Where in the world are we?

Norwegian officials visit CEHD

On June 30, 2008, Trond Febolden, Permanent Secretary of Norway's Ministry of Education and Linda Pederson, Vice Council for the Norwegian Consulate in Minneapolis, visited CEHD. Mr. Febolden is responsible for writing the white paper that will guide the reform of teacher education in Norway. During his visit, Mr. Febolden met with Carole Gupton and Bob Utke from the Preparation to Practice Group and Ruth Thomas, Tom Post, Aaron Doering, Terry Wyberg, Misty Sato, and Dee Tedick, all from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. During this official visit, the Norwegian delegation will also visit Hamline University, Augsburg College, and the Minnesota Department of Education. At the close of the visit, Mr. Febolden expressed interest in establishing formal collaborations between the Norwegian Ministry of Education and CEHD.

CASCW Hosts Cambodian Delegation

On May 16, 2008 six delegates from the Cambodian government came to visit the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW) at the School of Social Work in the College of Education and Human Development to study international adoption in the United States and how child welfare professionals are trained to work in such circumstances. Dr. Traci LaLiberte, Director of CASCW, met with the delegation along with several other CASCW staff members, Ellen Lepinski from the University of Minnesota’s Center for Excellence in Children's Mental Health, and Diane Martin-Hushman of the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC). Both the Cambodian delegates and the University of Minnesota hosts reported that it was a productive meeting where considerable information was exchanged in a short period of time. The delegates also expressed interest in learning more about creating a school of social work. The leader of the delegation, Mr. Thoth Nim, Secretary of State, requested additional consultation by CASCW in months to come.

CEHD Research Center Part of “Twin Cities and Zambia Disability Connection”

Zambian delegation members Sister Joyce and Father
Patrick engaged in discussion with a class member in
a disability policy and services certificate course in
the College.

Nine government officials, missionaries, educators, and advocates from Zambia in southern Africa are completing advanced leadership training in disability advocacy, policy, and services through the College’s Institute on Community Integration (ICI) and four partnering  community organizations. Titled the “Twin Cities and Zambia Disability Connection,” the project includes local disability organizations Arc Greater Twin Cities, Fraser, St. David's Child Development and Family Services, and Opportunity Partners.

It was launched with a visit to the Twin Cities by the Zambian delegation for a two-week intensive learning residency from March 28 to April 13, and will continue this summer when trainers from the Minnesota partner organizations travel to Zambia. The goal of the partnership is to support the Zambian delegation to be change-agents in further improving supports and services to meet the needs of people with disabilities and their families in Zambia. The learning residency was modeled on the content of the certificate in disability policy and services offered by ICI and the College’s Department of Educational Policy and Administration, and included morning classroom sessions held at Arc Greater Twin Cities, and afternoon visits to community agencies and programs, homes, and University classes.

 
Katie and Scott Thuleen welcomed the delegation to their home to see how
it's been made accessible for their son Zach.

UPDATE:
Amy Hewitt, Kristin Dean, Lori Sedlezky (all from ICI), Liz Lightfoot (School of Social Work), and Beth Fondell (Arc Greater Twin Cities) will be in Zambia this summer to conduct research and continue this partnership.

Visit the project’s blog.

Restorative justice and peacemaking in the Middle East and China

Professor Mark Umbreit, director of the Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking, traveled in May 2008 to Israel and Palestine, where he provided restorative justice training to the Israeli Ministry of Justice, gave a keynote address at a Restorative Justice Conference at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, traveled into the occupied territories on the West Bank, and met with the Director of the Palestinian Center for Conflict Resolution & Reconciliation. In Tel Aviv Mark also met with members of the Parents Circle, a group of bereaved Israeli and Palestinian parents whose children and other family members have been killed by terrorism and who have joined together in dialogue to support each other and speak out for ending the violence. As a consultant and trainer, Mark also met with colleagues who are initiating the first joint Palestinian-Jewish restorative justice project in Israel, and in East and West Jerusalem. He also traveled in June to Hong Kong to conduct a four-day restorative justice and healing training, along with a keynote lecture at a conference at the University of Hong Kong.

Other international work conducted by CEHD faculty and staff

Jane Gilgun (Social Work) taught short courses and conducted research at North-West University in South Africa during the summer of 2007. Her courses included graduate courses in deductive qualitative analysis, a method of theory development and testing using qualitative approaches. Her research investigated manganese poisoning and effects on caregiving spouses.

Thomas Delaney (Educational Psychology) traveled to Viet Nam several times during 2007 on teaching and outreach visits around special education efforts. His aim is to develop partnerships between the University of Minnesota and the University of Ha Noi in an effort to improve special education teacher training in both institutions.

