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Education prof returns to Norway on Fulbright
October 04, 2007
At the invitation of Hedmark University College, Ron Byrnes will study and teach in Norway during spring term on a Fulbright Scholar Program award.
Byrnes, associate professor of education, will teach students who are preparing for careers teaching in the social sciences and will study globalization in a Scandinavian context.
Hedmark has long been an exchange partner with PLU in the study of the Nordic approach to peace and democracy. Byrnes’ invitation to teach came as a result of his visit to Hedmark four years ago.
He and a colleague, Mike Hillis, traveled there to work with two polar explorers on the development of a new K-12 curriculum that was created to help young people follow an expedition to the North Pole.
The explorers, Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen, received PLU’s Wang Center Peace Builder Award in 2005.
“I will be teaching at Hedmark in two parts. There will be a content focus on cultural globalization – one of my interests and one of the courses I teach at PLU. I will also work with students on innovative and student-centered teaching methodologies,” Byrnes explained.
It appears as if Norwegian educators are more teacher-directed and are more accustomed to lecturing. “But they are interested in other ways of engaging students in the social sciences. They are just not as experienced and don’t have as many strategies. I’m hoping to model some strategies, teach some strategies and offer some suggestions on things that have worked here,” Byrnes said.
“All the while the challenge is contextualizing it, understanding that cultural context matters, that what works here won’t necessarily work there in exactly the same way. They will have to adapt the model and strategies that I describe and demonstrate,” he said.
Byrnes also hopes to study globalization in a Scandinavian context.
“I am fascinated with how cultures overlap, conflict, tension and influence one another. I’m looking forward to just living there for three months and the rhythms of daily life, watching television and shopping and reading periodicals and trying to understand the Norwegian world view, particularly as it pertains to globalization,” he said.
This will be a unique experience for Byrnes. While he’s traveled extensively and for lengthy periods of time, most of his travel has been in developing counties in the global south. This will be the first sustained period that he will have lived in a developed country outside of his own.
Byrnes will live in Hamar, Norway, with his wife, Lynn, and two daughters, Jeanette and Alison.
“My daughters are in seventh and 10th grade. They will do a combination of part-time home school and part-time Norwegian school.
“Both of them play the violin and we are hoping they can join an orchestra. Both of them are athletic, too, so we are hoping they can play on a sports team. And we’re hoping they can take one or two academic classes with Norwegian classmates,” he said.
“My wife is looking forward to living in a Scandinavian country again. She studied as an undergraduate at the University of Lund in southern Sweden. She is also the family linguist. She’s tri-lingual and will do very well with Norwegian and she’ll enjoy studying it and picking it up.”
University Communications executive director Greg Brewis compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact him at ext. 8565 or at brewisgw@plu.edu.
Hedmark has long been an exchange partner with PLU in the study of the Nordic approach to peace and democracy. Byrnes’ invitation to teach came as a result of his visit to Hedmark four years ago.
He and a colleague, Mike Hillis, traveled there to work with two polar explorers on the development of a new K-12 curriculum that was created to help young people follow an expedition to the North Pole.
The explorers, Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen, received PLU’s Wang Center Peace Builder Award in 2005.
“I will be teaching at Hedmark in two parts. There will be a content focus on cultural globalization – one of my interests and one of the courses I teach at PLU. I will also work with students on innovative and student-centered teaching methodologies,” Byrnes explained.
It appears as if Norwegian educators are more teacher-directed and are more accustomed to lecturing. “But they are interested in other ways of engaging students in the social sciences. They are just not as experienced and don’t have as many strategies. I’m hoping to model some strategies, teach some strategies and offer some suggestions on things that have worked here,” Byrnes said.
“All the while the challenge is contextualizing it, understanding that cultural context matters, that what works here won’t necessarily work there in exactly the same way. They will have to adapt the model and strategies that I describe and demonstrate,” he said.
Byrnes also hopes to study globalization in a Scandinavian context.
“I am fascinated with how cultures overlap, conflict, tension and influence one another. I’m looking forward to just living there for three months and the rhythms of daily life, watching television and shopping and reading periodicals and trying to understand the Norwegian world view, particularly as it pertains to globalization,” he said.
This will be a unique experience for Byrnes. While he’s traveled extensively and for lengthy periods of time, most of his travel has been in developing counties in the global south. This will be the first sustained period that he will have lived in a developed country outside of his own.
Byrnes will live in Hamar, Norway, with his wife, Lynn, and two daughters, Jeanette and Alison.
“My daughters are in seventh and 10th grade. They will do a combination of part-time home school and part-time Norwegian school.
“Both of them play the violin and we are hoping they can join an orchestra. Both of them are athletic, too, so we are hoping they can play on a sports team. And we’re hoping they can take one or two academic classes with Norwegian classmates,” he said.
“My wife is looking forward to living in a Scandinavian country again. She studied as an undergraduate at the University of Lund in southern Sweden. She is also the family linguist. She’s tri-lingual and will do very well with Norwegian and she’ll enjoy studying it and picking it up.”
University Communications executive director Greg Brewis compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact him at ext. 8565 or at brewisgw@plu.edu.