Attendees at the meeting at the Columbia School of Public Health

Each person in attendance made remarks about their work relative to the meeting’s theme, global e-learning and e-healthcare/telemedicine. One theme that emerged from a number of talks is that lack of coordination and knowledge sharing. Groups that are doing good work do not know of one another’s efforts, methods, and results. Best practices must be identified and disseminated. We need mechanisms for more effective coordination and interaction.

The Global University system can be a mechanism for disseminating e-learning and e-health while World Island would provide a setting in which nations, development organizations, foundations, NGOs, educational institutions, and other groups can coordinate their efforts.

One problem with NGOs is that their efforts are often dictated by “fashion,” thus making it difficult to sustain efforts over the long-period needed for them to develop and take root.

African nations are heavily rural and the technological infrastructure is as yet undeveloped. Infrastructure development depends on commercial potential. E-health and education must piggy-back on such uses. The technology that is available, however, is often being used in creative ways. Efforts must be made to tap into and build on indigenous medical knowledge rather than simply imposing Western medicine and traditional healers need to be brought into the process.

Hip hop is thriving and is a potential medium for expression and communication. Digital video has potential as well. So-called Web 2.0 technology seems promising, as it is friendly to bottom-up community-driven use and development. Wiki technology is promising as a medium which people can use for developing their own resources. It is fundamentally text-based and so is suitable for low-bandwidth uses.

In developing research capacity among African researchers it is important, not only to provide training and opportunities in areas of immediate need and benefit within Africa, but also to provide opportunities in areas where African thinkers can do cutting-edge research. If this is not done, Africa will always be playing “catch up” and so will never develop its capacity for intellectual leadership.

There was some discussion of Makerere University in Uganda as a focal point for our efforts. Perhaps we could hold a meeting there, or bring people from Makerere here for a later meeting.

We need to explore ways of accessing funds pledged by the Japanese government.

We should hold a more intensive workshop in the Fall to further develop ideas and plans.

The Courage Curriculum: Literacy for Understanding, Mediation for Problem Solving

Tova Neugut

To be piloted in the primary school of an impoverished rural town in western Massachusetts during the next academic year.

Through linked literacy and mediation programs the school will establish and express a priority commitment to increasing respect, empathy, compassion and moral courage among students. Literature will be selected and employed to address the issues of anger, bullying, and bias, and to stimulate thinking and discussion about values, coping with problems, and examining a situation from multiple perspectives. A select group of students will be trained to serve as peer mediators: to facilitate resolving disputes between two people or small groups of the same age-group. In combination, these programs will change the way students understand and resolve conflict in their lives. Our intention is to improve student self-esteem, listening and critical thinking skills, and the school climate for learning, as well as to reduce student aggression and resultant disciplinary actions. The skills that will be developed are all transferable outside of the classroom and will enable students to make wise choices both within and beyond the school setting.

A vitally important element of The Courage Curriculum will be the teaching of tolerance and respect for diversity. Like the rural town of Whitwell, Tennessee – featured in the film Paper Clips – Montague, MA is a small community almost entirely white and Christian. It is a particular challenge to teach about cultural diversity in this type of insular community. In Whitwell, the collection of millions of paper clips helped students to gain exposure to and understanding of cultural diversity that exists in the world outside of their community and to appreciate the magnitude of the Holocaust, an extreme instance of the breakdown of norms of civility on the macro scale. In Montague, The Courage Curriculum will encompass a multidimensional exploration of cultural diversity. We will consciously strive to expose children to more diverse literature as well as to provide school and community activities that will deepen understanding of difference.