Rubric for an Online Quiz

I am teaching a hybrid class, “Foundations of Global Studies Theory,” which has a weekly quiz on the readings. Every student is expected to write a two to three paragraph answer every week to a question like this: “What were the strengths and weaknesses’ of Adorno and Horkheimer’s article? One critique of critical theorists is that they can be “culture snobs,” who look down on forms of popular expression (music, television). Do you think that this is a fair critique based on this article? Is this article still relevant to contemporary society, or was its usefulness confined to its historical period?” I try to give every student feedback on their quiz response every week, but it’s challenging to do with 40 students in the class. To help with this issue, I’ve created this rubric, which I’ve found is very helpful:

 

Drought in Northeastern Brazil

"Mystery Land" by prozac1
“Mystery Land” by prozac1

In 1990 I did an immersion program in Pernambuco, Brazil. I spent weeks in Recife and the colonial city of Olinda, where I saw baroque churches, staggering poverty and urban life. I also heard the rich folklore and oral traditions that survived in the region regarding everything from nineteenth century bandits to messianic leaders. And of course I learned about the droughts, which have engulfed the region time after time. Lately there has been a great deal of attention given to the drought in the American West, and in particular California. But there is also a drought in Brazil that is so bad that dams cannot be relied upon to supply power. The Global Post has had a great series of reports on the disaster, which includes text, video and a photo essay. And if you want to have a deeper understanding of events there, read Nicholas Gabriel Arons’ Waiting for Rain: The Politics and Poetry of Drought in Northeast Brazil. Or if you want to dive into literature to understand the region’s past, read Jorge Amado’s Violent Land. You can also see more posts about Brazil at this blog here. Or you can find my own book on Brazil here.

Shawn Smallman, Portland State University

Seven reasons why online and hybrid classes are better (and more rigorous) than the traditional classroom

"Girl Browsing The Internet" by Stuart Miles at freedigitalphotos.net
“Girl Browsing The Internet” by Stuart Miles at freedigitalphotos.net

I’ve been teaching hybrid classes this entire year, and I’m looking forward to also teaching my Modern Brazil class as a hybrid next year. In the long term, I will probably move to teaching mostly hybrid classes.  I’ve been struck by how different these classes are from traditional format classes, mostly in positive ways. But I too often hear some of my colleagues (whom I respect and like- it’s a great department) denounce the move towards hybrid and on-line classes with comments such as “There is no concern for quality!” Or “They want us to be a vocational school!” I’ve spent a lot of time patiently trying to describe the advantages of classes in this format, and how they can be just as transformative and creative as any other class. But I don’t think that I’ve had much success. I have two awards for teaching excellence, and wouldn’t teach this way if it wasn’t good for students. And now I’m tired of this. So here are seven reasons why hybrid and on-line classes are not just as good as other classes, they are better. And more rigorous. …

Popular Protest and CKD in Nicaragua

"Burning Sugar Cane" by think4photop at freedigitalphotos.net
“Burning Sugar Cane” by think4photop at freedigitalphotos.net

I’ve written twice before on this blog about an emerging disease in Central America called Chronic Kidney Disease. In my original post I described how in some communities in the region between a quarter and seventy percent of men may suffer from the disorder, which is a truly staggering number. In a subsequent post, I argued that something mysterious was happening in Central America, because the disease appears to be something new. While some people argue that the illness takes place because of pesticide exposure or dehydration, this argument seems problematic to me. If this is true, why do we not see a similar illness in the Caribbean or the Atlantic coast of Brazil? That is why in this post I suggested changing the name of the disorder to EKD, so as to reflect the disease’s novelty. The fact that the illness focuses on the Pacific Coast of Central America, mainly affects men, but also seems to impact workers outside the sugar cane industry, all seems significant to me. …

New dolphin species discovered in the Amazon

Deep Forest Waterfall by Witthaya Phonsawat
Deep Forest Waterfall by Witthaya Phonsawat

In a recent post I talked about the discovery of a new species of tapir in the Amazon. What is amazing to me is that there are still large mammal species being “discovered” in the region. Within the last ten years a new monkey species was described scientifically for the first time, after having been identified within 60 miles of Manaus, the largest city in the Amazonian river basin. Of course, local and native peoples are already well aware of these animals, which they have hunted for long periods of time. Now, not a month after the last such discovery of a large mammal species in Amazonia, a new dolphin species has been described in a scientific journal. It is the first new species of river dolphin discovered in a 100 years. …

North America’s Energy Boom

"Panorama Scene Of Refinery Industry Plant" by khunaspix
“Panorama Scene Of Refinery Industry Plant” by khunaspix

I’ve blogged before about Canada’s oil sands, and the political battles and environmental issues that they have spawned. What is clear, however, is that despite the environmental and safety issues that new energy supplies raise in North America, economic changes are reshaping the energy industry with stunning speed. While the Canadian Oil Sands are the main focus of attention, it may be that discoveries of massive supplies of natural gas near Ft. St. John in northern British Columbia are also of global significance. As this article by Brent Jang in the Globe and Mail describes, it is enough supply to support a century’s worth of production. For Canada’s native peoples, in particular the Gitga’at people, potential exports are both a danger and an opportunity. But the discovery has implications that stretch far beyond the region. For Japan this find is so large that it has strategic implications as the nation turns to liquified natural gas (LNG) to replace the electricity production lost with Fukushima. Canada is a logical energy partner, and a large supply of Canadian natural gas will increase the competition for the Japanese market, which should make this energy transition easier. …

Equity in Internationalisation

In my previous post, I talked about Susan Gillespie’s critique of international education during an era of globalization. Clearly, Gillespie’s concerns are still part of a global conversation, because last week 24 international higher education organizations passed a resolution in favor of more equity in their field. The participants expressed concerns that for-profit programs were increasingly dominating international education, which has shifted the focus in this field away from concerns about ethical and equitable relationships.  At the core, the declaration called for making sure that international activities (study abroad, exchanges) guarantee mutual benefits to both sides, so that higher education policy is value-driven. While valuable, the devil is in the details in these agreements, particularly when higher education in North America is under increasing financial pressure. I know that at my institution there is a real desire to create truly equitable international partnerships, but that can be challenging to do at an urban institution with limited resources. What I’d really like to see are some examples of such programs that are sustainable and large scale, particularly at public, urban institutions.

Prof. Smallman, Portland State University

Critiques of International Education

This week I’ve been reading a series of critiques in the area of international education, and I’d like to take some time to review some of the better articles in this area. Susan Gillespie’s article, “The Practice of International Education in the Context of Globalization” A Critique” was published in 2002 by the Journal of Studies in International Education. Despite the passage of more than a decade, many of the points that Gillespie makes are worth considering in the current context. Her work begins echoing a point that Katz’s recent piece made, which was that the United States turned inward after the 9/11 attacks, which the was the opposite response to what happened after WWII and the start of the Cold War. Reading the article, one is reminded how much the United States moved to disengage from the world after 9/11, even as the nation fought two wars. Diane Feinstein proposed a moratorium on student visas, and only relented when reminded of the economic impact. Parents were afraid to allow their students to study abroad. But the focus of Gillespie’s critique was not this political and social trend. …

Internationalizing the curriculum: Stanley Katz’s thoughts

"3d Earth" by chrisroll
“3d Earth” by chrisroll

Stanley Katz has an intriguing articled titled “Borderline Ignorance: Why have efforts to internationalize the curriculum stalled?” in a recent issue of the Chronicle Review. Katz starts by talking about the current drive to globalize the curriculum, and a recent AACU initiative that called for “an education for the stewardship of the global commons.” While AACU’s initiative is both detailed and ambitious, Katz argues that few institutions are likely to take on this task. It’s not that internationalizing the curriculum is not important. Rather, Katz argues, it is the larger political and cultural context. He first talks about how the Cold War led Western academic institutions to internationalize their curriculum, by encouraging study abroad and academic programs that focused on newly important global regions. Katz’s argument, however, is that this impetus began to fade with the end of the Cold War, and a cultural backlash in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. In this sense, he suggests, the current political climate makes such work difficult. As Katz points out, in the United States Title Vi and Title VIII programs have decreased funding, at the same time that some major private donors have also pulled back from financing international work. …

Maps for an International or Global Studies Class

I love maps, as I’ve talked about before in this blog. So I was enthralled by a recent article tiled “40 more maps that explain the world” in the Washington Post. This collection of maps cover diverse topics, that range from the historical (shipping routes during the colonial period) to the contemporary (a map of income inequality globally). I could imagine using the majority of the maps over the course of my “Introduction to International Studies” class. For example, in my section of postcolonialism, I could use the maps of the Spanish and Portuguese empires, African empires before the European invasions, the “What Africa might have looked like had it never been colonized” map as well as the “1916 European Treaty to carve up the Middle East.”  In my section on economic globalization, I could use the map that shows the commodity chains for Nutella, as well as “Nobel Laureates since 1901, by region.” I also emphasize demographics in my introductory class, so the map on where populations are growing and shrinking globally would be a useful one. It clearly shows the challenges that Germany, Eastern Europe and Russia face. In the week on security, I would certainly use the maps showing “walls,” the Arctic land grab, the territories of Mexican drug cartels, terrorist attacks worldwide as of 2012, naval firepower in the Pacific, as well as territorial claims in the South China sea. There are even a couple of great maps for a new section that I am developing on indigenous peoples. Lastly, the map “World War Two in Europe: Day by Day” is simply an amazing achievement in historical geography. In short, the article is well worth investigating as a possible resource for an introductory class, as well as just to admire some beautiful maps.

Prof. Smallman, Portland State University

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