Meredith Harrigan (middle), associate professor of communication, visits with students at Alytus College in Lithuania during a recent visit to explore continuing collaboration on learning and research through globally networked learning.
GENESEO, N.Y. – A recent visit to Lithuania’s Alytus College by Meredith Harrigan, associate professor of communication at SUNY Geneseo, has helped reinforce Geneseo’s involvement in globally networked learning (GNL).
GNL is an approach to international relationship-building that encourages worldwide academic collaboration by students and faculty while being apart from one another.
“This model is particularly useful for students wanting to engage in international learning who may be unable to directly experience a study abroad program,” said Harrigan, who has a background in GNL. “I was in Lithuania discussing the idea of GNL, how it would look and how to make it work using examples of my own partnerships. I learned a lot about their country and Alytus and they learned a lot about the United States and Geneseo.”
Harrigan recently completed a GNL course at Geneseo with the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, which included collaboration among students on social advertisements for American and Russian cultures.
“The goal is to work with the international office at Alytus to develop similar projects for our institutions,” said Harrigan. “We’re particularly interested in how we might use online technology to create opportunities for students and faculty to collaborate on learning and research.”
Alytus College is in a city with the same name and has an enrollment of about 1,300 students. Harrigan said many at Alytus spoke English.
Geneseo’s relationship with Alytus has grown over the years. Retired communication faculty member Joseph Bulsys, who has a long-term connection to Alytus, taught there for a semester in 2014 as a Fulbright Fellow followed by his teaching courses on intercultural communication. In 2016, Geneseo’s Communication Department hosted Rozalija Radlinskait?, the head of the International Office at Alytus, to explore further opportunities for academic collaboration.
“With Joe’s retirement and my background in GNL, it made great sense for me to visit their institution to explore possibilities for GNL,” said Harrigan.
Groundwork for a formal GNL program between Alytus and Geneseo was set three years ago when Harrigan and Bulsys taught a GNL course for Geneseo’s Edgar Fellows Program (the college’s honors program), the first time the two institutions had worked together in a GNL context. The Edgar Fellows collaborated ? primarily online ? with students studying at Alytus from Lithuania, Nepal, Nigeria, India and the Congo.
Harrigan’s visit to Lithuania was part of the European Union’s Erasmus+ program to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe, providing exchange opportunities for students, faculty and administrators. In addition to the GNL program, Harrigan says Alytus is very interested in having Geneseo students visit Lithuania, not necessarily for a full study-abroad semester but perhaps as a leg to existing programs Geneseo operates in Eastern Europe. Harrigan said Radlinskait? has applied for funding to accommodate students, faculty or administrators to visit Geneseo.
“They are interested in our students visiting Lithuania to experience their cities and learn about their culture,” said Harrigan. “I discovered that it’s a country of great natural beauty, and the people are proud of their surroundings and history. It would be a valuable experience for our students.”