Supporters for an Increase in the International Affairs Budget in the form of a Word Cloud by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition

I came across this word cloud by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition showing the names of a bi-partisan group of leaders who agree on the need for an increase in the International Affairs Budget.

Photo credit:  This word cloud is the fine work of Andy Amsler from the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.  I first met Andy when he was working for NAFSA and he's now continuing his great work over at USGLC.  You can also find Andy blogging over at Change.org and you can read his work here.  Finally, Andy also has a blog "Socially Acceptable Strategies" that I follow and I think you might want to visit frequently or add to your Reader.  Great stuff!

Research and Scholarship Forum: A preview of NAFSA conference sessions and seminars

The following is a more or less copy and paste job from a message that my colleague Bryan McAllister-Grande, from Brandeis University and the NAFSA Research/Scholarship Network Leader, recently posted to the Research and Scholarship Network.  I am reposting it to IHEC Blog with his permission.  I'm actually involved with one of the seminars and one of the meetings listed and will post more about them as the conference approaches.

Over the next few weeks, as the NAFSA conference in Kansas City approaches, we'll be highlighting some network sessions, seminars, and events that you might have particular interest in. Today, I'm going to preview some of these below. To find out what's going on overall in the Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship community, visit the TLS "Experience" page here.

Research based Seminars

·  Strategies for Implementing Peace and Justice Initiatives in International Education
 Thursday, 6/3 - 2:00 PM

International educators strive to actualize NAFSA's Values Statement through study of developments in peace, justice, and civil society; and by building knowledge and programs that yield skills in coalition-building, conflict resolution, and citizen diplomacy. This seminar focuses on new ideas in this area and how they can be applied in our work.  More here.
 

·  From Theory to Practice and Back: Applying Social Science Theory to International Education
Thursday, 6/3 - 2:00 PM

Explore ways to improve your practice through intentional and reflective use of relevant social science theories. Using case problems and sample theories, you will learn to apply theoretical approaches to achieve the highest impact for your educational efforts. Theories to be explored include examples from international relations, modernization, and peace and justice studies. More  here.

·   Advancing Internationalization on Our Campuses Through Research
 Friday, 6/4 - 8:00 AM

As individuals or individual institutions, our research efforts are admirable and growing. But what might be done if we merged our efforts into some kind of collective research agenda?  This seminar will work towards creating a research agenda when considering U.S. international education policy goals, including policy goals on education abroad, international students and scholars, campus internationalization, and others. More here.

Expert Speakers

·  Internationalizing the Academic Self: Learning and Teaching in International Higher Education (Guest faculty member Gavin Sanderson, University of South Australia)
Wednesday, 6/2 - 1:30 PM

This interactive session draws on theory and research to illuminate personal and professional characteristics that underpin university teachers' internationalized outlooks and classroom practices. It promotes a range of items in relation to an 'ideal teacher' that have the potential to assist lecturers to further develop their international and intercultural perspectives. More here.
 

·  Global Regionalisms and Higher Education (Guest faculty member Kris Olds, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Thursday, 6/3 - 8:00 AM

Despite ubiquitous rhetoric about globalization, most mobility (of knowledge, students, and researchers) remains regional or inter-regional in scope. This seminar focuses on the nature of these global regionalisms, and identifies implications for NAFSAns. It will also focus on the use of a geographic lens to explore the international education landscape.
 

·  View all the "Expert Speaker" seminars here.

Open Meetings, Networking, and Food for Thought

·  TLS Networking Reception - all are welcome
Monday 5/31 - 5:00 PM
  

·  TLS Knowledge Community Update - "The State of Research Innovation"
 Tuesday 6/1 - 1:15 PM

Our annual knowledge community update is a chance to hear what we're working on, how you can get involved, and also network with like-minded colleagues. The update will include an award presentation to Prof. Joe Mestenhauser and his comments on "the state of research innovation" in international education.
 

·  Graduate Student Research Roundtable
 Wednesday 6/2 - 3:45 PM
 
Our annual gathering of graduate students from across the world who are interested in international education research. We'll break off intro groups based on topics of interest to participants.

Poster Sessions - Wednesday morning

·  International Education to What End? Peace and Justice and Global Citizenship Revisited
Wednesday 6/2 - 9:00 AM
Details here
 

·  International Education Research
Wednesday 6/2 - 9:00 AM
Details here

Sessions

For a full list of TLS-related sessions during the conference, visit here.

Looking Forward to Finishing my Dissertation!

