1. Assessing South-North Virtual Student Team Learning Outcomes: A Seven-Year Learning Collaboratory Between South Africa and the United States.
- Author
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Cogburn, Derrick L. and Levinson, Nanette
- Subjects
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ONLINE education , *COMPUTER assisted instruction , *UNIVERSITIES & colleges - Abstract
In 1999, the authors of this paper designed the initial offering of an innovative seminar on Globalization and the Information Society, taught both synchronously and asynchronously at the University of Michigan, American University, and the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. In subsequent years, the University of Ft. Hare in South Africa, Howard University, and Syracuse University were added. A centerpiece of the Seminar continues to be its global virtual cross-national collaborative learning teams, each comprised of students from each of the participating universities. Each virtual team, or Global Syndicate, is tasked with working together on a final presentation addressing key issues in today's complex information society and adopting one of five assigned stakeholder roles, including: (1) global and multinational corporations; (2) developed country national governments; (3) developing country national governments; (4) intergovernmental organizations; and (5) transnational civil society organizations. With the close of the spring 2005 semester, the Globalization Seminar celebrated its seventh consecutive year, with over 200 worldwide alumni of this dynamic active learning experiment. Each year, substantial qualitative and quantitative data have been collected on the course, including student perspectives on and satisfaction with the seminar and the global virtual teams. This paper presents a rigorous evaluation of virtual team learning outcomes, using both quantitative and qualitative data and approaches. Particular attention is paid to the roles of culture in active learning and in assessing such learning. Additionally, assessment of learning outcomes for the collaboratory forged across the Africa and U.S. regions is highlighted and new directions for research on active learning outlined. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2006