Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

3 – Challenges Confronted and Lessons (Un)Learned
other. In other words, globalization was perceived as the
master trend reshaping social life everywhere, while
social outcomes were shaped through interaction with
other processes as well. The course was interdisciplinary,
combining perspectives from sociology, anthropology,
political science, economics, and philosophy to explore
the meanings of globalization and its central processes
and institutional structures.
The course sought to develop a conceptually grounded
understanding of the various aspects of globalization,
particularly, economic, political, social, and cultural.
The main objectives were to introduce students to: (a)
the main topics and debates related to globalization; (b)
the conceptual and empirical tools available to frame
discussions of globalization topics; and (c) the multifaceted
ways in which globalization manifests itself and its
complex impacts on individuals and collectives and
multiple ways individuals and collectives are challenging
and shaping globalization in the contemporary world.
The beginnings
The course was conceived in the Fall of 1998 when I was
a lecturer at Wayne State University. I received a School
of Liberal Arts’ innovative Global Curriculum research
grant. The aim of the grant was to encourage faculty to
design courses with an eye to linking students and faculty
of Wayne State with students and faculty in different
parts of the world. With a modest seed grant I began
an intensive research into long distance learning. Also,
began to look for collaborators in Ghana, South Africa,
and Kenya. I continued my research when I moved to
Central Michigan University in the Fall of 2003.
Looking for collaborators was quite daunting. After
several “blind” emails and phone calls I was able to get
in touch with a couple interested ones but lost contact
with them somewhere along the line. Many of those who
I maintained more or less longer links with preferred the
traditional methods and eventually lost interest in my
proposal. Their greatest fear, I gathered, was change.
They appeared comfortable with “what they have,” i.e.,
the hassle-free traditional mode of pedagogy. Many of
these referred me to colleagues who they suggested might
be interested. These in turn suggested others who might
be. Two constant questions I was asked were “How is
the technology going to work?” “We do not have even
one computer in our entire department, how are we
going to train our students to take a course that is computer-based?”
The electronic aspect was quite intimidating
to most of them, even to me at first. Just thinking
about how to link technology-savvy students in ICT-rich
Canada with their technology deprived counterparts in
Ghana was mind-boggling, to say the least. Despite the
challenges, I decided against giving up. Thus, when I
moved back to Canada 4 and to Kwantlen University College
in the Fall of 2005, I decided to pursue the project.
Looking for funding for the project proved even more
daunting. After applying to several external funding
agencies with no success, I had to settle for a modest
internal funding. In the Spring of 2006, I received a $500
Technology Innovation grant from Kwantlen University
College Information and Education department grant to
purchase two webcams and a pair of headsets. In the
same year, I received Kwantlen University College’s
Office for Research and Scholarship travel grant. In the
Summer of 2006 I travelled to Ghana where I met several
potential collaborators at the University of Ghana
and to assess the level of technological readiness of the
country’s premier university. Professor Kojo Senah, who
is the current chair of the Sociology Department, signed
onto my proposal, cautiously. While I was aware of the
yawning digital divide between the Global North and
Global South, I was not prepared for what I saw. For
example, the entire Department of Sociology had only
two computers—one for the secretary and the other for
the head of the department.
On my return, I teamed up with Afretech, a Delta,
BC-based NGO which supplies used computers to various
African countries to collect and ship 40 used computers
from Kwantlen University College to the Sociology Department
of the University of Ghana. In 2007, I went
back to Ghana to follow up on the project. I met with
the Director of the Information Technology Directorate,
Mr. Emmanuel Owusu-Oware, who enthusiastically also
signed on to the project. He immediately assigned his
deputy, Ms Ama Dadson and Mr. Patrick Kuti, the directorate’s
web-developer to work with on the project.
He has made available UGL’s a well-equipped lab for
students.
It is pertinent to mention that the University of
Ghana, Legon has had Internet connectivity some time
now. In fact, UGL is one of the participant institutions
taking part in the African Virtual University (AVU) project.
The AVU was set up in 1995 under the auspices of
the World Bank as “a satellite based distance education
project whose objectives are to deliver to countries of
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), university education in the
discipline of science and engineering, non-credit/continuing
education programs and remedial instruction”
4
I moved to Central Michigan University in 2003, after a
decade of teaching at the departments of Communication
Studies and Sociology and Anthropology.
Education for a Digital World 35