The last week or so I've been working under a very tight timeline to submit a draft of my dissertation proposal which is due tomorrow.  I will still need to work on the draft for the final submission in a few weeks.  A special word of thanks goes out to my wife with all of her help and for flying solo much of this past weekend with my three wonderful [but tiring] kids, who also deserve a word of thanks for putting up with daddy!

Once my proposal is approved I will be able to talk and post more about my topic and will most likely turn to IHEC Blog, Facebook and Twitter if I have questions or in an attempt to learn of tips on where to find additional information and resources!  I haven't been able to respond to most e-mail messages or work on other projects that we may have communicated about but I hope to be able to return to them soon.  Last Friday I created my own Google search story [you can create your own you search story here] about my time in graduate school to date which follows...

See you at the #NAFSA10 Tweetup

What a great way to learn that one of your students was offered a Fulbright U.S. Student Program Grant

I follow @ConnectStateGov on Twitter (and you should too!) and last Thursday when I opened my Twitter account I was taken by surprise when I saw mention that a student I worked with (in my day job at the University of Chicago) in the current 2010-2011 Fulbright U.S. Student Program competition received the grant!  Below is a screen shot of that @ConnectStateGov post.  

Here is a brief description of how the news of her Fulbright success reached me via Twitter before traditional methods of notification:  Sarah receives notification that she is offered a Fulbright grant and she informs her parents...her proud father then posts the news to Twitter...@ConnectStateGov finds her father's Twitter post (I assume via searching for the term "Fulbright") and retweets said post to all of their 1,802 followers (which includes me)....I then open Twitter and catch the @ConnectStateGov post in the Twitter stream I follow!

Just another example of why I think Twitter is such a great new media tool.

Tracking and Analyzing Research in International Education in the Digital Age

Over the next few days (starting tomorrow) the NAFSA Research and Scholarship network will be hosting an informal, open online discussion for graduate students and all other colleagues interested in research on international education at www.nafsa.org/RSforums. The topic is:

"Tracking and Analyzing Research in International Education in the Digital Age”

I will be serving as a guest poster along with my colleague Stuart Hughes of the Cunningham Library, Australian Council for Educational Research (http://www.idp.com/research/database_of_research.aspx).

All are welcome to join the discussion by posting comments and replying.

This discussion is part of the launch of an effort to build a wider community of graduate students engaged in international education research. 

Photo credit: jurvetson

IHEC Blog is Going on a "Dissertation Proposal Vacation"

Embedded within last Friday's "Who Will Grade Your Work" video of the week post I mentioned that I'm taking a short break from posting to IHEC Blog as I'm working on my dissertation proposal and it is a bit of a time sensitive issue.  My "Dissertation Proposal Vacation" will, of course, be no vacation....

I do have about four or five posts ready to go out over the next few weeks (about once a week) so you will still see some new content on IHEC Blog.  It just won't be every day (Monday to Friday).  My presence on IHEC Blog's Facebook page and on Twitter will also be significantly reduced.

Photo credit: edanley

Video of the Week - Who Will Grade Your Work

IHEC Blog (and its subsidiaries) are going on vacation for a little while.  The reason is that I need every extra minute of the day to work on my dissertation proposal.  I do have a few posts already written and scheduled to post next week and the following week but a little break is needed.  My dissertation will be related to international education and once my proposal is approved (I guess it has to be written first...) I will be able to share more and will probably post to IHEC Blog from time to time about my research and/or seeking information.

For this video of the week I have selected "Who will grade your work" which is a montage of PhD Comics with the "Who will grade your work" song playing (adaptation of a Jewel song).  I recently discovered "Piled Higher and Deeper" a grad student comic and love it!  You can check it out at http://www.phdcomics.com/.  Additionally, you can sign up for future comics via e-mail, RSS feed or Facebook.

Survey on Trends and Practices in International Recruitment and Enrollment

World Education Services (WES) is conducting a survey to gain better insights about the trends and practices in international recruitment and enrollment.  This would take approximately 10-12 minutes of your time.  Responses will be confidential and will not be associate with your individual or institutional identity.  WES will share the results of the survey with participants as a summary report.  If you have about 10 minutes please consider completing this survey which you can access here.


Photo credit:  blprnt_van

Summit for Learning Abroad at the University of Minnesota

The Learning Abroad Center at the University of Minnesota announced that they are organizing a Learning Abroad Summit scheduled for August 2-3, 2010 at the University International Center at the University of Minnesota.  Topics include academic partnerships, programming and student affairs, study abroad office management and more.  The cost is $400 and it includes some meals.  You can learn more specifics and access registration forms at http://www.umabroad.umn.edu/educators/summerworkshop.html

Many thanks to my colleague Bradley Titus from the Learning Abroad Center at the University of Minnesota for posting about this to SECUSS-L and for his permission to use much of his text from his message in this post.

