In November 2017, I was hosting Tami Carsillo to Oslo University College of Applied Sciences, now Oslo Metropolitan University. Through the OpenGATE program she had the opportunity to stay for four weeks in Oslo. Now, I have the opportunity to visit George Mason University (GMU) and want to share my experience as a visiting scholar in the United States. If we do not consider the limited public transport, the long travel distances, the very large unhealthy chocolate chip cookies, and that PhD student have to pay school fees, here are a few reflections on the benefits of this kind of international collaboration. PhD classes I had the opportunity to participate in the EDRS 815, Research Inquiries in International Education class at GMU. It was a small group of six students and a senior lecturer. I was invited to share my research and the students asked questions regarding my research and fieldwork. Furthermore, I was introduced to a new book within our common field of interest: Rethinking case study research, written by Lesley Bartlett and Frances Varvus, two scholars that have both been at our PhD days. It was of particular interest to see how the students applied models for research design on their own research questions. This was useful knowledge to bring back to OsloMet, both in my own work and as a lecturer in our methods course in the master program Multicultural and International Education. Student research conference I had the opportunity to attended a graduate level student research conference at American University during my stay. We should definitely have a student research conference in Oslo. The conference aimed at making students ready to present in “real” conferences. It was a consortium collaboration between four public and private Universities in the Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C. area, and proved to be a valuable arena to share research and discuss with colleagues. The presentations were professional and inspiring. Master students and PhD students could share their knowledge and comment on each other’s work and ask questions. A few senior scholars were also there, mostly commenting on their students work. In Oslo we are now two universities that should be able to join efforts to do something like this. It was low key, and only half a day. But included six panels with about 4 students presenting in each of them. This is something OpenGATE can learn from and develop in our institution in order to enhance global teacher education and international research collaboration. Working conditions
After being abroad one learns to value the benefits of living and working in Norway. I am very glad I have my own office, and a salary that makes sure I do not have to have two jobs and at the same time attend multiple classes and write up my research. Most graduate classes, especially PhD level, at GMU, occur in the evening. This is because students work during the day. A negative consequence of this might be that students are tired after a long day of work. However, the class I visited through the OpenGATE project had few students which enabled a good discussion on the topics. The small group enabled practical task that I do not often experience in PhD courses in Norway. During most of my writing and collaborative work at GMU I stayed in the very nice and large Fenwick Library. I can definitely recommend to work in the Library if you are going as part of the project. Academic outcome If you are from GMU or OsloMet here are some of the academic outcomes of my stay at GMU which have made the stay valuable to me and my work:
Non-academic outcomes Visiting the US is always an adventure., and it is always very nice to get back home. You learn to value the benefits of working and living in Norway. But I was able to experience and try out some American specialties:
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Fremme i Cape Town og Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPTU) på Center for International Teacher Education. Foreløpig er det rolig på kontoret pga påskeferie for studentene, men jeg har truffet kolleger, bade Professorer, doktorgradsstipendiater og masterstudenter. Det tar litt tid å komme seg i orden, men jeg har startet å forberede en presentasjon av mitt eget prosjekt. Denne skal jeg presentere for alle på senteret og de virker veldig interessert i å høre hva jeg forsker på og hvordan jeg gjør det. Det blir spennende å presentere dette for mine internasjonale kolleger siden de alle jobber innenfor forskningsfelt beslektet med mitt. Sammenlignet med PhD tilværelsen på HiOA så har jeg nå kommet til et sted der alle stipendiatene jobber innenfor et par temaer, Initial Teacher Education and Social Cohesion. Dette er også grunnen til at jeg valgte CPTU som sted for mitt korte utenlandsopphold. Jeg har allerede diskutert det stadig tilbakevendende temaet «Litterature review» - skal det gjøres systematisk eller ikke og hvorfor? Er det mulig å gjøre det systematisk og relevant? Jeg er i alle fall i gang med nettverksbyggingen. Og jeg får gode ideer til mitt videre arbeid hjemme på HiOA. Jeg har blant annet fått en akademisk velkomstgave: «The Research wheel» by Michael Anthony Samuel. Det er ment som en hjelp i forskningsprosessen og er en liten pakke med 37 kort med veiledende spørsmål og sentrale konsepter. After some months of maternity leave I will start working in April and not in my new nice office at HiOA, but in Cape Town at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). I got a research grant from HiOA and will stay at CPUT at their Centre for International Teacher education as a visiting scholar. I hope that my stay will bring new knowledge that I can bring home with me and share with students and colleagues at HiOA and academia in general. I am sure the stay will contribute positively to my PhD work on history education in South Sudan. CPUT has a big project on social cohesion and education and has done a lot of research within teacher education in the post-apartheid period. I hope to learn from their research when working on teaching methods and curriculum in the post contlict/conflict setting of South Sudan. I will keep you updated on my work during my stay.
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