair ENG 102 with a history course, where the students could examine several short stories or poems from a historical perspective. Students may be able to collaborate on research based writing - for instance they could research what was happening in the time period that Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote "100 Years of Solitude"
3. I could see how a pairing with a psychology class could also be interesting, as students could read several stories that focus on characters and analyze the characters from a psychological perspective.
I also began to think of locations that would be intriguing for pairings and came up with these 3 possibilities:
1. Colombia - we could focus on the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I think it would be fascinating to discuss and research the author from two cultural viewpoints.
2. Nigeria - it would be so interesting to pair up Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngoze Adichi, who wrote a short story on immigration, with an American author who wrote on the same topic. This class may be an interesting collaboration with a criminal justice course, as there is a lot of aspects of law involved in the topic of immigration.
3. India - again, there are so many wonderful literary works that have come from India, and then writing by Indians living in America, and Americans about India - it would be interesting to further research those stories or some of the topics in those stories with students from India.
I still feel as if this is just the budding phases of these ideas, that there is so much potential.
Hello all, I am sorry for the late posting...
For Task 2 I looked at the Read about a COIL course students in a SUNY Oswego women’s studies course who engaged online with an international-management class in Lebanon and listen to SUNY Oswego students' reactions following the second iteration (now in it's fourth) of this course.
In the video interview, it was really interesting to see how one of the students was asked to share an experience of intercultural communication abroad. She glowed that she had an experience. Others in the interview showed how they became more receptive to others from another culture. They also learned how to communicate with people that do not speak english as a first language. To learn to be respectful and patient with the peers they are working with. In the business area, they learned they need to see things on a more global level and this was a way to do that affordably.
The read also showed how people that were brought together by chance were willing to take the leap of faith and see what came of it. Using tools to make it happen at their colleges to communicate using asynchronous approach worked best for the shifts in time zones.
These were great observations.
I teach photography and when I first was introduced to SUNY COIL I was trying to partner with another one of my Sociology Professors. We proposed a class that would look at the area of Western New York an explore how advances in transportation over the past few hundred years helped to evolve and with change, slow down the advancements that once were part of this area. We hoped to share the same topics with an international partnership. Using sociology to explore the advancement of technology while learning tools in Introduction to Digital Photography to document activities, field trips and architecture of the area. Sharing these topics with the partnered classes and show through compare and contrast how different areas have similar histories.
I would like to incorporate Introduction to Digital Photography to another photography instructor. Currently I am working with Professor Gert-Jan Peddemors from the HU Hogeschool Utrecht: University of Applied Sciences at Utrecht, The Netherlands, to bring an international element to an assignment we both agreed on called Community. Our two classes are photographing various communities by introducing them students to the rich history of editorial, documentary, and staged “tableau” styles of
photography. It has been a slow go so far but I with longs gaps of not communication, but I am hopeful we will be able to put work together for a show that will be here at Genesee Community College and opens in December.
A third way I could use Introduction to Digital Photography with another class is to teach the basics of light, composition and manual camera settings to create a small portfolio of two different cultures. To see how people dress for activities, the type of housing they have, transportation, types of meals and social or sport activities. This group of layered cultural events could be shared and the use of visual imaged could bridge the barrier of different cultures with different languages.
In terms of geography locations, I am open to any partnering I might be able to be associated with. I have been so excited by the unexpected happy accidents that seem to evolve out of so many of the stories I have heard about.
I will look more at the comments this evening as I can.
Continued success,
Joe Z.
I am interested in having my students work with another culture to really make them think about why and how they are learning. If they view learning as a spectator or as part of a larger world team, they may become motivated to really use all their abilities to learn. I want them to feel like an important part in the world.
The give and take across cultures is essential to make my students feel like they are part of the world team. This will help them see that they have something to contribute. By learning, they will have more to give. By working with other disciplines, they can see that my students will see that they are just like other people around the world. I hope this will make them feel like they can accomplish anything. I also hope students will see all the options available to them in the world.
My students are somewhat diverse, but many of them have similar life stories. I think the ability to see how others live will open their eyes. This will provide them an opportunity to meet people with completely different life stories. I asked my students to pick a job and create a budget. Most were very similar. To understand how others live would make my students step out of their small dreams and think big.
Selecting three geographic areas and interdisciplinary variants is difficult. I teach mathematics, but my students are studying pre-algebra. I don’t want another math class. Most of my students are not interested in science. I would like to pair with a course that is specific to that country. I am not sure if other countries offer US History. That might be interesting. I really do not have a clear vision.
I would pair with any geographic area. I do understand that the outcome will vary based on the course and geographic area. I hope by the end of this process I will have a clear vision.
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