Copy

September 2018

Faculty Featurette
Naomi Wahls
This month we had the privilege of interviewing Naomi Wahls who is a Lecturer for First Year Seminar for the Bachelor of International Studies.
You have a wide range in both your education & professional interests. Tell us how your background in international studies, learning technologies & Spanish work together in your First Year Seminar course?
I really enjoyed the BA International Studies, Spanish Masters, and MA - Information and Learning Technologies (ILT) programs here at UCD, which included several short study abroad programs and lead me to propose the new First Year Seminar course: Global Competence through Intercultural Learning with a three-week virtual exchange. During the first week, students introduce themselves to each other and small groups are formed. The following two weeks the students work in their new small group with peers across the globe. In one activity, the students will create a video tour of a place in their own city and then share it with their small group. Because of my interest in online education and the MA-ILT program, I initiated a few virtual exchanges here in Colorado, and this semester, the students will be meeting their peers in Japan, Peru, Mexico, Budapest, and the Netherlands.
You are currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Intercultural Collaborative Open Learning through the Open Universiteit, Netherlands. What led you to choose their program?
I was unaware of the program until I met a group of scholars at a conference who are from Leiden University in the Netherlands and talked about the two Dutch Ph.D. models: unpaid external Ph.D. candidacy and paid positions based in the Netherlands where applicants apply to become a Ph.D. candidate. Their open educational practices amazed me. The program cost was similar to a program with a stipend or scholarship. Additionally the independent external Ph.D. program focuses on research studies and academic writing, which is attractive to me. For more information about external Ph.D. candidacy, see the Open Universiteit Ph.D. opportunities page.
Tell us about your work as a volunteer in the UNESCO Open Education for a Better World project.
Volunteering as a mentor has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I am very grateful and honored to have this experience and look forward to the coming year as a volunteer mentor again. As a mentor, I was paired with a co-mentor based the U.K. Working on a mentor team allowed me to view other open education practices. Our mentor team provided guidance and wrote a mentor proposal of suggestions that could be implemented in Uzbekistan. During the project, the mentee completed an internship in Washington D.C. At the end of his internship, Uzbekistan and the U.S. signed an educational agreement and Uzbekistan created an online education initiative. The 2019 UNESCO mentoring program applications for mentors and mentees will open in October 2018.
How was the Oxford Women’s Leadership Symposium?

The Oxford Women’s Leadership Symposium (OWLS) is an intimate symposium with a policy that what is said at OWLS stays at OWLS. The OWLS participants bond by attending all other participants' presentations and having lunch together daily. I highly recommend the experience for any leader in higher education as it provides a global view of issues that affect women.
You have incorporated gaming into your learning technologies design. What favorite online game (or games) do you enjoy?
My favorite game ever was World of War Craft (WOW). I was a big gamer before, but had to limit the hobby in order to make space for volunteer work. Gaming changed my perspective on group work and achieving goals. It actually helped me and colleagues design an online course with a game based learning environment based on the game of life.






This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences
University of Colorado Denver UCDALI · 1380 lawrence street Campus Box 137 · Denver, CO 80204 · USA

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp