Saturday, August 8, 2009

Internatioanl educational project

  • A group of students from the Xavier Institute of Development Action and Studies in Jabalpur, India, and Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida, will cooperate on a common project during the Fall semester 2009. The professors supervising the common project will be Dr. Namrata Vasudeo and Dr. Athena Smith.

  • Specifically, the students from both countries have to write a descriptive essay on the strengths and weaknesses of their tertiary educational systems and post them in this blog. The students may adopt a pseudonym -with their real identity known to their professor- (in which case they have to open a blogger's account) or post them using their own name, in which case they can opt for the "Name/URL" option under posting.

    After the essays have been posted the students from one group start posing questions to the other group to understand better the system of the other group. They are also expected to connect through SKYPE or a similar system and interview one another. Then, they are expected to write a second essay on suggesting ways to improve their own educational systems by incorporating ideas infused through the exchange.

    The Objectives of the Local Educational systems Project are:

  • Understand the tertiary educational systems of another country.
  • Investigate possible strengths and weaknesses and expand on the inter-cultural understanding.
  • Contact the students from another country and establish a network of exchange of knowledge.
  • Write a paper contrasting and assessing two tertiary educational systems and offer suggestions for improving their own educational systems.
  • Investigate the possibility of further contact either online or through an exchange visit.
  • Publish the results.