COTELCO Research Paper Accepted to 2013 ISA Annual Convention

Dr. Derrick L. Cogburn, COTELCO executive director, Dr. Tina Kimpin Reuter, COTELCO senior faculty associate and Christopher Newport University professor. Ms. Erica Seng, a former COTELCO/Institute on Disability and Public Policy (IDPP) staffer and Dr. Kent Kille, professor at the College of Wooster have had a research paper accepted to the International Studies Association Annual Convention that will be held in San Francisco, California on 3 -6 April 2013.

The paper, Global Model United Nations: The Implications of Nationality and Geographically Distributed Collaboration on Active Learning Simulations will address three major questions, the first of which will analyze the impact of distribution tools on the conduct of a Model UN simulation.  In addressing this question, the full research paper will determine whether or not distributed collaboration tools can create a virtual model UN that is as effective as the traditional face-to-face model.

The second research question asks, “are virtual Model UN Teams as effective as face-to-face teams in representing their assigned countries.” And finally, the third questions asks whether or not Model UN teams comprised of students native to a country are more effective at representing that country than are teams “pretending” to be from that country.

In addition to presenting the Global Model UN research paper, Dr. Cogburn and former American University professor, Dr. Renee Bennett, now at Johns Hopkins University, will moderate the Junior Scholar Symposium in which junior faculty can have their research evaluated and assessed with a focus on professional development.

This research paper is a deliverable that came out of last year's ISA Convention workshop Think Globally, Teach Locally: Active Teaching and Learning in Cross-National Perspective. Championed by Dr. Kille, the workshop was funded by an ISA grant that will also fund the presentation of the workshop's findings.

The conference will be held at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square.

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