| Faculty Profile: John Mathiason |
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John Mathiason is a man with a myriad of missions. As
a part-time professor of International Relations, he teaches distance
collaboration courses in International Public and NGO Management and in Evaluation of International Programs and Projects.
Among
his duties, he has been the Program Manager for International Education
and distance learning for the Executive Education Program of the
Maxwell School of Citizenship.
Professor Mathiason, as the Program Manager, facilitates courses in “results based management” through the innovative use of person-to person and long distance learning incorporating the use of collaborative technology. One of Professor Mathiason’s talents lie in the innovative use of synchronous online learning. This Master’s level distance learning course in International Public and NGO Management is a product of true online learning and teaching on the World Wide Web.
This
course utilizes web pages, text chat, e-mail and video conferencing as
well as one-on-one discussion sessions. The quality of both the online
dialogue and the in-person classroom interaction with students is
considered to be without equal.
Professor Mathiason revealed that students gain several distinct advantages with online discussions. By using electronic media, students facilitate the sharing of many ideas without the drawback of becoming alienated when they are not able to share their viewpoints. The professor also feels that this mode of rhetoric can reduce the amount of trivial and off subject material and assist the less vocal student to participate more in class discussions. He has found that this discussion method is very popular with students who are from other lands.
This
popular course has an enrollment of approximately 60 grad students
currently in the IR, PA and Environments Studies program.Taking full
advantage of advanced technology, the initial in-person session that is
conducted in ICT’s Global Collaboratory, (situated in Eggers 060), is
televideoed to Washington, D.C.
The lecture is streamed over the Internet allowing students, who were unable to attend the session at Maxwell, the opportunity to view the program. he lecture is also available for viewing on Professor Mathiason’s website. Professor Mathiason shared that future online meetings of the class will be held using Macromedia’s Breeze application, allowing the students to interact with Professor Mathiason and each other.
Professor
Mathiason’s busy schedule has recently been expanded. He is testing
some rather complex collaboration tools, which include Elluminate and
Macromedia’s Breeze. Preliminary testing results seem to indicate that
these applications may be problematic if the user has not had previous
experience with sound and voice capabilities.
Professor Mathiason may limit the use of these applications along with “Blackboard” and regress to straight text for online discussions. Professor Mathiason confesses to being a dedicated Mac user, citing the advantages of Mac as being less vulnerable to viruses than the Windows system. The Professor stated that Windows is built on Microsoft OS, while the Mac uses an operating system based on UNIX. Professor Mathiason revealed that he has found some disadvantages using a Mac system because the University is Windows based. He states that he has experimented with pod casting, but that the tools are not yet that easy. “Online learning’s biggest challenge is keeping order within the class,” says Mathiason. “You have to show the students how to keep order when in a discussion group.” The Professor believes that an essential skill of an online professor is the ability to type quickly. Professor Mathiason is a member of the Internet Governance Project along with his colleagues’ Professors Milton Mueller, Hans Klein, Derrick Cogburn, and Lee McKnight. With them, he has been involved in research and has been published on the subject of international governance of the Internet, including papers to the International Studies Association, the International Telecommunications Society and the United Nations CT Task Force. He has also moderated a panel at the Harvard Conference on the Impact of the Internet and Communications Policy. Professor Mathiason has prepared papers on Internet Governance in preparation for the World Summit on an Information Society and its follow-up.Before moving to Maxwell, Professor Mathiason was a career staff member of the United Nations Secretariat for over 25 years, having started with the United Nations as a
Technical
Assistance Expert in the Evaluation of Social Aspects of Agrarian
Reform in Venezuela in 1966 and finishing as Deputy Director of the
Division for the Advancement of Women. Additionally, he is the Managing
Director of Associates for International Management Services, a
consulting company providing advice and training to international
organizations and non profit institutions. |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 05 June 2006 ) |