Photo credit:  Troy Mason

The Early Influence of Teachers College on International and Comparative Education

Teachers College, Columbia University was one of the most active universities in encouraging both international and comparative education.  In fact, the first course on comparative education was offered at Teachers College during the 1898-1899 school year, even though course work in the field did not fully flourish until the 1920s and 1930s.  The International Institute of Teachers College, established in 1923, set out to implement “(1) training of foreign students, (2) surveys and research of educational systems, and (3) training of educational missionaries.”[1]  Paul Monroe and William Russell were instrumental in its establishment and brought together some of the premiere educators in the field, most notably Isaac Kandel.  The Institute also began issuing The Educational Yearbook in 1924, with Kandel as the editor, which continued to be published until 1944.  In addition, Paul Monroe, the director, also co-edited the International Yearbook of Education in 1933 with Nicholas Hans.  While relatively short lived (the Institute lost funding in 1938), the Institute served as a hub for comparative and international education during a very exciting time in both of their histories.

---

[1] LiPing Bu, “International Activism and Comparative Education: Pioneering Efforts of the International Institute of Teachers College, Columbia University,” Comparative Education Review 41, no. 4 (November 1997): 417.

Experiencing Some Minor Technical Difficulties at IHEC Blog...My Apologies

Since changing the template for IHEC Blog a couple of weeks ago I have been experiencing a few technical difficulties.  First, the Google Analytics tracking code stopped working (I guess that happens with a change in template...who knew?) and I finally figured everything out [13 days later] and correctly re-inserted the code again.

Most problematic is that the occasional IHEC Blog post chooses to present itself differently than all of the others.  While I am okay with the occasional rebel post I would at least like it to be readable.  In my efforts to correct the post today I reposted it two more times which means that all who follow IHEC Blog via Facebook, RSS feed and e-mail received multiple posts.  Sorry for that.  I'm still not satisfied with the post today and will probably try to re-post it in the future [after I meet a dissertation proposal deadline].

Photo credit:  Robert Brook

The NAFSA Research & Scholarship Network Ventures into Social Medial Waters

Over the weekend my colleague Bryan McAllister-Grande, the NAFSA Research and Scholarship Network Leader, posted to the network discussion board about his plans to establish a social media presence for the Network (it’s free to join all NAFSA networks by the way).  This post today is mostly a copy and paste job (with Bryan’s permission) with a few comments from me inserted:

Over the coming months, we're going to be taking the (somewhat reluctant) plunge into social media and trying out a few new communications features for the Network. Although the main activity will continue to happen on these discussion boards, those of you using other tools may want to check these out for access to quicker and sometimes better information. I hope this allows for some more widespread participation and interactivity, as well.

This experimenting is also part of a specific effort to reach out to graduate students across the world and create a wider community of graduate students engaged in international education research. More details on this coming soon.

For the moment, follow or join these if you'd like:

RS Network on Twitter: http://twitter.com/IEResearchNAFSA
Will be used primarily for tracking and sharing latest research in the field (my commentary: I’m a big fan of Twitter and it is where I get most of my international education related news and information and I have met some really great people that I look forward to meeting in person soon.)

RS Network on Facebook: http://bit.ly/b3Qp6G
Will be used primarily for networking with graduate students, although also for general discussion and tracking links. Anyone is welcome to post info, links, etc. (my commentary: I was slow to adopt Facebook into my new media toolbox but I really like “Fan pages” and use IHEC Blog’s Facebook page frequently)

RS Network "Notes": http://bit.ly/alV7HS

These will be short blog-style posts and thought-pieces published every so often.  Please let me know if you'd like to author a guest "note" or would like us to feature one of your own blog entries on our notes page. Our first guest entry is from David Comp, (indeed a re-post of his own blog entry), appropriately on "free international education resources" including social media resources. (my commentary: thanks Bryan for including my post as a guest entry!  I hope people find the list to be helpful and if anyone knows of other resources that should be added to the list please leave a comment on that post and I’ll take a look.  Additionally, I really like how Bryan is using the “Notes” section and will begin to adapt my Facebook use for IHEC Blog to include this practice!)

