Rodney,

  Below I write some thoughts regarding your inquiry.

 Sarah


On 9/9/10 10:48 AM, "Coates, Rodney D. Dr." <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear Partners:
> 
> We are in conversations with universities in the U.K, South Africa, South
> Australia (Flanders)and India (Hyderabad).  Contacts are also being made in
> Canada and Latin America.  I will let you know how these go.  Within the U.S.
> we have begun conversations with both Washington University and Arizona State
> University, and the University of Texas is now on board.  I encourage you to
> continue the process at your respective University.
> 
> Programmatically and in terms of process we now need to began discussing the
> level and types of interaction right now.  The biggest problem is the various
> time zones.  We know that we will make use of Skype, chat rooms, blogs, and
> listservs.  The specific mode will also depend upon the level of technology
> available to the various partners across the globe.  As you can imagine these
> are and can be major issues for folks living in Bangladesh, portions of
> Africa, and Latin America. At the minimum, students can interact on both blogs
> and in chat rooms, as well as listservs as these are universally available.
> The more sophisticated interactions are obviously more limiting.  I hope this
> helps.  
> 
> What forms and types of interactions do you as partners foresee or want
> regarding your our students.  What will work for your particular institution?

Being in the US, any of items mentioned above will work for us. However, I
suspect our most effective means of communication will be blogs, e-mail, and
perhaps chats (depending on time zones).

> How will we take these suggestions and modify or enhance our syllabus?

It seems to me that in as much as we primarily stay within blogs, e-mail,
and chats, the syllabus is already covering this. The instructions for blogs
do not only require them to share their reaction to course readings, but
also to respond to fellow students. Therefore, we are already requiring
communication among them.

> 
> Finally, while we have a generic syllabus, I anticipate that we will continue
> to fine tune it.  Also, we should be amenable to make significant
> modifications as other partners come forward.

I was thinking of this as I was e-mailing friends and organizations in
Mexico and Latin America. My thought is that we should not be amenable to
significant modifications at this point. If this course is successful this
year, we can try doing it again next year or the year after next and at that
point we can be open to more significant changes. The syllabus as it is does
provide sufficient flexibility for all of us to incorporate our preferences
within the stipulated topics.
> 
> Thanks and please continue to advise me regarding the progress you are making
> at your institutions to make this course happen in the Spring of 2011.
> 
> 
> 
> I hope that you can and will join us in offering this exciting opportunity to
> our students.  Let me know how I might help or if you have any other
> questions.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> 
> rodney