Patrick Blessinger

Partners In Dialogue: Creating Meaningful Learning Environments

Partners in dialogue: Creating meaningful learning environments Olga Kovbasyuk and Patrick Blessinger International HETL Association During the spring semester of 2012, we conducted an online course entitled “Coming of Age on Screen”. The aim of the course was to foster US-Russian dialogues from the perspective of meaning-centered learning and thereby improve intercultural communication competencies. We would like to share our pedagogical experiences from that course. This course brought together 50 students from the Khabarovsk State Academy of Economics and Law in Russia and Mount Holyoke and Brandeis Universities in the USA. The students and faculty discussed films while practicing Russian and English communication skills. The classes used videoconference technologies, Skype and Facebook to interact with each other, synchronously and asynchronously. This experience allowed us to address the following questions: How can an open meaning-making environment promote dialogic and authorial teaching-learning strategies and behaviors? How might we decrease unnecessary power distance [...]

Patrick Blessinger2017-09-22T11:55:00+00:00November 8, 2014|Tags: Dialogue, Meaningful Learning, Olga Kovbasyuk, Patrick Blessinger, V1A6|

Learning-Scapes: Cultivating Meaningful and Sustainable Learning Ecosystems

Learning-Scapes: Cultivating Meaningful and Sustainable Learning Ecosystems Patrick Blessinger St. John's University (NYC) and International HETL Association In Being a University (2011, page 143), Ronald Barnett describes his idea of the emerging university of the future. He calls this type of university the ecological university. According to Barnett, the ecological university is not only concerned with protecting and creating a sustainable natural environment but is also concerned about “…a much wider ambit, embracing the personal, social, cultural, institutional and technological environments and knowledge of those environments; in short, the world in its fullest senses.” The ecological university recognizes that it does not operate in isolation of its broader environments. Rather, the ecological university endeavors to cultivate authentic and purposeful interconnections with its broader environments through meaningful and diverse ways of learning and inquiry. Holistic Learning Ecosystem In this sense, a learning-scape may be defined as a conceptual construct that shapes our [...]

Patrick Blessinger2018-10-27T14:09:27+00:00September 26, 2014|Tags: Learning Ecosystem, Meaningful Learning, Patrick Blessinger, Reciprocity, V1A5|

Coventry University: Good International Partnerships Start at Home

Coventry University: Good International Partnerships Start at Home Barbara Howell and Patrick Blessinger Coventry University and International HETL Association If universities want to develop a portfolio of inter-institutional partnerships around the world, they need to adopt not only a transparent and collaborative approach abroad, but a holistic philosophy that starts at home. Coventry University's partnership model uses link tutors, subject specialists, staff development, staff and student exchanges, knowledge transfer and collaborative research. Using this model Coventry has created 18 highly successful partnerships around the world in 14 different countries. Here, we explain how and why we believe this model is successful and we invite other universities to share what is working and not working for them. The partnership model adopted by Coventry University works because considerable time and effort is put into understanding the partners' needs and ensuring it's a relationship that benefits both institutions. Each partner is assigned a [...]

Patrick Blessinger2015-08-11T15:14:21+00:00July 5, 2014|Tags: Barbara Howell, Guardian Higher Education Network, Partnerships, V1A4|

Is Malaysia The Regional Leader In International Higher Education?

Is Malaysia the Regional Leader in International Higher Education? Patrick Blessinger and Enakshi Sengupta International HETL Association and University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus While restructuring its educational policies in the 1990s, the Malaysian government realised it would not be able to provide higher education to a significant proportion of its population through its own public institutions. In 1995, the Malaysian government was faced with a situation where 20% of Malaysian students studied abroad. This cost the country an estimated $800 million USD, nearly 12% of Malaysia’s current account deficit. Malaysia became one of the top countries sending its own students to study abroad. Faced with such a predicament the Malaysian government embarked on a program to turn Malaysia into a fully developed knowledge based economy. To that end, the Malaysian government sought to partner with foreign higher educational institutions to offer more educational opportunities for Malaysians on their own soil. The ultimate aim was [...]

Patrick Blessinger2015-08-13T15:50:08+00:00May 23, 2014|Tags: Enakshi Sengupta, Guardian Higher Education Network, International, Patrick Blessinger, V1A3|

Higher Education Needs to Build Global Learning Communities

Higher education needs to build global learning communities Patrick Blessinger and Olga Kovbasyuk International HETL Association Globalisation in the 21st century continues to bring about many new political, economic, social, and technological developments. Today’s students therefore tend to be more digitally savvy, mobile and transitory, socially connected, and more democratic in their worldview. This new reality has placed greater demands on educators in all countries to create more contemporary learning environments that reflect the pluralistic nature of life on our planet. To that end, we believe that virtual global learning communities have the potential to create more authentic and experiential learning spaces for students. Global learning is the cultivation of multiple, diverse, and global perspectives. It allows one to develop the intercultural competencies necessary to become a global citizen who can understand issues from multiple perspectives and gain a deeper appreciation of and tolerance for diversity of all types (cultural, [...]

Patrick Blessinger2019-08-10T15:37:55+00:00March 8, 2014|Tags: Global Learning, Guardian Higher Education Network, Olga Kovbasyuk, Patrick Blessinger, V1A2|

How Sociable are You? How Much Does it Matter?

How Sociable are You? How Much Does it Matter? Patrick Blessinger International HETL Association Like many of my fellow educators, my academic training consisted mainly in developing cognitive abilities with scant regard to the role emotions play in the learning process. But in my role as a teacher, I have come to realize that emotions do play a large part in the learning process. This has required me to change my way of thinking about my role as a teacher in the teaching-learning process and about how I engage socially with students in and out of the classroom. Dr. William Kennedy, Director of Michigan Tech’s Center for Teaching and Learning, provides an insightful article about the relationship between learning and emotions. In essence, he notes that our emotions, and hence our sociability, is hardwired into our brains. Hence, teaching and learning is, to some degree, not just a cognitive process [...]

Patrick Blessinger2015-08-13T15:51:45+00:00January 5, 2014|Tags: Chronicle of Higher Education, Patrick Blessinger, Social Learning, Student Engagement, V1A1|

Patrick Blessinger~Building a Global Learning Community

Mary E. LaLuna welcomes Patrick Blessinger for a monthly discussion focused around education. This months' topic is "Building a Global Learning Community" Patrick Blessinger is a global leader and recognized expert (Fulbright Scholar; Governor's Teaching Fellow) in education, learning, and instruction. Patrick is the founder and Executive Director (CEO) of the International HETL Association, co-founder and co-director of the Institute for Meaning-Centered Education. Mary E. LaLuna is a k-12 educator,specializing in problem based learning, STEM integration, MAE-Curriculum and Instruction, as well as a MEd. Leadership.

Patrick Blessinger2020-11-30T18:31:01+00:00October 1, 2013|