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Connections  November 2009

Jesuit Online Courses Planned For African Refugees

Chris Lowney, Director

The Jesuit Commons

Faculty at Jesuit universities are innovating pioneering models of distance higher education to serve refugees and other resource-poor communities. Faculty and administrators across the Jesuit network are invited to join in this worthy adventure.

Over the past year, faculty from Regis, Gonzaga, Saint Louis, and Fairfield Universities have volunteered time to teach online courses for refugees in Southeast Asia in a program organized by Australian Catholic University. That prototype has inspired a “joint venture” project with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), which accompanies refugees in some fifty countries. Jesuit university faculty are joining assessment teams to explore the feasibility of delivering online-enabled education at JRS sites in Malawi, Syria, and Kenya; the ultimate vision is to create models that could be replicated in other resource-poor settings. Helping to drive and coordinate the project is the Jesuit Commons, a new international effort to spark innovative collaborations across the global Jesuit network to benefit poor communities.

Mary McFarland, Dean of the School of Professional Studies at Gonzaga University, helped assess Malawi’s Dzaleka Refugee Camp, where many of the 10,000 Congolese, Rwandan, and other residents have been living for more than a decade. As Mary put it, “The profound material deprivation these people are suffering is more than matched by their resilience and hunger for education. Of course we’ll face challenges in delivering education in such resource-constrained environments, but we’ll easily succeed if we can muster even half the determination and ingenuity of the refugees we’ll be working with.”

The education model that is emerging would partner online coursework with on-the-ground tutoring support organized by the Jesuit Refugee Service. Refugee students might work toward an academic certificate awarded by one Jesuit university, but courses would be taught by volunteers drawn from various Jesuit universities. 

Rev. Charles J. Currie, S.J., president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, praised the initiative, “This project highlights many of the very best features of our university system: superbly talented faculty, inspired by a very broad sense of mission, are collaborating across universities and across continents. We’re applying technology in highly innovative ways. And the Jesuit network—through our universities and the Jesuit Refugee Service—is uniquely positioned to accomplish something that perhaps no other organization could. And just think of the upside when we innovate new models.”

Another project champion is Rev. Paul Locatelli, S.J. formerly President of Santa Clara University and currently head of the Jesuit Higher Education ministry globally. At a recent meeting of Jesuit higher education representatives from around the world, Fr. Locatelli organized a project briefing and encouraged involvement from Jesuit universities globally.

The project team hopes to begin course work in Malawi in September, 2010. But there are challenges on the critical path to hitting that deadline: the program will only work if enough faculty volunteers are recruited. The project team aims to assemble by end-January a roster of faculty who might volunteer to teach no more than one online course every two years. The team invites interest from faculty in all disciplines who would be willing to teach entry-level courses in their respective fields. All qualified faculty are most welcome--whether active or retired, adjunct, or qualified graduate students.

The education will primarily be delivered online. That is, students in Malawi (or elsewhere) will access curricular materials and submit assignments via the Blackboard course management system. They will interact with faculty primarily through email and occasional Skype chats. A typical class might comprise approximately fifteen students. Because many faculty volunteers will have no previous experience in online education, an orientation would be provided.

The global Jesuit network enjoys a unique opportunity to innovate distance education models that will serve refugees and other resource-poor communities; all Jesuit university faculty, staff, or administrators who wish to participate or learn more about this groundbreaking effort are invited to contact Chris Lowney chrislowney@verizon.net or Mary McFarland Mcfarlandm@gu.gonzaga.edu or Rev. Charles Currie, S.J. ccurrie@ajcunet.edu.