New Horizons for Learning: The Promise of Technology

The Promise of Technology
A Case Study of One Website that Supports Graduate Professional Education

(As of July 2002, Beryl Levinger's website is no longer available for viewing.)

Beryl Levinger

My life is a complicated one. I hold two full-time jobs, one on the West Coast, the other on the East. And, to complicate matters further, I live in Connecticut, although neither of my employers is located in this state and my work takes me all over the world. It's easy to see why I might have an interest in the Web.

One of my positions is Distinguished Professor of Nonprofit Management at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. In this capacity, I typically teach four or five courses annually to graduate students who hope to become international development professionals or assume leadership positions in the not-for-profit world. Unlike conventional courses that meet weekly in order to furnish students with 30-45 contact hours of direct instruction, my classes are scheduled in intensive time blocks to yield the same number of contact hours. Depending on the year, I work in person with students for either four or five such intensive blocks which are spread out somewhat evenly across the academic calendar.

During the weeks when I am not physically on campus, students pursue field projects as outlined in course syllabi, complete required readings, and prepare written assignments. Each of my courses is considered to be a full semester's enterprise as opposed to an intensive workshop of short-duration.

One of the main advantages of my unusual schedule, is that it permits me the flexibility and time I need to do the international travel required for professional work in my teaching field. Over the course of any given semester, I may undertake projects in six or more countries. Sometimes, I invite a student to accompany me on my travels in order to offer a firsthand illustration of how course concepts are applied in the field. I may also subcontract with students to do project-related tasks that are closely linked to course content. Obviously, students appreciate this opportunity to gain professional, resume-enhancing experience. And, all students benefit even when only a few have the chance for direct involvement because my classes involve a high degree of discussion and sharing among participants.

In short, I think that the most valuable aspect of my teaching schedule is that it enables my students to become very involved in whatever international development and nonprofit management projects I'm currently undertaking. The Web supports this involvement in two ways. First, it makes it possible for my students and me to "meet" throughout the semester via an online "logbook" that I've created. I can use the logbook to respond to students' questions when I'm out of the country, and I can also provide up-to-the minute reports of how my current field assignment exemplifies material that we are studying. Secondly, I use the website as a vehicle for sharing "tools" and findings that emerge from these assignments. In effect, the website bridges the distance between my classroom and the field setting.

I should probably stress that the model of teaching I have developed is not distance learning, at least not in the typical sense of how that term is used. Students are residential; each course lasts a full, conventionally scheduled semester; and, the number of contact hours I have with my students is consistent with established standards for professional education at the graduate level.

What is unusual is the fact that I, the professor, am not residential throughout the semester and that I make heavy use of the Web in order to enhance my students' learning. More specifically, I've found that the Web is an outstanding tool to support my commitment to what I call the cognitive apprenticeship model of graduate education.

To learn more about the cognitive apprenticeship model and how the Web supports it, I invite you to view a presentation I made to the Board of Trustees at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. I hope that you'll come to understand why I believe that the Web is important to graduate education. I believe that introducing the Web to graduate education should not be an end in itself. However, greater use of the Web by graduate school professors is highly desirable when that use taps the Web's power and potential for changing the basic paradigm governing graduate level professional education.