The Virtual Exchange Experience - US and NIS Educators Team Up On-Line

by Colleen F. Halley & photo by Elena Yastrebtsova

The Internet age has created many new opportunities for the development of civil society and democratic values in the post-Soviet world, bringing a free flow of information and empowering tools for wide-scale communication and collaboration to formerly closed societies.

From the perspective of development assistance and educational exchange organizations such as Project Harmony, this new technology creates a multitude of new ways to make a positive difference. For 12 years, Project Harmony has facilitated cultural and educational exchanges for school and professional communities across the former Soviet Union. In the face of reduced federal funding for such exchange programs, the Internet provides a unique opportunity to create new programs at low cost. For people, institutions and communities with established relationships abroad, e-mail and the Internet makes possible the continuation of these ties, fostering long-term relationships from earlier short-term exchanges and international visits.

Perhaps more importantly, the accessibility of Internet and e-mail helps such initiatives to reach broader audiences within each community. No longer is the exchange experience limited to the 12-15 participants lucky enough to travel abroad. Through classroom-based projects and school-wide partnerships, an international experience awaits virtually everyone at the institution.

As an organization committed to incorporating cultural and international components into the learning process, Project Harmony viewed the explosion in Internet use in the NIS as an opportunity to expand its program work with secondary schools across the region. Project Harmony recognized the long-term change that could be accomplished through helping to reinvent the nature of education in the NIS, this at a time when new curriculum standards and teaching methods are under development in the NIS school systems. In the US, there has been a push for integrated learning that incorporates cross-cultural components into project-based classroom activities. Now such initiatives can be modified to include international components. Interactive projects breathe new life into old subjects through student interaction, real life simulations and international educational competitions. Teachers also have a multitude of resources available to them to facilitate the development of such projects and activities.

The Internet School Linkage Program

Project Harmony's Internet School Linkage Program (ISLP), sponsored by the Soros Open Society Institute, is an ongoing project that applies telecommunications technology to new and existing partnerships between US and NIS secondary schools. Through this program, teachers and students use the Internet to communicate with partners abroad via e-mail. Utilizing various on-line resources, participants carry out joint educational projects and develop innovative cross-cultural curricula. Working closely with partner schools, Project Harmony provides the educational leadership, technical equipment and support necessary to ensure that e-mail usage and Internet-based projects are integrated into the academic program of participating schools.

Project Harmony selected 20 NIS schools and a matching number of US partner schools for full participation in ISLP. In each school, teacher teams were identified and are taking part in a series of training workshops to prepare them to serve as trainers in their home schools. Each pair of US/NIS faculty teams work together with Project Harmony advisors to develop at least one major curriculum project per semester that makes use of e-mail and the Internet. Projects cover a range of topics, including but not limited to: youth culture, current events, cultural heritage, environmental science and creative writing.

In the winter of 1996-97, Project Harmony assisted 25 secondary schools and institutions across the NIS to get on-line as part of ISLP. With financial support from the Soros Open Society Institute and USIA, Project Harmony delivered and installed computer packages and acquired Internet access for schools and institutions across Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. In addition, the Project Harmony staff is currently preparing a Russian-language compendium of training materials that address technical issues and approaches to integrating Internet technologies into the educational process.

The technical aspects of connecting the schools proved to be an interesting adventure, taking over four months and a lot of patience on the part of Project Harmony staff and participating schools. After many creative solutions to unexpected problems and technical challenges, we connected 25 schools and institutions in 23 cities across the NIS to the ISLP network.

ISLP Projects

After a somewhat slow start due to technical difficulties, correspondence began, interest grew and projects were developed and carried out. Some of this year's projects included:

• Reflections on the Cold War: Understanding Through Oral History, an exchange of interviews and information regarding participant's perceptions of the other country during the Cold War;
• Import-Export Business Simulation: based on a prior Junior Achievement program, schools simulate various activities and research involved with running an import-export business;
• Comparative Media Study: an examination of the differences in media coverage of current events;
• Health Issues Affecting Us: a comparative look at the different health issues affecting students, including smoking, substance abuse, alcoholism, AIDS and eating disorders.

As part of the program, Project Harmony held two simultaneous conferences on May 10, 1997. The US-NIS Educators Conferences brought together teachers currently working with ISLP and other interested educators for a day of technical training, program reports and Internet-based project development. Twenty Russian educators, including ISLP teachers from the Yaroslavl Bank School, Vladimir School #23 and Ivanovo Technical School #21, participated in the NIS conference held at the Yaroslavl Distance Learning Center in Yaroslavl, Russia. Twenty-four American educators, including ISLP teachers from the Pinkerton Academy, Woodberry Forest School and Westford Academy, participated in the US conference held at the Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire.

The two conferences were linked together in cyberspace through Web Chat, a user-friendly web-based chat channel located on the Project Harmony web site. This new Internet tool enabled participants from both conferences, as well as "virtual participants" worldwide, to engage in a live discussion (in English and in Russian) and also see digital photos taken at each conference. Virtual participants joined us in the Chat Room from a number of ISLP schools from Cherepovets and Petrozavodsk to Ohio and Oklahoma. The Conference Web Chat lasted over an hour and covered topics such as current ISLP projects, the challenges of working with international partners and the many varied experiences participants have had in bringing the Internet into the classroom. The Chat Room is a valuable addition to the Project Harmony web site. Now, at any time, ISLP teachers can arrange to "meet" on-line to plan projects, exchange experiences or simply chat with their colleagues.

Expanding Communities

Although the initial goal of ISLP was to facilitate partnerships between 15 NIS and 15 US schools, we soon realized that the program had taken on a life of its own. The response to ISLP has been overwhelming. Our listserv, PH-Teach, now has nearly 100 subscribers from ten countries around the world-from Siberia to Portugal to Uganda! This network of on-line educators continues to enrich the experience of all teachers and students taking part in ISLP projects. This discussion list now provides a virtually unlimited pool of resources to teachers and students, many of whom cannot find such expertise or perspective in their home communities.

To help facilitate project work beyond the English-speaking communities in our NIS partner schools, we have launched a partner discussion list for Russian-speaking educators, ISLP-RUS. This list provides a forum for Russian-speaking teachers to exchange their ideas on project ideas and curriculum development with others in the ISLP network. In the upcoming academic year, Project Harmony plans to expand the ISLP network geographically to include partner schools from across the NIS, Scandinavia, Ireland and the US. Plans are also underway to expand program activities to include more conferences and Project Harmony-led group projects throughout the year.

As the ISLP community continues to grow, so does Project Harmony's commitment to what we like to call "the Internet in Everything." We plan to incorporate Internet components into all Project Harmony programs and provide on-line resources for all of our different constituent groups-teachers, students, professionals, and administrators. While the Internet will never replace human interaction, we hope to take advantage of all the ways in which it can help to extend and enhance those relationships, contacts and experiences.

Colleen F. Halley is director of Project Harmony's Internet School Linkages Program.

Project Harmony, 6 Irasville Common, Waitsfield, VT 05673; phone: (802) 496-4548, fax: (802) 496-4548; e-mail: pharmony@igc.apc.org