Historians Without Borders is a new project that
has just started with the key support of the Cave Hill Educational Media
Services, and its Director Ms. Patricia Atherley. By taking advantage of the
training and information given in the course: “Advancing Teaching and Learning
with Technology”, part of the UWI Postgraduate Certificate in University
Teaching and Learning, I started an internet based interactive program between
students and lecturers/teachers to improve the understanding of topics in
history of Latin America and Brasil. The free internet resources that are
available permit us to have online chats, discussions and lectures without the
costs of renting a video-conference room. The advantage is that students at UWI
will have opportunity to discuss a text with the author, or to engage in a discussion
with students in other campuses and countries.
The first trial of the
project came unexpectedly from the interior of the state of Amazonas. Having
sent out invitations to participate in this project to some of my colleagues in
different universities, this city in the middle of the Brazilian rain forest
promptly accepted. In the Instituto Federal de
Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Amazonas, located in Coari, a
town with a population of about seventy eight thousand people, a history
teacher (also a PhD student),Ygor Cavalcante, asked me if we could do the first
experiment with his students. The reasons: a) their students were studying the
same topic that we were discussing in the Cave Hill class on the History of
Brazil; b) their school is considered a high level secondary school, part of a
federal program that was created for talented students to obtain double
certificates: an upper level secondary school plus a certificate in I.T.; c)
history is a mandatory discipline in all primary and secondary schools, so, the
senior students in this program are able to follow the discussion at the
university level.
There was only one
problem, in that the Brazilian students do not speak English and our students
at Cave Hill do not speak Portuguese, so we decided to go ahead with an online
lecture and discussion, in which I presented the topic and they asked me
questions and made comments. Their own technicians helped me through internet
chat while we arranged the technical aspects of the presentation. We had two
hours of lively interaction, exchange of information and fun.
A second lecture was done on November 20, when Brazilians celebrate Black Culture and History. In the same institution, in Coari, I was asked to give a lecture about the influence of the reggae music in the Brazilian Movement Against Racism. Once again, the Educational Media at Cave Hill came to rescue me, as Mrs. Atherley took time from her busy agenda to teach me how to transform my power point presentation into a film. Mission accomplished, I lectured for about 150 students, from my own office: by using the Google hangout, first they watched the film that I sent (while I followed the presentation without participating) then I came alive, to answer their questions an comments. We are planning another
one for next month, and next semester will involve Cave Hill students.
Why is these events in Coari
important? Because we could see that it was technically possible and proved to
be a great outreach tool. This connection which will get even better, gives
Cave Hill and the Department of History greater visibility, one that can
include other disciplines. Brazil is a huge market for university education,
and Coari is also the headquarters for one of Petrobras’ (Brazil’s world class oil company)
research projects. The students from
this institution are most likely going to federal universities with scholarships.
Many universities around the world are investing in internationalization and
one of the tools to achieve that is the interactivity over the internet with
other universities at all levels.
The language barrier is not a difficult one,
and can easily be overcome by making more courses available, motivating
students to learn another language seriously, and using the technology in
creative ways.
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