LanguageCorps Asia blog

United States And Indonesia Partnering for Higher Education

United States And Indonesia Partnering for Higher Education.

Nearly a year after the Obama administration set a priority of improving higher education exchanges with Indonesia, the U.S. is increasing its ‘commitment to cultural diplomacy’, writes Sara Schonhardt at Voice of America.

As part of the outreach, the administration aims to double the number of Indonesian students studying in the U.S., which officials say will help the U.S. economy and improve relations with the rapidly developing Muslim-majority nation.

Last June, to support university partnerships and student exchange programs, the Obama administration earmarked $165 million over five years. This would support subjects such as agriculture, business and information technology.

The U.S. is continuing to reach out to fast-growing economies like Indonesia and Vietnam as potential new markets for U.S. goods and services. International students injected nearly $19 billion into the U.S. economy last year, and Indonesia’s rising middle class could open new opportunities for U.S. universities to bring in more tuition dollars.

The U.S. says, in an attempt to improve understanding between the two countries, it also wants to send more American students to Indonesia. U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Scot Marciel said student exchanges create a “personal basis for better relations.”

But to entice more Indonesians to American schools, Marciel said the U.S. must research and market better:

“We have to do a much better job of A, marketing our universities, which are the best in the world; and B, changing this terrible perception that you can’t get a student visa. So I’m literally almost out on the streets grabbing people as they walk by saying, ‘hey, we’ll give you a visa if you go study in America.’”

The number of Indonesians studying in the U.S. has fallen steadily over the last decade because the Asian financial crisis curtailed some families’ resources to send their kids to study in America. Visa issues also contributed to the drop in numbers, and it is still to rebound fully. Fewer than 7,000 Indonesians studied in the United States in 2010, down about eight percent from 2009.

With improvements in universities in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia, more Indonesians are choosing to study at cheaper options closer to home.

There is, however, the undeniable lure of quality: the U.S. is home to many of the world’s most prestigious universities and research institutions. Many Indonesians who have studied abroad say the combination of strong academics and unique life experience from study in the United States is invaluable.

American officials say that improving educational opportunity is crucial to the economic growth and political stability of a key ally, writes Karin Fischer at the Chronicle.

“We can’t change the rainfall”, says Cameron R. Hume, the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia. “But we can change people. We can improve opportunity for a generation of young people”.

For Education Minister Mohammad Nur, the exchange is a part of enhanced cultural diplomacy that will help develop Indonesia and strengthen bilateral friendship, writes Schonhardt.

“There is a lot of history behind Indonesia’s relationship with America, he said. That is why it needs to be strengthened. But Indonesia also wants to strengthen ties with Europe and other countries that can give it new insights.”

Some students, at the education fair, said it does not matter which country they study in, as long as they can afford it. Others said they want to experience life in the United States, as long as there are good scholarship opportunities, writes Schonhardt.

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May 23, 2012 8:12:17 PM

Corporations Seek Greater Role in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education

Corporations Seek Greater Role in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education.

Corporations are stepping in to help solve the current education crisis before they’re left with nobody suitable to hire.

A quarter of our children drop out of high school every year. Two-fifths of those who do graduate leave high school unprepared for college or career, while 57% (PDF) lack comprehension of even remedial math. Apparently the national disinterest in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math) starts early, as over 61% (PDF) of middle schoolers would rather take out the garbage than do their math homework.

Growth in STEM jobs is currently rising three times faster than that of non-STEM jobs and the National Science Foundation estimates that over the next decade 80% of created jobs will require some mastery of STEM subjects.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has donated $100 million towards various educational causes and Intel has given $1 billion with several other firms also stepping up to the plate. Other companies, like Microsoft are increasingly doing more than just donating money, as welcome as that investment is in an underfunded and underappreciated sector, and are actively participating in social innovation projects.

Microsoft partners with NGOs around the world to help young people have the tools to close what it calls the ‘opportunity divide’. Microsoft’s Partners in Learning has so far sent $500 million to education systems globally helping teachers and students in 114 countries.

“Our goal is to embrace the bigness of the challenge that government and society face in terms of transforming education in a holistic way,” says Vice President of Microsoft Worldwide Education Anthony Salcito. “It’s not just about technology. It’s about bringing innovation to schools. How do you personalize the education experience? How do you incorporate new modes of classroom design and curriculum, or think about assessment differently? How do you change a kid’s vision of his future?”

Microsoft helps education in direct and indirect ways. Their open source software platform allows people to create educational apps and tools for products like Kinect and Windows Phone, and allows talented students to stretch themselves and help their education system by doing so themselves. The Imagine Cup asks students to use technology to solve problems in the world. Partners in Learning challenges people to innovate within the school system itself and provides investment grants to help test and implement winning ideas.

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May 15, 2012 6:24:56 PM

The Global Search for Education A Life of Learning

The Global Search for Education: A Life of Learning.

Professor Sir David Watson (MA University of Cambridge, PhD University of Pennsylvania) is Professor of Higher Education and Principal of Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, England. Sir David began his career as an intellectual historian. He has contributed widely to developments in UK higher education. He chaired the UK’s Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning, and co-authored its report, Learning Through Life. He was knighted in 1998 for services to higher education. In 2009, he received the Times Higher Education Lifetime Achievement Award. I had the opportunity to get Sir David’s views on higher education and a life of learning.

