Fred Newbury
School of Business and Information Technology
Teaching Economics and Building Global Community
Featured Teaching and Learning Practice
Fall 2006
Fred Newbury's instrumental role in establishing Economics 2311 Global Issues exemplifies the kind of featured teaching and learning practice needed to create global, cutting-edge partnerships in education.
For the past 11 years, Dallas and Saratov, Russia, have shared a cultural, medical and educational exchange through the Dallas Sister Cities Program. Last summer, Fred traveled to Saratov with Olga Ivanova Nuss, Program Development, to establish strategic partnerships with several educational institutions. These contacts resulted in formalized agreements between several Russian colleges and universities and Richland College, and the formation of an online, international, honors course: Economics 2311.
The course highlights Fred's teaching expertise and knowledge as he team-teaches with Elena Korotkovskaya, a professor form Saratov State University. Economics 2311 also combines library resources available through Richland's online reference system, the technical capabilities of the LeCroy Center to integrate a Web-based video-conferencing for virtual class meetings, and eCampus and the Blackboard systems.
In addition to the course planning, other developments included an admissions system, a wire-transfer procedure for payments, and a student exchange agreement.
Through Fred's leadership, Economics 2311 provides Richland students with the opportunity to experience another culture while learning international economics, thereby helping them lead purposeful, meaningful lives in a diverse world community.