Diane Knust (Social Work) volunteered for the American Refugee Committee (ARC) in Liberia for three weeks in 2007. ARC currently has micro-credit programs, community development programs, and gender-based violence prevention programs. Knust also participated in HIV awareness training for Liberian staff.

Gary McLean (Work and Human Resource Education) has taught courses on “Trends in HRD” at Burapha University in Thailand in 2007.

Jo Ann Buysse (Kineseology) took students to Rome, Tuscany, Florence, and Turin Italy in 2007 to study global sport management.

David Chapman (Education Policy and Administration) led a team of four “Due Diligence” reviewers for grants to the Millennium Challenge Corporation (www.mca.gov) in Namibia to review proposals for $160 million in U.S. assistance beginning in 2007.

Catherine Solheim (Family Social Science) taught a study abroad course entitled “Food and Family Life in Thailand” in May of 2007. Highlights of the course included a home stay in a fishing village south of Bangkok, a visit with Hmong villagers near Chiang Rai, and a visit to a cooking school in Chiang Rai.

Melissa Anderson (Educational Policy and Administration) is organizing a 2008 conference entitled “Integrity in International Research Collaborations.” The conference will address complications related integrity that are specific to cross-national research.

Mark Umbreit, Director of the Center for Restorative
Justice & Peacemaking on a panel at the "Advanced
Correctional Social Work and Restorative Justice
conference in Korea. December 2007.

Arthur Harkins and John Moravec (Educational Policy and Administration) are co-developers of “Leapfrog Institutes” (www.leapfrog.org)—a decentralized collaboration of colleges, schools, business, and government partners. Leapfrog is committed to develop and release human capital that can help create a livable and sustainable 21st Century. Partners who have joined Leapfrog in 2008 include several Minnesota schools and Anqing Teachers College in China.

Tamara Moore, Aaron Doering, Ruth Thomas (Curriculum and Instruction), Kay Wahl, Michael Goh (Educational Psychology), Nicola Alexander, and Deanne Magnusson (Educational Policy and Administration) are all collaborating with colleagues from the University of Technology in Jamaica to provide Jamaican lecturers with doctorates that are flexible in nature and combine distance and in-residence education beginning in 2008-2009.

Jerry Stein (Social Work) presented a series of workshops in 2007 entitled “Building Learning Communities” to community groups in Belfast, Northern Ireland and taught courses in Queen’s University.

Michael Rodriguez (Educational Psychology) is working with the Guatemalan government in 2007-2008 to develop psychometrically defensible national exams. Rodriguez also delivered test development workshops in Honduras and Guatemala in 2007 and will teach an online statistics class to Guatemalan education officials as part of a USAID-funded project in 2008.

Nicki Crick (Institute on Child Development) is developing a collaborative research agenda with colleagues in Gulu, Uganda that is expected to commence in 2008. Relational aggression research protocols will be developed for Ugandans working with former child soldiers.

Jürgen Konczak (Kinesiology) is an investigator in international research circles that include colleagues from the European Union and Japan. Konczak’s work relates to motor development in children and the use of technology and robotics to predict motor development. He recently presented his work in a 2008 International Connections lecture for the College of Education and Human Development.

Sheri Turner (Educational Psychology) will travel to Tel Aviv, Israel in April and May of 2008. She will be a visiting professor at the University of Tel Aviv. Turner will teach classes and conduct collaborative research with Israeli colleagues on high-risk students.

The Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL) is a partner in the European Community's Network of Excellence project on the development of "Enactive Interfaces" for human-machine systems. The 4-year project is funded at €5,000,000. Research and development relating to enactive interfaces is being carried out by a broad consortium of researchers recognized and funded by the European Community. The Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory is proud to be the only American partner in this multinational consortium. Visit the Enactive Interfaces Network of Excellence Web site.

Arthur Harkins and John Moravec (Educational Policy and Administration) collaborated with Christopher Cobo (Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences [FLACSO-Mexico]) on an innovative international training program covering issues related to knowledge management. The program lasted five months, culminating in May 2008 with a seminar that utilized a large deployment of collaborative technologies (Web 2.0), providing opportunities for teaching and learning throughout the Americas. Videoconferences, blogs, wikis, discussion groups, podcasts, and other learning tools were available to participants and observers throughout the program.

In Spring of 2009, Amy Garrett Dikkers (Educational Policy and Administration), in collaboration with the University of Minnesota's Human Rights Center, will offer EDPA 5080: Human Rights Education. This online course provides a foundation of knowledge about human rights and human rights education and equips students with resources and tools with which to teach human rights.

June 2008