What kind of education system will permit a country to have the human skills needed to compete globally?

It seems to me that the key requirement of a modern society is a fluid, accessible and responsive system of tertiary and lifelong learning. Foundations in compulsory education are clearly essential, and universal access to primary education has been correctly identified as a United Nations Millennium goal. However, there is now global recognition that full participation in modern life requires continuing education.

In 2008-2009, I was privileged to chair a Commission on the Future of Lifelong Learning in the UK. In our report, Learning Through Life, we began from the premise that “the right to learn is a human right, connected with personal growth and emancipation, prosperity, group and community solidarity, as well as global responsibility.” More recently, the third annual Emerging Markets Symposium at Green Templeton College (in January 2012) identified tertiary education as both a “condition of sustained and equitable economic growth” and a vital element in creating the conditions for a satisfactory and responsible national life.

What are your views about standardized tests and the university admissions process?

I am not an expert on testing in schools. I am a believer in self-study and benchmarking, from a variety of perspectives, ranging from the needs of individual learners and those who support them (including their families) to the institutions in and through which they study. Sensible, nuanced understanding of how I (and we) are doing is a vital element of any attempt to “manage the future” in personal or institutional terms.

Meanwhile, around the world, qualifications for university entrance vary in type and demand. We have established in the UK that where and how such qualifications are earned can disguise both achievement and potential. If this is not fully appreciated, a kind of brittle, meritocratic discourse can hinder the role of higher education in assisting social mobility and advancing social justice.

As a consequence, I have real concerns about the “moral panics” that surround university admissions. In the UK we talk about “widening participation” as if it is the same as so-called “fair access,” and vice versa. The two are logically separable phenomena. The first – getting more students qualified and to the starting gate – is a big problem in both developed and developing societies. The second – where they choose to apply, and are admitted – is a comparatively tiny problem. Merging the two can also lead to empirically weak and socially patronizing conclusions. Well-qualified students with disadvantaged backgrounds who choose non-standard routes through the system are often making rational and life-enhancing decisions.

Is there sufficient focus on critical thinking in today’s education system?

What makes higher education special is its facilitation of conversations between more and less experienced learners. A degree of independence and self-confidence is vital. In this context I see a number of encouraging things.

The public discourse is heavily dominated at present by a perception (whether welcomed or deprecated) of student instrumentalism. What counts is “employability” (even more than “employment”) and whether or not students are prepared for it. Meanwhile, students themselves confound expectation further: by returning to the liberal arts, by returning to volunteering (even while they simultaneously have to work much more frequently for money than their predecessors), and by reviving student-led political activism (all around the world).

What can be done to better address the emotional and intellectual potential of the individual?

I am currently working on a project about “transformation claims” made by and for higher education. I am intrigued by how varied these claims have been over the long history of the higher education enterprise, but also by how strong and determined they invariably are. Essentially my argument is that such claims represent a moving combination of recurrent themes, nearly all present at the creation of the modern university, and liable individually to wax or wane according to mainly (but not exclusively) external influences.

Most of the claims about the purposes and achievements of higher education are irreducibly individualistic: it will change your life, through conversion or confirmation of faith, by improving your character, by giving you marketable “abilities,” by making you a better member of the community, or simply “capable” of operating more effectively in the contemporary world. All of these qualities scale up, of course, but in differing ways.

First of all, the historical perspective is important. Almost all higher education institutions were founded, and invested in by particular communities and their representatives to serve social purposes. Success in higher education has, of course always represented a private good and normally a “positional” advantage. However, it has also always incorporated and resonated with the concept of “public good.”

Secondly, a trap to avoid is that of cultural specificity. In the course of a recent global investigation, set out in our book The Engaged University, my colleagues and I found strong evidence of universities in the South and East doing more with less than those in the relatively privileged North and West (Routledge, 2011). I perceive a stronger sense of societal pull (over institutional push) in terms of the universities in that part of the world. Too often European (including British) and North American universities can rest on their laurels, and think that they can achieve their goals just by “being there.”

From a broader perspective does your country’s definition of educational excellence take into account the quality of life of individuals and of society?

The evidence is strong from the UK that those members of society who have had a positive experience of post-compulsory education live healthier, happier and more democratically tolerant lives.

Above all, as we argued in Learning Through Life, a successful learning life-course improves your chances of taking control of your destiny.

What needs to be done to increase students’ knowledge and understanding of other countries and cultures?

Nearly all university campuses are now “global.” Probably most important is the fact that the university campuses in the UK (and I suspect in some other countries) are ahead of the wider community in demonstrating ethnic, cultural and national diversity. In the UK at present, a majority of Higher Education Institutions now has students from over one hundred countries and several have a majority who are bi-lingual. Paul Ramsden, former head of the Higher Education Academy in the UK, has spoken about “intercultural fluency” as a “central goal of every higher education curriculum.” Universities taking up this challenge will often find that they are following – not leading – their student bodies.

