Title of Event:

eLearning Partnerships for Sustainable Development: How Can My University Develop Graduate Degree Programmes Collaboratively With Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute?

Event Leaders:

• Mel Siegel & Rachel Burcin, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

Content:

Collaborative programmes involving partnered institutions of higher learning in highly technologically developed nations and their counterparts in the still-developing nations. Presentations and discussions will particularly focus on practical implementation details and the actual experiences and lessons to be drawn from them by counterpart departmental teaching faculties vs. the abstract visions articulated by high-level administrators. Seminar scope includes both pure eLearning programmes and hybrid programmes that merge eLearning with hands-on practicum experiences tailored to local needs and economies and conventional education delivery paradigms. The organisers' own experience in these areas is primarily with masters degree programs that are aimed at future entrepreneurs and technical managers. Our programmes employ a double-hybrid structure: (1) part of the time the students are in residence at their home institutions in the still-developing nations, and part of the time is spent on our main campus, and (2) we employ a mix of eLearning, practical experience in industrial and university research laboratories, and conventional instruction in both parts, but more heavily weighted toward eLearning during the part that occurs in the still-developing partner nation. The seminar will endeavour to compare and contrast benefits and drawbacks of this and alternative models, both in general and relative to differences that might exist between different fields of study, e.g., business vs. technology. Models that include the involvement and exchange of senior students as well as established faculty in instructional capacities are also of interest. The agenda will consist of an introduction, an overview, several brief presentations of alternative programme experiences, round-table discussion among all participants, free discussion, and ongoing personal interactions.

Target Audience:

Deans and faculty in engineering, computer science, mechatronics, and other technical areas related to robotics who are interested in building collaborative graduate degree programmes.

Prerequisite Knowledge:

None

Outcomes:

Participants will exchange their experiences with collaborative education programs, and the ideas they have generated for new programmes whose structure and content will prepare students for technical careers in sustainable-development. We are planning for a lively interchange that will result in new faculty-to-faculty friendships and new university-to-university collaborations. The seminar’s time was chosen so as to facilitate the participants continuing their discussions afterwards.