RS Network on Academia.edu: http://bit.ly/d6E45g

Academia.edu is a fairly new site, a kind of "Facebook for professors." We created a research area called "NAFSA Graduate Studies in International Education" but there are a host of other research interests related to international education to follow as well. (my commentary: I have had a profile on Academia.edu for some time now [needs some updating] and I really like it.  It provides some interesting and useful metrics for me personally and has allowed me to connect with some other great people I most likely would not have connected with otherwise)

my commentary: Some more great things happening in the NAFSA Research and Scholarship Network (and the NAFSA Teaching, Learning and Scholarship Knowledge Community as a whole) and I recommend joining all of their networks to be plugged in [again...they are free]!  I'll be posting soon about something interesting and hopefully informative that is scheduled for next week on the Research & Scholarship Network and you need to subscribe to check it out.

Video of the Week – Host a Foreign Exchange Student PSA

For this video of the week I selected this PSA from www.HostStudents.org.  This PSA is part of the “Host Exchange Students” campaign.  Here is a more detailed description of this campaign that I’m quoting from the HostStudents YouTube Channel:

“Working in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State and the youth exchange community, the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET) is pleased to announce the launch of a joint public service announcement campaign: "Host Exchange Students." The campaign encourages American families and schools to get involved in citizen diplomacy by opening their communities to foreign exchange students.”

If you are interested hosting a foreign exchange student or know of someone who would be interested please visit http://www.hoststudents.org/

Support the Creation of the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial

For today’s IHEC Blog post I wanted to highlight the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial. This month marks the 42nd anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Washington, DC, Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial will honor his life and contributions to the world through non-violent social change. The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial will be the first on the National Mall to recognize a person of color and a man of peace, not a president or a veteran of war. In 1996 Congress authorized the Memorial Foundation to raise funds to establish a national memorial to honor the legacy of Dr. King on the National Mall. The memorial’s very existence signifies that we as a people believe Dr. King and his legacy deserve this esteemed placement in what can be considered America’s “Hall of Fame.”



Please consider making a donation and please help spread the word!
Follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MLKMemorial
Follow on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/MLKNationalMemorial

A Long College Baseball History between Waseda University (Japan) & The University of Chicago (U.S.)

In the spring of 2008, the University of Chicago men’s baseball team went to Japan to play three exhibition games against its longtime international rival Waseda University.  What was unique about this visit was that the last time these two teams played against each other was 1930.  Last week I was at the athletic center on campus with my son where some great historic University of Chicago sports memorabilia is on display (including the first Heisman Trophy awarded to Jay Berwanger in 1935).  In the display cases were some great memorabilia pieces from the Chicago vs. Waseda baseball series that ran between 1910 and 1930.  The following is a description of the baseball trips to Japan (photo of description included in this post):

The University of Chicago baseball team traveled to Japan every five years between 1910 and 1930 as a guest of Waseda University.  The year following each of the Maroons’ first four trips to Japan (1911, 1916, 1921, 1926), Chicago played host to Waseda.  On its five overseas tours, Chicago faced Japanese college opponents, including Waseda and Keio, as well as all-star teams from Hawaii, China, the Philippines and Japan.  The Maroons’ visits to Japan played a significant role in the development of Japanese baseball, as more than 20,000 fans attended the Chicago-Waseda games in Tokyo in 1930.

I have included several pictures with this post that I took via my phone through the glass display cases so I apologize for the glare.  You can read more about the 2008 Chicago baseball trip to Japan and more on the history of these “exchanges” via two Chicago Maroon articles here and here.  Additionally, you can view 38 photos throughout the years of these games in the University of Chicago Archival Photographic files here.

A List of all the Free International Education Resources I Utilize

I'm often asked the question "where do you find all the information on international education that you post about?" People have been asking me this question since I entered the field of international education back in 2000 when I primarily posted relevant information to the listservs utilized in the field such as SECUSS-L and INTER-L.  Technology has allowed me to discover and learn so much about the field so I thought I would prepare this post with links to anything and everything I subscribe to or use in my research activities.  Due to the large number of resources listed below I did not include a description for each but simply link you to the site.  In addition to many of the links taking you to free subscription information you may also find additional free resources for you to download!


New Media Tools


Twitter - I think Twitter is a must.  There is so much great international education related content being fed to the Twitter stream.  I created a Twitter list called "Int'l Ed. News & Views" that is a lost of international education thought leaders and knowledge producers if you are interested.

Facebook - Many organizations that focus on international education have Facebook Fan pages or groups.  Perhaps a future IHEC Blog post on helpful Facebook pages and groups is also necessary.


Blogs related to international education.  You can find a good list of these types of blogs on my International Education Blogs and News site.