Does higher education (in Martha Nussbaum’s ringing phrase) “cultivate humanity”? The simple answer has to be that it can; that it doesn’t necessarily do; and that there are other honorable ways of achieving the same end. It is, however, I believe, generally good at this important job.

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May 11, 2012 4:28:36 AM

Myths Americans Believe About Vietnam

Myths Americans Believe About Vietnam.

1. Religion is not tolerated in Vietnam.

Quite the contrary! Sometimes I read stories on the web about religious persecution in Vietnam, but what I see here in Ho Chi Minh City is a very religious people, far more religious in general than Americans. People here will nearly all say they are either Catholic or Buddhist; it's hard to find anyone who would call themselves Agnostic or Atheistic- I haven't met one yet.

The Catholic Church is one of the biggest property owners in Ho Chi Minh City. There are huge, newly built churches everywhere. I can see a gimongous church being built in the distance from the window where I'm sitting right now. In the evenings and on Sundays there are crowds of people at all the churches, often spilling out into the street and adding to the traffic mayhem. The most popular tourist attraction in Saigon is a cathedral- the Notre-Dame Cathedral in District 1.

There are also Buddhist temples in every neighborhood; many of them are huge. Thich Nhat Hanh, the rock star of Buddhist monks who was living in exile in France for many years, recently returned to tour Vietnam with an entourage of over 300 monks.

Granted, there are conflicts between the Vietnamese government and some religious leaders who get involved in politics. I don't know the details of these conflicts but I'd venture to say they involve only a tiny minority of religious people. In the past, certainly there has been severe religious persecution in Vietnam, but things have changed a lot. The official government line is that religion is free and accessible to all, and I haven't seen anything different.

2. The Vietnamese hate Americans because of "The American War."

My own experience is only in the south, and it may be different in the north, but what I have experienced would actually be the opposite. Even when I first came to Vietnam as a tourist in 1996, I never heard or felt anything but tremendous love and respect for America and Americans.

To the Vietnamese, just like to people in developing countries everywhere, American is the promised land, the land of opportunity. Nearly every Vietnamese family has at least one member living in the USA, so America is the country that is taking care of their loved ones.

Unlike Americans, especially baby boomers, who will never get past the Vietnam war, the Vietnamese have gotten over it. The bulk of the Vietnamese population, it's own baby boom, is only in their mid-20's. Their parents have stories but most people are too young to remember the war.

Also consider Vietnamese history. Americans don't have much of a history, but the Vietnamese collective memory goes back 5000 years. The Chinese occupied Vietnam for 1000 years. France occupied Vietnam for 100 years. America was here for all of 30 years, merely a small blip in Vietnamese history. Contrary to Americans' sense of self-importance, the American episode isn't all that significant. (I don't know how accurate those figures are; those are the numbers that Vietnamese people will recite if you ask them.)

This is a topic that is big enough for it's own article, but suffice it to say that I've noticed far FAR more tension between the north and south of Vietnam and between local Vietnamese and overseas Vietnamese, than between Vietnamese and Americans. (My personal plea to Americans: get over it!)

3. They're all Communists.

I cringe when I hear Americans refer to the Vietnamese as "those commies," as if everyone was running around in blue suits. Vietnamese people are just like everyone else: most of them couldn't care less about politics. They just want a decent job, food on the table, and an iPhone. Most of them will bitch about their government if given a chance, just like Americans. The number of people who are actually in the Communist Party is a very tiny number, even smaller than the number of people in Vietnam's Cao Dai religion.

4. Vietnam doesn't have modern technology.

Out in the countryside, this is true. My wife's family just got electricity at their house a few months ago. They still don't have running water. But in the cities it's different. I'm typing on a computer that I bought here in Ho Chi Minh City, using a broadband connection that is just the same (as far as I can tell) as in America. My university classroom is wired with wifi and a projector; I have to tell my students to close their laptops and pay attention. I've heard there are some schools that have those touchscreen interactive projectors, but I haven't used one yet. I'd brag about my modern cell phone but I can't afford one. My students can, though, and I'm often envious of their gadgets. There are electronic gadgets or sale in my neighborhood computer store that I can't even identify.

I have a friend who works for the Vietnam office of a British architectural firm and he said their counterparts in England were worried that the Vietnamese staff might not be able to open the AutoCAD documents they sent, because surely the Vietnamese must be using some ancient version. In fact, because of the lax enforcement of copyright laws, the opposite was true. The Vietnam office had the latest version, whereas the British office only had an older version! Since all the latest software is practically free here in Vietnam, it's common for people to have $20,000 worth of software on their computers, if not more.

5. Vietnamese people are not "free."

What is freedom, anyway? The ability to do what you want, right? If you want to rock the boat politically in Vietnam, of course you're going to have a tough time, but citizens do rally against their government. And for big-business people, you're going to run into restrictions. But for the average person, like me for example, Vietnam feels much more "free" than America.

Here in Vietnam, it's all up to your local police guy. If he's happy then everything's okay. You want to open up a company in your house, maybe even a school? No problem, just pay your local official a (very) small sum and off you go. Try to do the same in the USA and you are screwed. Try to open a school or a restaurant in America and you'll be shut down if your stairway is an inch too narrow. In my experience, the average person is much more free in Vietnam to do what they want than in America.

