Global course connections at Denison University

Date of Event: September 28, 2012

Posted: September 28, 2012

GRANVILLE, Ohio—Two Denison University faculty members will explore a new way to enhance their classes by connecting with a companion class in another nation this year. Fadhel Kaboub, an assistant professor of economics, and Veerendra Lele, an associate professor of sociology/anthropology and international studies, are participating in an international course-sharing project called Global Course Connections. This pilot project is designed to enrich each shared course with an international perspective through direct exchange between students and faculty members on two campuses in two different countries as they jointly progress through similar curricular components of the linked courses.

This fall, Kaboub is linking his Denison course, Monetary Theory, with a similar class called Money, Banking, and Financial Markets that is being taught by Andrea Terzi at Franklin College in Lugano, Switzerland. Together with his colleague in Switzerland, Kaboub is promoting course interactions between Franklin students and Denison students by sharing weekly news-analysis assignments (based on current news publications) and through an end-of-semester sequence of policy-advocacy projects, with both faculty members evaluating student work.

“Connecting Denison students with their peers at Franklin College in Switzerland has been a great way of looking at the global financial crisis and its developments in the U.S. and Europe,” says Kaboub. “The students are having rich conversations online as they prepare for their weekly news-analysis presentation, and I hope that next year we can coordinate the timing of the classes so we can have live conversations between them.”

Lele will link his spring 2013 sociology/anthropology course, Race and Ethnicity, with a similar course being taught by David Wallace at the American University of Bulgaria. Lele and his faculty partner in Bulgaria plan to examine issues surrounding race and ethnicity in a variety of national contexts. Both classes will study the experience of Native Americans and African Americans in North America and will consider parallel issues for marginalized groups in parts of Europe and Asia. Lele hopes to employ a web-based course platform and other telecom formats such as Skype so that students from both institutions can work and collaborate within the same structure.

The Global Course Connections Project is one of several initiatives of the Global Liberal Arts Alliance, a multinational higher education alliance coordinated by the Great Lakes Colleges Association in Ann Arbor, Mich. Denison University is one of the founding member institutions of the Global Liberal Arts Alliance. Lele, together with Denison President Dale T. Knobel and Provost Bradley Bateman, participated in a meeting of the Global Liberal Arts Alliance in Athens, Greece, this summer. While in Athens, Lele was able to work closely with his faculty partner from Bulgaria on planning their upcoming shared class.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

Name: Ginny Sharkey
Position Title: Media Relations
Primary Email: sharkeyv@denison.edu
Business Phone: (740) 587-6266

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