RSS Readers (I use Google Reader) where you can subscribe to news sites, international education blogs and other media outlets. A future IHEC Blog post on who one might want to follow via RSS feeds is in the works


Google Alerts - I receive so many Google Alerts that I have included only a select few that I have (be sure to put quotation marks around your "search term"):  study abroad, international education, Fulbright, citizen diplomacy, education abroad, NAFSA, Forum on Education Abroad, intercultural exchange...the list goes on and on!


Free Electronic Subscriptions

CALPER eNewsletter 

ECE ® free electronic newsletter 

Forum on Education Abroad News

Higher Education & National Affairs (HENA) by ACE

IAU E-Bulletin

ICEF Bulletin

IIE.Interactive Newsletter

Inside Higher Ed free daily news alerts

International Education News


International Higher Education

IREX E-Newsletter

Manitoba's International Education Branch News Service

Mobility International USA Exchange Programs News

NAFSA Knowledge Community Networks (18 networks)

NAFSA.news

National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange E-News

News from DAAD New York

Not-So-Foreign A Bulletin for International Education Professionals

Overseas, Overwhelmed

Policy Monitor by the Alliance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange (you can subscribe to your RSS reader)

UNESCO newsletters (various)

University World News e-newsletter

U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy Newsletter

USjournal.communique: eRecruitment Trends and Technique

WENR: World Education News and Reviews

Some of these free resources exclusively focus on international education and exchange while some occassionally touch on this topic.  Also, some of these resources I subscribed to while on the Univeristy of Chicago network which may not be available to those who are not on a member/subscribing organizaiton or institution network.

Other Listservs

CBIE MOBILE

CBIE SACE

EAIE-L

IERES-L

Most likely I have not listed every resource out there and if that is the case please leave a comment about the resource and a link I where I can learn more so I can subscribe and include it in this post.  Please note that I am not looking for listservs/newsletters that focus on the activities of a specific organization or program (ie. a third-party provider E-newsletter).  There are many of these out there that I also subscribe to and did not list here.

Update (August 25, 2010): Updated list available on http://davidcomp.wordpress.com/ at http://bit.ly/auYmCD

Photo credit:  frozenchipmnk (stacks of folios - University of Chicago)

Advanced Planning for International Education Conferences

For those of you interested…I did some searching (and discovered a couple by accident) for the host cities for future NAFSA, CIEE, AIEA and Forum on Education Abroad conferences.  Here is what I found:

NAFSA: Association of International Educators

2010 Kansas City

2011 Vancouver

2012 Houston

2013 Louisville

2017 San Francisco

CIEE: Council on International Educational Exchange

2010 Philadelphia

2011 New Orleans

Forum on Education Abroad

2011 Boston

2012 Denver

Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA)
2011 San Francisco

I listed the conferences for these three organizations as these are the conference that I try to attend each year (have never been to AIEA however).  Please note that no #hashtags have been set for these conferences yet!

Photo credit:  Kossy@FINEDAYS

Final Call for Nominations of U.S. Institutions of Higher Education for the U.S. Summit and Initiative on Global Citizen Diplomacy

I have posted to IHEC Blog many times about the work of the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy and about their upcoming U.S. Summit and Initiative on Global Citizen Diplomacy.  The Higher Education Task Force of the Summit released a call for nominations from institutions that have “an innovative program that engages students and faculty to help address global challenges.”  Nominations are due April 7, 2010.  You can read more about this call for nominations here.

Video of the Week - Breaking the Language Barrier

For this video of the week I have selected this video from the National Security Education Program (NSEP) which has become a new research interest of mine (more on this in a future post).  What I like about this video is that it starts and ends with an interview with David L. Boren who is a former Senator from Oklahoma and author of the National Security Education Act of 1991 (which created the NSEP) followed by interviews with three former NSEP recipients who describe their studies abroad as well as their career paths in the U.S. Federal Government as part of their service requirement.

You can learn more about the National Security Education Program here and the Boren Awards for International Study here.

At What Age Can Someone Study Abroad?

There has been a lot of press the past week or so about the University of Connecticut denying a 13 year old student to participate on a three-week study abroad program to Johannesburg, South Africa (a required component of an African field ecology class).

I'm not going to weigh in on that discussion here but want to know what IHEC Blog readers think about this?  Is 13 too young?  My best friend went on a two-week class trip to France when she was 13...was she too young?  Would I allow my kids to go on a two or three week trip abroad?  I think I would.  You can read a more detailed article about this student here.  Leave a comment if you have an opinion!

Photo credit: DaveBleasdale