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Being part of Pennsylvania State University for
four months not only contributed to my professional
development, but also helped me understand the
rules according to which large universities live.
Besides studying together, there are many factors
that unite students at Penn State: their life
in fraternities and sororities, their involvement
in sports and social activities, and, of course,
their dedication to the university itself through
the university's football team and mascot. We
were privileged to have seen these and many other
American traditions during our stay.
My family was happy to be in the United States
in the fall during the important American holidays
of Thanksgiving and Christmas. We were able to
see the way people prepare and celebrate the holidays.
At school, my daughter learned about the history
and traditions of celebrating many American holidays.
She also learned a lot of facts from American
history, and she taught us some new things, for
example, the history of Pennsylvania, which is
closely connected with the history of the whole
nation. A new experience for us was communicating
with American families.
We were very pleased to see the desire of ordinary
families to invite people from foreign countries
into their homes and to spend time with them.
Especially interesting was our meetings with older
people who were very friendly to us and were eager
to learn new things about new people and new countries.
They also told us some things about their lives.
I should say that we admire the energy and the
positive way of thinking these people have.
Other celebrations were also an important part
of our cultural experience in the United States.
A great event for us was the Madrigal Dinner traditionally
given by the State College Choral Society to celebrate
Christmas. We were very pleased to hear musical
compositions written in the 16th and 17th centuries
and to learn some things about the traditions
of that time. We were also invited to a dinner
given by Penn State's Centre County Chapter of
the United Nations Association to celebrate the
United Nations Day. This was an important occasion
for us and some other Fulbright scholars and Humphrey
Fellows as we learned about the goals of the UNO
and about the practical actions taken by its smaller
divisions to help people.
Here I should also mention that at school our
daughter participated in charity actions, such
as gathering money and presents for children who
suffer in different corners of the world. This
was a good experience for her, and I'm sure it
will help her develop some important personal
qualities.
A very useful thing for us was seeing how people
of different nationalities live together. Belarus
is not as multicultural as the United States.
The benefits of seeing so many different people
studying, working and living together helps to
develop the ability to understand other people's
life, beliefs, customs and traditions. In general,
living in the United States for four months became
a very important experience for my whole family.
Seeing different ways of life and different attitudes
toward life teaches many things, starting with
the desire to understand new things and ending
with the ability to accept new ideas and beliefs.
Especially useful was speaking to people who
came from different countries. It enriched us
with the knowledge about those countries and about
some cultural aspects not written in books. We
met a lot of people from Europe, South America,
the Middle East, Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Korea
and China. Many of them were in the United States
as Humphrey Fellows while others were students.
It was really a pleasure to learn new things about
the countries these people live in. This was really
an experience uniting people of many nationalities
and developing multicultural understanding. My
Fulbright experience has been very important for
my personal and professional development, and
I'd like it to continue in some new professional
collaborations with my American colleagues.
The characteristics that I like in many of the
faculty members that I met during my Fulbright
are their professionalism and enthusiasm. I also
liked the way faculty members practice project
work. It was useful for me to visit their discussions
and to learn how important conclusions can be
arrived at by joint thinking. It is a very useful
example to follow for my future work. I have gained
many new and practical experiences and ideas that
can be put into practice. Also, I hope that some
of the things discussed during my stay at Penn
State will result in future collaborative projects.
My professional experience at Penn State was
diverse. I have seen how much has been done and
is still being done for students and faculty members
to convey research: excellent office equipment,
updated productive software and unlimited access
to lots of electronic resources (books and articles
online, online and offline web-based training,
etc.). Aside from getting knowledge in ethnological
aspects of higher education, I had a good opportunity
to widen my professional background in linguistics
and to get some knowledge in applied linguistics.
This was possible due to the extensive library
work, to visiting the sessions of the Second Language
Research Forum held at Penn State in October,
the lectures on different aspects of bilingualism
given by home and visiting professors from the
United States and Canada and regular workshops
in language acquisition.
