(Posted 5-25-00)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News Service Contact: Laurie Gengenbach, 336-334-5371
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UNCG PROFESSOR PLACES FIRST IN NATIONAL COMPETITION
GREENSBORO —The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Dr. Kathleen Ahern have won first place in a national competition for an online Russian course she taught from Russia.
Ahern, a lecturer in the Department of German, Russian and Japanese Studies, received The University Continuing Education Association/Peterson’s Award for Innovative Distance Education at the association’s 85th annual conference in San Diego April 18, in recognition of her distance learning course, “RUS 493: African-American Literary Ties to Russian Intellectual Thought.” Awards in the competition were presented to those entries representing “the best in instructional design and effectiveness.”
Ahern traveled to Kazan, Russia in 1999 as part of a Fulbright
lectureship to teach the course at a university during the spring semester.
By making it a distance learning course, she was able to teach it simultaneously
to students at UNCG.
It represented one of the first online courses to be offered by UNCG
the first distance-learning course between North Carolina and Russia, said
Ahern.
Ahern had originally developed the course at N.C. A&T State University. It examines African-American authors and Russian intellectual thought from the time of Peter the Great to the first half of the 20th Century. Ahern later received the Fulbright grant to teach the course in Russia, but she wanted to make it available to students here too, so she approached the UNCG Division of Continual Learning, which administers distance learning courses.
“It seemed like too good an opportunity to miss bringing our campus into the equation,” Ahern said. “It was wonderful that my students here could be part of this.”
“Dr. Ahern’s online teaching innovations provide the department with welcome opportunities to reach new student audiences, and to expand the Russian studies program on campus,” added Dr. Andreas Lixl, head of the Department of German, Russian and Japanese Studies.
In a sense, Ahern’s vision helped blaze the trail for other online courses at UNCG, said Lane Price, UNCG curriculum consultant for distance education programming.
“Her course was a pioneering effort. We were just getting set
up at that time,” Price said.
The task was formidable, complicated by technical incompatibilities,
academic calendar conflicts, bureaucratic red tape, copyright issues and
a very tight schedule.
But despite these and other obstacles, the online course was launched with a full array of features, including Ahern’s lectures, readings from African-American and Russian authors, a threaded discussion forum for students, art, photos, and even the legendary recording of “Ol’ Man River” by Paul Robeson.
In a great IT leap forward, students in Russia were also provided the same access to Jackson Library’s extensive databases that UNCG students enjoy. This feature particularly impressed the Russians, because such easy access to information is rare in their libraries, Ahern observed.
In some ways, the online format was a boon to classroom dynamics, she said. Students tended to think more carefully about their answers before posting them to a discussion board, and those who normally would be reluctant to speak up in class seemed encouraged to take a more active role, she observed.
A full outline of the course can be viewed at http://www.uncg.edu/gar/courses/ ahern/syllabus.htm. The lectures, readings and resources are password protected.
The University Continuing Education Association is a professional organization for promoting expanded opportunities in continuing education, and consists of more than 2,000 continuing education professionals from accredited, degree-granting institutions of higher education.
Ahern joined the faculty of UNCG in 1993. She received her Ph.D. in Slavic literatures from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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