Take a look at the traffic police. Here in Vietnam your traffic cop has no radio, no computer, many don't have guns. They can often be pacified with a hundred-thousand Dong ($6). In America an ordinary policeman has a fast car with a computer and is armed to the teeth. Disobey one small traffic law and instantly your entire criminal record is on their screen.

One of the tragedies of America that people don't talk about much is it's prison population: the USA has the highest incarceration rate in the world. It has less than 5% of the world's population but over 23% of the world's incarcerated people- four times the world average. America's prisons are full of men and women whose lives have been virtually ruined because of some small, victimless crime they committed. Is that freedom?

Obviously, the contrary to what I'm saying here could easily be argued. The government and police in Vietnam are basically the equivalent of the Mafia, and they do what they want, arbitrarily. But I'm talking about what your average person can and can't do, and especially just the way it feels to live here vs. the USA. One of the reasons I love living in Vietnam is that I feel much more "free" here than I do in America. You can argue the opposite all you want, but this is the way it feels to me- Vietnam: free. America: not free.

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May 10, 2012 4:43:45 AM

Advices for Foreigners Working in China

Advices for Foreigners Working in China.

China now attracts millions of people from all over the world. The experience of working in China will be memorable. But are you clear about the China work situation, the type of job, the workplace and the salary? The following will give a detailed information of them.

Type of Job for Foreigners in China
Currently, most foreigners in demand in China are English teachers, and these offers are mostly provided by schools. Schools are classified into public schools and private schools. A few private schools promise a high salary in advertisements, however, after having worked there you may find out that a few private schools couldn't arrange a Z or F visa for you to work in China, and it would be difficult to get the entire salary they promised before, for reasons that they don't take in enough students or the quality of you classes is not good enough. And of course, it is illegal to wok in China without a Z or F visa, while in public school, there is a Foreign Affairs Office that will assist you in your work and daily life, provide better accomodation for foreign experts, and the salary is paid entirely according to the contract.

City to Work for Foreigners in China
It seems that most foreigners are only familiar with several big cities in China, like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and focus on jobs in these cities. As a result, there are more applicants and competition there, which leads to a relatively lower salary because of the much higher living cost than that in other cities.

Salary for Foreigners in China
It seems that most foreigners are only familiar with several big cities in China, like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and focus on jobs in these cities. As a result, there are more applicants and competition there, which leads to a relatively lower salary because of the much higher living cost than that in other cities.

If you don't have any special reasons to work in big cities, it would be a better choice to work in a relatively smaller city, where the salary is almost the same as that in big cities but the living cost is much lower, and what's more, the scenery is usually more beautiful and the local people are more friendly.

Time of Job Hunting in China
Compared with other positions, foreign teacher is a little bit special. The best time to find teaching work in China is in September, when the schools return, or in February, just after the winter holiday, although there are thousands of short summer school placements from June to September. And meanwhile, other positions have no special requirement.

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May 5, 2012 7:38:22 AM

How the Internet Will Change How We Learn

How the Internet Will Change How We Learn.

In the 21st century, online learning will constitute 50% of all learning and education. The rapid rise of learning on the Internet will occur not because it is more convenient, cheaper, or faster, but because cognitive learning on the Internet is better than learning in-person. Of the growing number of experts seeing this development, Gerald Celente, author of the popular book Trends 2000, summarizes it most succinctly: “Interactive, on-line learning will revolutionize education. The education revolution will have as profound and as far-reaching an effect upon the world as the invention of printing. Not only will it affect where we learn; it also will influence how we learn and what we learn" (Celente, 1997, p. 249). Recent research reported in the Washington Post cites studies showing that online learning is equally as effective as learning in-person. And note that we state "cognitive learning," not all learning.

It is still very early in the development of online learning. But the outlines of the potential of online learning are already emerging. The best guide to the next century lies in history, and the in examples of technological transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. The automobile and tractor were the driving forces for the Industrial Age. The tractor eventually was demonstrated to not only cover more acres than a horse drawn plow, but to plow deeper (read: better) and thus increase productivity .

Some sectors of society clung to the horse drawn vehicle, of course. The military still had a cavalry in 1939 to confront Hitler’s tanks before the obvious mismatch was addressed (Davis, 1993). The tractor changed education for the 20th century as well. Prior to the tractor and automobile, one room schoolhouses were placed every six miles so that a child would only have to walk at most three miles to school. The one room schoolhouse necessitated one teacher and multiple grade levels in one room. With the automobile, people moved into towns, and even rural residents could take buses to school, thus causing school consolidation and the eventual all-but-extinction of the one room schoolhouse. In the State of Washington, for example, between 1935 and 1939 almost 20% of rural one room schoolhouses were closed (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1945).

And when online learning is combined with a more interactive and facilitative in-person learning, it will easily out perform today’s outmoded one-size-fits-all traditional lecture delivery system. "Digital media and Internet communications will transform learning practices," notes Peter J. Denning of George Mason University in his How We Will Learn (1996, page 2).

