Researchers at Michigan State University are helping female teachers at the Lebanese American University (LAU) in Beirut learn how to effectively use internet technology in their classrooms, preparing them and their students to better compete in the increasingly global marketplace.

MSU College of Education Professors Joseph Codde and Rhonda Egidio along with Eric Freedman, an assistant professor of journalism and assistant dean for international studies and programs, are working to create a gender-customized educational technology certificate program at LAU for new and veteran Lebanese teachers. They think the creation of a pilot teacher professional development program focused on the use of IT in the classroom will help female teachers as well as their students bridge economic and cultural barriers that are pervasive in that region of the world.

Women teachers and female students there are often left behind in the growing digital economy, said Codde, who heads MSUs Educational Technology Certificate Program. This program, adapted from MSU teaching standards and based on our successful model here, will be designed with the knowledge of how women learn about technology and how to use it for educational purposes so that gender disparities are overcome and females can join the culture of those who are creating the digital world of learning.

While the program at LAUs Teaching Training Institute will be open to men as well as women, an emphasis will be placed on recruiting women and building a learning environment at the university that will support the development and performance of female learners, Codde said. A partnership program of this nature, he adds, can help reduce inequality and the digital divide, increase core knowledge, boost learning skills and enhance values of democracy, a key component of the MSU effort. Technology will also foster cultural and political exchanges of knowledge between American, Lebanese and the wider Arab students population, Codde said. This will strengthen the communication skills of emerging leaders in the global arena through IT.

MSU researchers hope this partnership will serve as a model for the region. They have based it on a successful model at MSU, which is delivered in over 50 different school districts within Michigan and in international locations to more than 2,000 teachers.

The partnership is much needed by Lebanese educators and students, the MSU researchers say. Teacher professional development in Lebanon is quite expensive, they add, noting that it is only offered by private higher education institutions that have the resources and charge substantial fees for degree programs and teacher training workshops. Across Lebanon, the adoption of technology varies greatly, the researchers said. Only a limited number of elite schools there have introduced computer proficiency courses into their curriculums, and most public schools who try to include computer proficiency are short on equipment and trained teachers.

University partnerships are crucial in the era of globalization and advancing technologies, said Codde. While societies in much of the Arab world suffer from illiteracy, in women in particular, the problem is even more serious in the use of information technology where the Middle East ranks among the worst regions in the world.

Cultural and religious reasons have discouraged girls in particular from using computers and Internet technologies in their learning process, Codde added. Lebanons ability to liberalize its education system and to use advanced approaches, such as education technology, is essential to expand opportunities, particularly for women and girls, and to sustain its emerging democracy in the region.

For more information on this initiative, contact Professor Joseph Codde, MSU College of Education, 517-432-9259, joecodde@msu.edu

For more information about the MSU Educational Technology Certificate Program, please visit www.edutech.msu.edu.