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:: Objective

The National Science Foundation has awarded a grant of $495,481 to the Association of American Geographers for expanding the AAG Center for Global Geography Education (CGGE).   The three-year CGGE Phase 2 project is under the direction of Michael Solem (AAG), Phil Klein (University of Northern Colorado), and Osvaldo Muñiz (Texas State University – San Marcos).   Researchers at the Association of American Colleges and Universities will monitor procedures, design and conduct an on-going formative evaluation with annual reports, and prepare a summative evaluation of the project’s learning resources and faculty development workshops.

:: Modules

The Phase 1 Nationalism, Populations, and Global Economy modules are still accessible at the links below. We are currently revising these materials and will introduce an entirely new structure for the Phase 2 project modules. Each module can be downloaded as a Blackboard™ course or viewed as a website. Consult your local Blackboard or university support site for technical assistance. The modules are optimized for Internet Explorer.
Module 01 POPULATION - Blackboard Course - Website - Instructor's Guide (pdf) Written by Osvaldo Muniz (University of La Serena), David Padgett (Tennessee State University), Michael Solem (AAG), and Waverly Ray (Texas State University).
Module 02 GLOBAL ECONOMY - Blackboard Course - Website - Instructor's Guide (pdf) Written by Martin Eaton (University of Ulster), Jean-Paul Rodrigue (Hofstra University), Michael Solem (AAG), and Alexis Buckley (Texas State University).
Module 03 NATIONALISM - Blackboard Course - Website - Instructor's Guide (pdf) Written by Antonio Luna (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Janet Smith (Shippensburg University), Michael Solem (AAG), and Waverly Ray (Texas State University).

CGGE Phase 2 will revise the library of instructional modules created under the first phase (Nationalism, Global Economy, and Population) while also developing three new titles: Water Resources, Migration, and Global Climate Change. This work will be informed by an extensive evaluation study that assessed the effectiveness of the first set of CGGE modules during classroom trials between September 2004 and May 2005. The evaluation identified several instances of how the modules could be improved to enhance student learning of international perspectives (you can access the CGGE Phase 1 project evaluation (.zip) report with appended data and research instruments).

In Phase 2, the CGGE modules will be redesigned to provide greater flexibility for undergraduate instruction.   Each will include:

• Case studies that explore geographic issues from multiple international perspectives.   Each case study will be developed by teams of faculty and students in several countries, use diverse data sets and examples, and illustrate how spatial thinking concepts can be used to analyze issues.  For example, a case study planned for the Global Economy module will focus on the trade of agricultural commodities between the U.S. and several Latin American countries, highlighting the impact on workers and local economies through the use of examples and commentaries contributed by students in those locations.

• Student activities that support international learning collaborations using discussion boards, wikis, web cams, and other communication tools.  The activities are designed to pair teams of students working with geographic data gathered from multiple locations.  For example, an activity planned for the Nationalism module will ask student teams to consider the difference between ethnic groups and nations, and explain through the use of local symbols, photos, and other media why they consider certain places as representative of their national identity or regional identity.  Students then will exchange and discuss their examples with teammates in other countries.

• Collaboration calendars for faculty wishing to use CGGE modules for international teaching collaborations.   All faculty who register with the CGGE project will receive customized e-mail notifications when new collaborators sign up with details about their courses and desired dates for collaboration.  Using pull-down menus, users will be able to identify appropriate collaborators on the basis of course subject, location, language, and teaching schedules.  

All of the resources will be published online in English, Spanish, and Arabic, with additional language support as the project develops over the coming years.

:: Participation

Details about how to get involved in CGGE Phase 2 will be posted here in the coming months.   We will also support an electronic contact list for the project.   To become added to this list (it’s free!), contact Michael Solem (msolem@aag.org).

The CGGE Phase 1 modules were extensively tested by geography faculty in classroom trials involving over 500 students in ten separate countries. Evidence from these trials indicates the modules can successfully improve student learning of global geography, awareness of global issues, and appreciation for international perspectives.

Read more about the project's activities from 2003 - 2005 (pdf), and click here to view photos of some of the faculty and student participants.

Upcoming Presentations and Workshops

CGGE Phase 2 will sponsor workshops aimed at expanding the network of collaborating faculty to areas in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, while retaining the existing networks of faculty in the Americas, Europe, and China. The first such workshop is planned for the AAG Annual Meeting in Boston. For details and to register, please visit the workshop page at www.aag.org/annualmeeting.

Workshops will also be held at upcoming international meetings, including the SEAGA Conference in the Philippines in June 2008, the IGU Congress in Tunisia in August 2008, and the HERODOT Liverpool Conference in September 2008. Information about these workshops and other project activities will be posted here in the coming months.

Future workshops will be based on a model, “Expanding Geography Education Networks in the Americas,” held 19-21 May, 2007 immediately prior to the Geography in the Americas conference in La Serena, Chile.
 
Funded by a $48,578 grant from the National Science Foundation, the workshop was designed to foster online collaborations among geography faculty and students in the United States and Latin America.
The workshop was attended by 30 undergraduate students, graduate students, and professors from U.S. and Latin American geography programs and organizations. Over the three days, the participants worked in small groups corresponding to the CGGE online course modules (global economy, nationalism, and population). Each group engaged in exercises illustrating processes of international collaboration, intercultural communication, and designing inquiry-based student activities. With this preparation, the groups proceeded to develop new lessons for the CGGE modules focusing on issues, data, and case studies in the U.S. and Latin America. The case studies and activities developed by the participants will be published on this website in spring 2008.
View the workshop participants in action in the photo gallery»

The “Expanding Geography Education Networks in the Americas” workshop was organized by Michael Solem (AAG) and featured presentations by Phil Klein (University of Northern Colorado), Osvaldo Muñiz (Texas State University-San Marcos), Jan Smith (Shippensburg University), and Waverly Ray (MiraCosta College).

:: Project Staff