Here are a few of the effects of online learning that will occur in just a few years:

* The average class size for an online course will be 1,000 participants;
* The average cost of an online course will plummet to below $100 a course;
* There will be hundreds of thousands of topics from which learners can choose.

But perhaps the most devastating and revolutionary change will be how the Internet will change how we learn. Because as we enter the Information Age, the era of lifelong learning, the era of online learning, distance has nothing to do with "distance education." By this I mean that even when the teacher is in close proximity to the learners, the quality of the cognitive learning and teaching will be higher when the cognitive part of the learning is conducted over the Internet. Keoko University in Japan, for example, is already establishing online learning for its on-campus students (Eisenstodt, 1997).

In this article I will outline what we already know and can forecast about how the Internet and online learning will change how we learn. We know, for example, that the economic force driving life in the 21st century will be the microchip and the Internet, just as the automobile was the economic force for change in the 20th century. And we know that business will need its workers to learn more, more quickly, and at a lower cost, to remain competitive. We will show that these market forces will create the need and desirability for online learning.

How We Learn Today

For most of history the standard educational setting has been an instructor (or teacher, leader, presenter, or speaker) standing in front of a group of people. This is the most common learning design in society, whether it be for college credit classes, noncredit courses, training in business and industry, high school instruction, or even a Sunday School class.

Basically, 90% of all education has been "information transfer," the process of transferring information and knowledge from the teacher’s head into the heads of the learners. To do that, teachers have had to talk most of the time. And right up until today that mode of delivery has been the most effective, most efficient, most desirable way to learn.

But as educators we know that the traditional lecture is not the only way to learn. We as learners learn in many different ways, at different times, and from a variety of sources (Knowles, 1973). We also know that learning is not purely a cognitive process, but that it also involves the emotions and even the spirit (Apps, 1991).

The Internet is destroying the traditional educational delivery system of an instructor speaking, lecturing or teaching in front of one or more learners.

The whole discipline of self-directed learning, variously called adult learning or adult education, has shown that the traditional delivery system is only one way to learn. The Internet represents the biggest technological aid helping people to learn in 500 years, according to many educators (Thieme, 1996).

What the Internet is doing is to explode the traditional method of teaching into two parts-- cognitive learning, which can be accomplished better with online learning; and affective learning, which can be accomplished better in a small group discussion setting.

Why cognitive learning can be done better on the Internet

Cognitive learning includes facts, data, knowledge, mental skills-- what you can test. And information transfer and cognitive learning can be achieved faster, cheaper and better online.

There are several ways that online learning can be better than classroom learning, such as:

* A learner can learn during her or his peak learning time. My peak learning time is from 10 am to noon. My step-son’s peak learning time is between midnight and 3 am. He recently signed up for an Internet course and is looking for a couple more, because as he put it, "I have a lot of free time between midnight and 3 am." With traditional in-person classes, only some learners will be involved during their peak learning time. The rest will not fully benefit.
* A learner can learn at her or his own speed. With traditional classes, a learner has one chance to hear a concept, technique or piece of knowledge. With online learning, a learner can replay a portion of audio, reread a unit, review a video, and retest him or herself.
* A learner can focus on specific content areas. With traditional classes, each content area is covered and given the relative amount of emphasis and time that the teacher deems appropriate. But in a ten unit course, a given learner will not need to focus on each unit equally. For each of us, there will be some units we know already and some where we have little knowledge. With online learning, we as learners can focus more time, attention and energy on those units, modules or sections of the course where we need the most help and learning.
* A learner can test himself daily. With online learning, a learner can take quizzes and tests easily, instantly receiving the results and finding out how well she or he is doing in a course.
* A learner can interact more with the teacher. Contrary to common opinion today, online learning is more personal and more interactive than traditional classroom courses. In an online course, the instructor only has to create the information transfer part of the course-- lectures, graphics, text, video-- once. Once the course units or modules have been developed, there is need only for revisions later on. The instructor is then free to interact with participants in the course.

Learners will acquire the data and facts faster using the Internet. Officials at University Online Publishing, which has been involved in online learning more than most organizations, say that a typical 16-week college course, for example, can be cut to 8 weeks because students learn more quickly online.

Finally, technology has consistently proven to drive down costs. Recent reports indicate that education costs are growing at over 5% for 1998, well above the 3% average for all other sectors of the economy. With education costs in the traditional system soaring, technological innovations promise the ability to deliver an education more cheaply.

Downward pressure is already being exerted on prices by online courses. Officials at Regents College in Albany, NY, which collects data on 8,000 distance learning courses, say that prices are dropping already. One community college in Arizona, for example, offers online courses at just $32/credit hour for in-state residents, and $67/credit hour for out-of-state learners.

More Interaction Occurs with Online Learning

The heart and soul of an online course will not be the lecture, the delivery, the audio or video. Rather, it will be the interaction between the participants and the teacher, as well as the interaction among the participants themselves. This daily interaction among participants, for example, will form what John Hagel, author of Net Gain (1997), calls a "Virtual Community."

The next time you are in a class, count the number of questions asked of the teacher during a one-hour time period. Because of the instructor’s need to convey information, the time able to be devoted to questions is very short. In an online course, everyone can ask questions, as many questions as each learner wants or needs.

There is more discussion. In an online course, there is more discussion. If there is a group discussion with thirty people and six to eight people make comments, that is a successful discussion that will take up almost a whole hour. And almost everyone in the group will agree it was a lively. Now if you go into an asynchronous discussion forum on the Internet, and thirty people are there, and six to eight are making comments, you will conclude that the discussion is lagging.

The same number of comments on the Internet do not appear to be as lively a discussion as when delivered in person because the capability and capacity of the Internet is that every person can make comments—at the same time. A transcript of a typical online discussion would take hours to give verbally. Online, we can participate in discussions easily, absorbing more information in a much shorter time and engaging in more interaction, not less.

How the Internet Will Change In-person Learning

Because the Internet can deliver information more quickly, at a lower cost, whenever a learner wants, as often as a learner wants, and with more interaction and dialogue, the Internet will replace the traditional in-person classroom delivery system as the dominant mode of delivery for education and delivery. But the Internet will not replace in-person learning.

While we will spend 50% of our time learning online, we will spend the other 50% of our time learning in person. But in-person learning will also be radically different from what is most common today.

There will be almost no need for the traditional lecture. However, there will be a tremendous need for teachers to become facilitators of learning, understanding how we learn, and able to work with learners as individuals. "The sage on the stage will become the guide on the side" has already been coined.

Though part of learning is centered around content, we as educators know that more of learning is dependent on the learner as an individual, a person. Learning is not just cognitive; it also involves the emotions and the spirit. It involves "unlearning." It involves what educator Jerold Apps calls "grieving the loss of old ideas."

The likely format for this kind of learning will be chairs in a circle, with a facilitator leading discussions, dialogues, role plays and more. And it is this kind of teaching and learning that we actually know very little about, because we as instructors have had so little time to engage in it.

The Internet certainly did not create facilitative learning. This kind of learning has been around for a long time and its value well established. But it’s use will grow exponentially because the Internet allows the cognitive information to be delivered faster, cheaper, better, thus allowing more time and resources to be devoted to facilitative in-person learning.

For now, the elementary school teacher comes closest to being the model for this new kind of in-person teaching. As a parent, I have experienced my son’s teachers being able to sit down and talk with me for thirty minutes or more about my son as a learner. Not about the class, not about content, but about my son’s learning. This is where the focus of in-person learning will be very shortly.

As online courses grow and change how we learn, some courses will involve almost all in-person learning and teaching. And some courses will involve almost all online learning. And probably the majority of courses will involve both online learning and in-person learning.

What an Online Course Will Look Like

A typical online course, or the online portion of course, will look like this.

* There will be hundreds of thousands of topics from which to choose. You will be able to take a course on "Mango trees," or "Adlai Stevenson (Democratic candidate for US President in 1952 and 1956)."
* Your online teacher will probably be the foremost authority and expert in the subject in the world.
* Because the foremost authority in the world is teaching the subject online, and because courses will be offered twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, there will be learners from all around the world.
* There will be an average of 1,000 learners in a course. This will occur for a number of reasons:
* There are one thousand people in the world who want to learn any given topic at any given time, even mango trees or Adlai Stevenson.
* Because people will want to learn from the foremost authority, there will be only 2-3 online courses for each topic.
* The cost of an online course will be extremely low, probably under $100, even for credit classes. This will occur because educational institutions can make more money on high volume and low prices than they can on low volume and high prices. It will occur also because the only way an educational institution can lose its market-share for a given course is because the course is priced higher than an alternative course.

The Forces Driving Online Learning

There are several forces that will turn this scenario for online learning into reality, and turn it into reality very quickly. They include:

Business. Business will be the biggest force. Business now understands that in order to remain competitive and profitable, it will need employees who are learning constantly. The only cost effective way for this to happen is with online learning.

So business will require its people to learn online, and it will look to recruit college graduates who can learn online. Colleges and universities will quickly adopt online learning because business will demand that capability from their graduates.

Youth. My children have never taken a computer course. And they never will. Because they are not just computer literate, they grew up in a digital culture. Young people want to learn online. They understand the future, because it is the world in which they must work and compete. Young students will choose online learning.

Competition. Just one college offering online courses at a low cost and recruiting high volume will force other educational institutions to do the same. In fact, many colleges are involved in online learning, and the cost of courses is declining steadily, according to an official at Regents College, which keeps a database of over 8,000 distance learning courses.

Conclusion

Online learning is rapidly becoming recognized as a valid learning delivery system. The number of part time students in higher education, to name just one educational system, now outnumbers full time students. The number of colleges offering online courses last year soared to over 1,000, and the number is growing. Online graduate programs and certificate programs have doubled over one year ago. Online learning has grown exponentially in the business sector, according to Elliot Masie of Saratoga Springs, NY, one of the foremost experts on online training in the workforce. Surveys by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) see online training replacing much of on-site training in the near future.

