by Valeriy Smaznoy
Mr. H. Roux-Alezais, President of the Marseille-Provence Chamber of Commerce, says that the concept of globalism finds its full economic expression in a constantly evolving economic environment. Hence, internationalism is considered as one of the CCIMP's priorities.
It is not accidental that the WACRA® 1998 conference will be hosted by CCIMP. Over the years WACRA® forums have proved to be International, Interdisciplinary, Interactive, Intercultural, and Interesting. The Edinburgh 1997 conference has added an new dimension to the WACRA® history: it was really Inspiring.
A wide range of topics and areas were covered by the presenters: from "Using Cases in Pre-clinical Medical Education..." to "Educating U.S. Senior Military Leaders...," an invaluable experience in applying versatile case-based material - all this testifies to the fact that international faculty and researchers are very sensitive to the dramatic changes taking place in a broad educational setting. Many presentations pivoted around this problem. Three basic approaches can be identified:
1. How to build a better learning environment with the Internet as the best tool available today /Dr. Gerald Crawford and others;
2. Why one should use interactive tutorials like Learner-Centered Interactive Multimedia/ Digital Trainer, Internet and Intranet, etc./ which are so helpful and add more excitement to the learning environment you design to provide customized training within employee-training programs/ Dr. William Silver and Dr. C. Thomas Howard;
3. Who will develop an international classroom as part of an effort to up-date the learning environment? The proposal was initiated and agreed to by a multinational team of WACRA® colleagues including Drs. Margaret Moore, Joe Broder, Jeffrey Gray, Franz Egle and others.
The authors of "the Internet: A Powerful New Teaching..." believe that the Internet and e-mail based classroom communication can revolutionize the very educational process: it makes things turn around much quicker, time and cost-efficient. Besides, it facilitates gaining first hand experience and expertise in international topics. In fact, a textbook-based classroom is being turned into a dynamic, experiential learning environment.
The presenters of the Learner-Centered Interactive Multimedia activities point out that the underwater part of the iceberg is to encourage trainees to create while learning, thus converting the existing training and testing into Interactive Multimedia Programs. "I want my students to have a wish of returning to my classes again and again," said Bill Silver.
A small session facilitated by Dr. Margaret Moore with active participation of the multinational team of colleagues committed itself to building a richer international teaching/learning environment in the classroom. The idea of setting up an international classroom around the Internet and e-mail received an enthusiastic acknowledgment from the audience. Student networking efforts and communication are expected to develop into joint research projects, reciprocity in learning about cultural, ethnic differences, national priorities and preferences while doing business internationally.
The Survey of Educational/Training Needs undertaken by the WACRA® Executive Board surely deserves to be appreciated as a timely effort to adjust and enhance the broad educational mission of WACRA®. No doubt, the success and increasing popularity of WACRA® conferences can in large part be attributed to the fact that its management is actively promoting the development of methods and the exploration and experimentation with new learning/teaching methods.
Valeriy Smaznoy is Senior Lecturer at the Donetsk Commercial Institute, DONETSK, UKRAINE. He also is a member of the WACRA® Advisory Board.