All this will certainly result in new courses
on different aspects of linguistics at my home
university. During my stay, I also visited some
personal and professional development seminars.
Another opportunity for personal development was
offered by the Information Technologies Desk through
seminars helping people understand the role of
technology in classrooms. These hands-on seminars
gave me valuable practical skills as well as useful
hints and tips on how to organize classes and
lectures and what should be done to intensify
the impact of technology used in the classroom.
This will certainly help me in the future during
my teachings at my home university in Belarus.
Besides staying at Penn State, I had an opportunity
to visit another university, Case Western Reserve
University in Cleveland, Ohio, to better understand
the system of higher education.
The aim of my project was to study the possibilities
of electronic (distance/online) learning in the
U.S. higher education system. The objectives of
the project were grouped into three blocks, each
of them connected with a different aspect of distance
education. Penn State, as one of the pioneers
of online learning in the United States, has an
essential portion of its education based on using
technology.
Originally, my project was to focus on the examples
of online language teacher training, but, due
to the fact that Penn State does not offer online
language teacher education, the objective changed
to the means of online teaching and the use of
technology in distance education. In this connection,
the whole system of online learning at Penn State,
known as World Campus, served as a good example
of the way distance education can be organized.
It should be mentioned that, although online education
is common in American education, the attitude
to it varies: some educational leaders are sure
that electronic learning is the future of education
while others think that the guiding principle
in the development of online learning should be
"the less the better". I believe, the
implementation of distance education at my home
university should start with some elements of
online learning, which must be tested and added
step-by-step.
My study of the use of technology in teaching
had a practical accent involving experience that
cannot be gained by visiting libraries or websites.
This is one of the most important opportunities
the Fulbright Scholar Program offers. I got practical
experience attending lectures, seminars and presentations
within the Faculty Development Program at Penn
State. Especially rich was the last week of my
stay during the interval between the two semesters,
when the Information Technologies Center offered
faculty a week of seminars. Penn State has a good
tradition of regularly offering faculty development
programs, not only during the semesters, but also
during the winter and summer breaks. This is a
good example of how universities can follow the
constant development of technology.
At the seminars offered by the university's Technologies
Center, I learned a lot about the possibilities
of the ANGEL course management system, used by
many universities and by Penn State in particular.
I learned how the use of technology can help professors
and instructors design online courses, to implement
them into the existing course management system,
to form different study groups within courses,
to design assignments, to grade students electronically,
to foster online communication between members
of different study groups, etc. Another important
result of my research is finding some other highly
technological educational products available in
the United States. These programs that form the
basis of any distance education system may be
used at my home university in Minsk.
An important part of my research was also finding
information about the activities of different
organizations that unite universities offering
online education and publishing journals and papers
on the use of technology in education. Although
technology is extremely important for my project,
part of my research was based on library resources.
The possibilities that the Penn State libraries
offer are huge, ranging from electronic searching
and ordering books to getting library resources
from other universities across the United States
and borrowing laptops. University libraries in
reality turned into large informational technologies
centers allowing free access to anyone. Access
to Internet resources are also free for Penn State
faculty, stuff and students working in many laboratories
on campus, in residence halls, and even in rented
apartments.
As a Fulbright Visiting Scholar, I'd like to
express my highest gratitude to the Public Affairs
section of the U.S. Embassy in Belarus for giving
me the opportunity to carry out my research while
being with my family. This was our first visit
to the United States, and it happened to be a
unique opportunity to see and understand a different
culture. Each of the members of my family got
their own portion of understanding of the American
way of life, culture, beliefs and traditions.
My husband had an opportunity to use the university
libraries and to visit some lectures and workshops
and my daughter's experience is closely connected
with her school, teachers and new friends, whom
she will e-mail from Belarus.
Please contact
us if you would like to submit your own story
and/or photographs.
"International education
exchange is the most significant current project
designed to continue the process of humanizing
mankind to the point, we would hope, that
nations can learn to live in peace"
--J. William Fulbright |
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