The U.S.-Central Asia Education Foundation’s (U.S.-CAEF) mission is to contribute to a vibrant business environment in the region. American Councils, in partnership with Fairfield University, has been helping U.S.-CAEF to achieve this goal through a series of faculty development workshops focused on integrative teaching and learning strategies for business education. These workshops culminated in June in the Kyrgyz Republic, where seventeen faculty participants met for a writing workshop led by three Fairfield professors. The idea for this event was born out of feedback from faculty members themselves, who confirmed that they were interested in developing an edited volume of case studies and teaching materials but had very little time to take on such work in addition to their daily schedules. To resolve this problem, participants gathered for three days on the shores of Lake Issyk-kul, to reflect on the classroom experiments they had tried since beginning the workshops, brainstorm new ideas, and write draft chapters for the publication. They also had an opportunity to receive feedback from their peers as well as the Fairfield University team who facilitated the workshop.
Following the workshop, the participants will be revising and resubmitting final drafts of their manuscripts, which will be compiled and edited into the final project of the program, a comprehensive book of resources for teaching business in Central Asia. The faculty members hail from two U.S.-CAEF partner institutions, the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) in Kyrgyzstan and KIMEP University in Almaty, Kazakhstan. More than twenty economics and business faculty members from these universities have taken part in the U.S.-CAEF sponsored workshops, which began in 2010.
The faculty development program is a testament to the comprehensive approach of the Foundation, whose mission is to foster the development of a vibrant market economy by investing in promising students and strengthening business education in the region. The topics to be covered in the book include business case studies, classroom discussion topics, student activities, collaborative learning strategies, and more.
The Fairfield workshop leaders commended participants for their productivity and for contributing to a collegial atmosphere across the institutions. An initial draft of the book will be ready by the close of summer, with the final version prepared by the end of the year. It will be published by Fairfield University by the close of summer and distributed among faculty at AUCA and KIMEP University as well as other institutions of higher education in the region.
For more information on U.S.-CAEF, please visit http://www.us-caef.americancouncilsnetwork.org or contact Terrence Graham at graham@americancouncils.org.