CCT online courses in China

last update 12 Feb 09
(see also updates on the running of online courses)

Summer courses: August 3 - 21, 2009

3/25/09
New updates for summer China courses:
- summer course is August 3 to August 21, but instructors are highly encouraged to arrive a few days earlier, which means leaving on July 28 or 29 from Boston if possible; details are still being finalized about the accomodations and when they can start taking check-ins
- course syllabi are to be submitted to be translated into Chinese; full course content will be in English, but syllabi will be translated to make it perfectly clear to China students what to expect
- salaries for courses: $5000 for teaching the course, $3000 for development work for creating new course, $500 for preparing existing course for China audience
- instructors should generally wait until 4 months before a semester to start developing a new online course for China to be more sure that it is happening, but CCT will work to help make sure dev. funds are still provided
- instructors may or may not be provided with extra equipment (i.e. laptops, cameras) to take to China, since it is expected that classrooms will be well-equipped with everything needed; this is being considered though in case special cases come up where instructors need to borrow something
- there is no budget for supplies at this time, so it is not certain which items purchased by instructors are reimbursable; some supplies might be very cheap to purchase in China and this might be covered through CCDE, depending on what is decided later
- there will be a training in April about Orientation to China Teaching Culture and Customs (or something like that) - instructors will get an announcement directly about this soon
- instructors are personally responsible for medical preparation for the China trip (i.e., getting recommended vaccines) and need to consult their own doctors
- instructors will have to send in their passports for visa processing at some point, and more will be made clear - basically there are forms to fill out and about a 1-2 week wait time to get it processed



2/12/09
Notes from CCDE-China meeting

12/16
From Kitty G:
"We have been persuaded
that spring courses will be very difficult to run successfully. We have
therefore scaled down our initial offering to three topic areas and will run
these courses in the summer. Critical and Creative Thinking will not be a
topic area we will begin with although we hope to offer courses in the fall."

Basic idea: From Renmin High School in Beijing and 70-100 other schools, teachers and administrators will take 5 CCT courses online to earn the Graduate Certificate. Starting in Spring 09 (around 2/15/09) with 20-25 students in Critical Thinking (601) and Creative Thinking (602), the Certificate might be completed in one year.
This is a pilot program.
Still to be determined:


Possible courses & instructors

% subject to approval by CCT faculty

Cont. Ed. point person for training and other info: Kitty Galaitsis, katharine.galaitsis@umb.edu
Instructional design assistant: Gene Shwalb
Assistant for translating some interface material into Mandarin: xx
Liaison at Renmin HS and China-side marketing: xx (name unknown)
Visitors from Renmn H.S. Lan Cheng, senior English teacher (cindybj@gmail.com) and Libo Song, Ph.D, Principal Assistant (songlibo@hotmail.com) (not an English speaker)
CCT assistant for CCDE courses: Jeremy Szteiter, szteiter@yahoo.com


Salary per course: $5000
Stipend for customizing an existing course for the China program: $500 (note: this is lower than first reported on this wiki)
Stipend for developing a new course for the China program: $3000?

Advice might be sought from:
Wen Fan, Chair of Leadership in Education, Wenfan.Yan@umb.edu
Felicia Wilczenski, who has spent some time at Renmin HS developing the Counseling part of the program, Felicia.Wilczenski@umb.edu
Baifeng Sun, who was an English teacher at Renmin HS and now works at the UMB Confucious Institute, Baifeng.Sun@umb.edu

Questions:
Will CCDE get students in time for the courses run in Spring '09?
11/20/08 from Kitty G: "At this point in our China effort we have an
excellent woman in China who is going to help market the courses and she has
just begun to test the waters. We are hopeful but don't have a clear idea
of how many teachers may sign up for the courses. Certainly, your faculty
will be paid for the work they will do."
12/2/08 (informally from Tony Holmes): CCDE still waiting for Government approval of the program. Students mostly want Masters, not certificate -- but really want Critical & Creative Thinking. Options being explored for final courses offered at UMB.
How well will WIMBA work for China? (JS to explore with CCDE)
When will synchronous sessions be timed? (JS to explore with CCDE)
Can Wednesday evening be specified in course publicity for 602's WIMBA sessions?
Possibility of extra stipend for rush development (JS is helping Delores meet deadline)
Cycle of certificate courses should have core courses, 601 & 602, not in the same semester (This is going to be the plan, but CCDE is waiting to see whether the whole program takes off before setting up future semesters.)