Online learning will do for society what the tractor did for food. A century ago food was expensive, in limited supply, and with very little variety. Today food is relatively cheap, in great supply in our society, and with tremendous variety. The Internet will do the same for education. More people will be able to learn more, for much less cost, and with a tremendous variety in choice of topics and subjects. It is something that societies of the past could only dream about. And it will come true for us in a very short time.

http://www.languagecorpsasia.com

May 4, 2012 12:47:34 AM

Why Foreigners Stay in China

Why Foreigners Stay in China?

"IT was Beijing's wealth of opportunity that made me want to come here to work," says Mao Yihui, a bespectacled, round-faced, close-cropped Italian, fluent in Chinese. Mao currently works as English editor on a website in Beijing. He loves music, and in his spare time gets together with five friends from Australia, Canada and Italy to play in the band they have formed, "Big Aeroplane," in which he is drummer. They mainly perform in Sanlitun bars, and are sometimes invited to play at embassies. To him, life in Beijing becomes daily more colorful. He says, "The development of bands here is closely related to the diversity of performance venues. As regards progressive music, Italy lags far behind China."

Alain, from France, became fascinated by Chinese culture on his first sight of Chinese calligraphy. He left his motherland for Shanghai, and found work as a teacher at a French language training center. He is satisfied with his decision, because living in China, he can enjoy full-scale interaction with Chinese culture.

Nowadays, foreigners living and working in China are commonplace in cosmopolitan cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. If so desired, one may take language classes from a foreign teacher, eat dishes cooked by foreign chefs, be ministered to by a foreign beauty therapist at a beauty salon, or enjoy being entertained by foreign performance artists. Exotic stage acts and imported technologies all have, to varying degrees, an influence on Chinese life. Local people no longer have the impression that foreigners working in China are solely senior managers or specialists in foreign-funded enterprises.

Many of the foreigners in China today have come in search of opportunities for a new life. The country's economic achievements and brilliant prospects, and the vitality of everyday life, all combine to give them ample reason to stay here.

According to statistics, more than 60,000 foreigners have obtained work permits in China, and the actual number of foreign employees is much larger. Most foreign workers are hired directly by Chinese companies, and work in the fields of management, marketing, production, finance, catering and education. They come from more than 90 countries and regions, including Japan, the United States, the Republic of Korea, Germany, and Singapore, and are concentrated in larger cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Since China's entry into the WTO, even more foreigners are expected to come to work in China.

Needs

Inside a Boeing 767 fuselage, air stewardesses cordially ask passengers to fasten their seatbelts. Suddenly, the plane begins to shudder violently, and the lights flicker on and off. The cabin is chaos, rent with passengers' shrieks and cries of terror. At this time, air stewardesses guide passengers out through the emergency exit. Finally, two stewardesses rapidly check the entire cabin, and after making sure that no passengers remain, slide down the emergency chute carrying first-aid boxes. This is the "emergency exit" maneuver -- a training program for 12 Japanese air stewardesses employed by Air China.

In 2001, Air China employed 12 stewardesses from Japan, which caused quite a stir. People did not understand this. Chinese stewardesses are fine, why spend more on hiring foreigners?

The far-sighted managers of Air China do not see it this way. Li Fujian, chief of Air China's Labor and Personnel Department, spoke of a questionnaire survey conducted on Sino-Japanese flights. Results showed that Air China operates 40 Sino-Japanese flights every day, and that 60 percent of passengers are Japanese, most of them senior citizens who speak English poorly and have difficulty communicating with air stewardesses. The Japanese people lay great store by the social etiquette with which Chinese stewardesses are not familiar. In the survey, 52 percent of respondents expressed their preference for Japanese stewardesses, which is why Air China took this decision. It resulted in fierce airline competition, and it is reported that since its employment of Japanese air stewardesses, Air China's flight occupancy has increased appreciably.

Air China has made known its intention to employ more foreign stewardesses, when the time is ripe, to enhance its service and bring it to an international level. This move is also expected to promote professionalism in Chinese stewardesses.

Increases in the number of foreign employees reflect China's efforts to be in line with international norms in terms of knowledge, human resources, policy-making, concepts, service, and products. When planning their future development, certain Chinese organizations and enterprises solicit international talents, so as to waste no time in getting into international gear, as only then can they hold their ground in the face of fierce competition. This is undoubtedly a current trend.

Efforts made by foreign employees to enhance exchanges between China and the outside world have also had beneficial results. This is manifest in the person of Bora Milutinovic, Croatian coach to the Chinese National Soccer Team. Probably the most famous employee from abroad, he has brought joy to the Chinese people, especially Chinese soccer fans, and made great contributions to Chinese sports in general.

Alain, chief Framatome representative in China, has worked in China for more than a decade. With his help, the Shanghai No.1 Machinery Tools Factory uses Framatome technologies to manufacture nuclear power plant equipment. These products have earned a high evaluation from the French Supervisory Committee of Science and Technology, and are listed as a WTO recommended product. Lu Huayong, an American, and former tennis professional, has been superintendent of the Heineken Shanghai Open since 1997. He took full advantage of his contacts within tennis circles and knowledge of the game to make the Open a lively, vibrant event. The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) gave the Heineken Shanghai Open a top rating.

