The Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health Program on Forced Migration and Health has launched a global classroom initiative with a seven-week child protection course taught simultaneously at the Mailman School of Public Health and in Gulu, Northern Uganda. The course will serve as a pilot initiative to help shape future global classroom programs with an eye toward promoting South-to-North and North-to-South learning. To connect the two classrooms and encourage discussions among students, the instructors used new and traditional methods of instruction to encourage conversations across cultures.

Students in each location pursue the same learning agenda – to analyze, critique, and enhance their own practice as well as design appropriate interventions for a wider range of child protection issues in complex emergencies – while interacting with one another on a weekly basis. The combination of new and traditional methods promotes discussion within and between the students in New York and Uganda.

Dr. Neil Boothby, professor of clinical Population and Family Health and director of the Columbia University Mailman School Program on Forced Migration and Health, teaches the New York section while Dr. Marie de la Soudiere, international consultant at Care and Protection of Children in Adversity, taught in Uganda.

Dr. Boothby explained the benefit of this approach, “Our students absorb theoretical and technical knowledge quickly and often easily. During the next step, when engaging with practitioners working on the ground in northern Uganda, the process gets somewhat more complicated and real. This is when learning takes place best. Working directly with expert practitioners is what a Mailman school education is all about.”

At the beginning of the course, students divided into pairs, one from each location, to foster conversations. Each week these teams discussed and answered a question based on their experience, field lessons, and interactive case studies of complex emergencies, including those on Darfur, Uganda, Rwanda, Mozambique, Cambodia, and the Asian tsunami. These discussions took place via email and Skype exchanges, during which the pairs discussed their perspectives and agree upon a unified response.

In addition to the ongoing teamwork in pairs, students participated in a larger group project and complete individual assignments. To overcome the distance, much of the interaction centers on a Web-based platform developed by the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning. The site serves as an interactive syllabus and class guide, a discussion board, and a resource library.

Said Ms. Dita Niyogi, a student in the Child Protection class, “As a student in Forced Migration, I plan to work with diverse displaced communities. Interacting with students in Uganda to grapple with tough questions around child protection better informs me that culture, geography and life circumstances play a pivotal role in humanitarian assistance.”