Resource Network -- led by the Great Lakes Colleges Association

The resource network group has focused its attention on establishing an extensive communication mechanism for the Global Partners endeavor. As a part of the effort, they have begun to develop a data bank questionnaire through which they will be able to obtain significant information on the international programs in which the 41 colleges are involved. From these data, they expect to be able to review current offerings -- both consortial programs and individual institutional programs -- with an eye toward exploring possible collaboration among programs in the same area or of the same nature. The Resource Network task force has also designed and established a Web site for the Global Partners initiative. Still in the early stages of development, the site is intended to make available resources related to the various areas of the world in which Global Partners activities are taking place, provide communication resources for participating faculty and administrators, disseminate information about Global Partners activities, and showcase exemplary uses of technology in international programs.

Foreign Language Initiatives -- led by the Associated Colleges of the South

In the first year, the Global Partners coordinating committee realized that language issues would loom large in its efforts. A workshop held at Beloit in October 1999 brought together faculty from the three consortia and led to the creation of an additional, separate task force to examine technology-aided language instruction, links between campus language instruction and off-campus study, and options for collaboration in offering less commonly taught languages. The principal step taken thus far has been to plan a workshop for faculty at the Center for Educational Technology (CET) at Middlebury College in summer 2000. Approximately 12 consortial faculty will have an opportunity, in an appropriate setting, to focus on specific areas of potential collaboration in the future. The expectation is that the group will return with specific recommendations to share with their colleagues, pointing toward future three-consortial initiatives.

Both the workshop this summer and the ongoing language task force planning will result in future meetings or workshops. These efforts will be useful in sharing "best practices" with one another, identifying new software being put to effective use, and exchanging and creating materials that can be used on a widespread basis.

Evaluation

From the outset, the coordinating committee has discussed the important role of evaluation, both evaluation of specific programs and evaluation of the overall initiative. The specific criteria have been discussed and are currently under review by the coordinating committee, which will assume overall responsibility for evaluation. Each task force will devise and carry out evaluation of its specific activities. The Coordinating Committee and the three project co-directors, will oversee the effort as a whole, building on strengths and calling for mid-course corrections where appropriate.

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