Several domestic insurance companies have invested sizable sums of money in the hiring of foreign employees and advisers. The China Ping'an Insurance Company went so far as to invite the vice-president of a famous American company to join the company, and China Pacific Insurance has no intention of being left behind in this regard. Wang Guoliang, chairman of the China Pacific board of directors, announced that recruitment of Chinese and foreign talents would be one of the main measures taken to promote the long-term development of his company, and has worked out related policies.

The above facts show that Chinese enterprises are now out to solicit talents from abroad, and that competition for the "best in the West" has begun.

Channels

Makoto Endo, a Japanese professor in his late 50s, is planning to introduce senior technical personnel from Japan to work in China. The Japan-China Technological and Intellectual Transfer Center, which he represents, has signed a letter of intent with the China Specialists Economic and Technological Advisory Center, under the Chinese Ministry of Personnel. The Sino-Japan Human Resources Development Center, a joint venture, was established in August 2001.

The center stipulates that Japanese technical personnel introduced into China must spend two to five years here. The first batch of 500 Japanese personnel has already arrived and started work in China.

Although China has an abundant labor force, technical workers at the production forefront are not fully versed in all the necessary skills, hence the call for foreign technical personnel. According to statistics, of China's 70 million technical workers, only 5 percent hold senior technical qualifications, and the structure of technical workers is that of a pyramid. This is in direct contrast with developed countries, where those holding senior technical titles make up nearly 40 percent of the technical workforce. According to experts, China's low manufacturing standard is attributable not to the level of its engineers, but to that of its workers.

In 2001, the China International Talents Market, supported by the China State Foreign Experts Bureau, and established by the China Association for the International Exchange of Talents, commenced operation. This is the first entity of its kind in China.

According to responsible market officials, service targets are at an international level, and include the introduction of talents from abroad. This is a permanent intermediary organ and a channel through which to invite foreign experts, and to send personnel abroad to undergo training. The market is currently taking full advantage of support from the State Foreign Experts Bureau, and its main business is locating and inviting foreign experts, such as scientific and technological specialists, university lecturers etc., to work in China. On receiving requests from domestic units, the market mechanism is activated. Apart from local channels of communication, the market also has a website providing information to talents abroad.

Shanghai, which has a concentration of excellent talents from all over the country, is advancing towards cosmopolitan status. Building a mechanism through which to solicit international talents appropriate to its future cosmopolitan level is high on the agenda of its human resource objectives. It has recently been reported that in 2005, Shanghai will be prominent in Asia for talent recruitment, and that in 2015, an international talent-soliciting framework will begin to take shape.

Chen Yanhua, an official with the Foreigners Employment Department of the Beijing Municipal Labor and Social Security Bureau, says that after China's entry into the WTO, the international and domestic talents markets will link up, and that the Chinese employment market will open still wider to foreigners. This means that legal restrictions on foreigners working in China will relax. Foreign employees will include not only technical personnel, but also managers, all of whom will be welcome with open arms. Measures to attract foreign talents are also to be adopted. For instance, China recently began to issue "green cards," which permit entry to China without a visa, to foreign technical personnel, investors and entrepreneurs. The Chinese government is also to provide more services, and to designate specific departments that will provide information and intermediary services to foreigners. All this will promote China's economic development and enhance its competitive power within the international market.

What Have Foreign Employees Brought to China?

Many foreigners regard China as a good place to work. The monthly income of certain high-ranking managerial personnel in some transnational companies is as high as US$ 100,000, and the income tax they pay is therefore considerable.

But the influence of foreign employees is not limited merely to their tax contributions. Dong Keyong, a professor at the Labor and Personnel School of the People's University of China, says that it is fine for domestic companies to employ foreigners in certain key positions, but that they should not go too far in this regard. Various countries take measures to protect their own labor force, and exert strict control over the employment of foreigners. In the current Chinese labor market, supply greatly exceeds demand, so efforts must be made to train Chinese employees.

There are, however, also scholars who think that foreign employees are a testimony to China's increased overall strength. Following developments in the Chinese economy, this phenomenon is likely to continue. The scope of the Chinese employment market is huge, and accepting a calculated number of foreign workers should present no problem. If Chinese employees do not take full advantage of their employment opportunities, or work to full capacity in their positions, then they can blame none but themselves if they lose their jobs.

This is the view of Meng Xiancang, director of the Employment Department of the Beijing Municipal Labor and Social Security Bureau. He says that 16,000 foreigners and 5,000 compatriots from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao have obtained work permits in Beijing, and that 85 percent of them are intermediate or senior managers and specialists. Taking into consideration Beijing's population of 10 million, they should pose no threat to the employment prospects of Beijing inhabitants.

Opinions vary, but one thing is certain -- that China's employment system is undergoing transformation in multiple directions. The increase in the number of foreign employees in catering, hotel management, culture and entertainment, and IT constitutes both a boost and a challenge to China's economic development. Foreign employees also help in communications with the rest of the world, and can tell of the changes that have taken place in China. Following China's entry into the WTO, effectively regulating the entry of foreign employees, and rapidly enhancing the competitive potential of domestic talents is a number one priority.

http://www.languagecorpsasia.com

May 2, 2012 9:32:32 PM