20 November 2007 – Tuesday
Hi from Harvey at 6:40 pm. We have had another good and long day with the Iraqis. We started the day with having them teach us about the case study method. This is an effective technique for placing students into situations that are pseudo-real. We outlined the approach yesterday and wanted them to ?experience? it. We gave each group a different case, both of which indirectly dealt with change and the impact of technology on our profession. They did an excellent job at case analysis and I think found the technique something they might use.
Michele spent some time talking about ?research vs. assessment? and the great challenges of teaching the former to BA and MA students. With the emphasis being on assessment in the USA and Canada, M felt they?d benefit by hearing about the situation as it shifts emphasis in LIS graduate school programs.
We re-did the curriculum exercise after lunch and frankly (my own opinion) it didn?t go all that well. One sub-goal of mine is to get them to think beyond what they know. This is hard-going any time, but seems especially so with our Iraqi colleagues. They were given a slightly different scenario today, but they just did very minor tweaks on what they had designed yesterday. What was good about the repeat exercise was the post-presentation discussion that outlined some of the differences they have among themselves with regard to some aspects of curriculum. This is normal and healthy discussion for us in the west, but it is not normal in the Middle East. Usually, senior people dominate such discussions and junior faculty doesn?t rebut their seniors. Today was different and that was encouraging.
Tonight we are planning an in-building pizza party (some are now off shopping before the gathering). We?ve got a boombox, Arabic and western music, and we?ll see how loose this gang can get? Tomorrow we are off to Petra, one of the world?s great sites. I was able to get ACOR to organize a bus trip down. It will be a long day but I think they?ll find Petra as fascinating as I do ? I hope so, anyway. We depart at 6 a.m., hence the pizza party tonight and inshallah a good night?s sleep. We are able to use tomorrow this way because, at their suggestion, we?ve gone much longer the past two days with our sessions. This is what negotiations are all about ? win win, I think.
We all seem to get along quite well ? another plus. M & M and I work well together. Meaghan is very adaptable and I think thoroughly enjoying the experience. She makes excellent contributions to the discussions, and she is super efficient at getting things organized for our presentations and discussions. It also certainly helps that we have dealt with some of those here three times now ? there?s a kind of personal and professional familiarity that breaks barriers down quickly. Michele is really in her element during these sessions ? it shows in how she works with them and in her positive body language.