The purpoose of this weblog is to document the collaborative activities between Universidad de Córdoba and the World Studies Media Center at VCU.

December 2005

A new partnership agreement is signed by the president of VCU and the rector of Universidad de Córdoba, in Spain. The areas of interest are medicine, biology, international studies, film studies and language studies. The new alliance promotes faculty and student exchanges in all of these areas.

October 2006

A delegation from UCO, led by Rector José Manuel Roldán Nogueras, comes to Richmond to collaborate with administrators from VCU and the University of Messina, Italy, on a tripartite venture known as the Center for Integrative Mediterranean Studies. The partnership focuses on "health, peace and security issues of the Mediterranean". The Córdoba and Messina groups visit the World Studies Media Center (WSMC) for a tour of the newly renovated facility.

March 2008

Dr. Pedro Poyato Sánchez, Profesor Titular de Arte de Cine at UCO, visits the WSMC.

August 2008

Dr. Poyato returns to VCU to teach Spanish film courses in the School of World Studies and to study English in the ELP program. The WSMC collaborates with Dr. Poyato on developing media services and resources to support an emerging international film studies program at VCU.

October 2008

Dr. Manuel Torres Aguilar, Vice Rector of Students and Culture at UCO, comes to VCU to survey the English Language Program and work with the Office of International Education on a new tripartite alliance between UCO, VCU and Universidad de Guadalajara, in Mexico.

The VCU-UCO partnership is further strengthened as a result of the many relationships formed through the collaboration and friendship between Dr. Torres, Dr. Poyato and the faculty and students of the School of World Studies.

September 2009

During the annual CIMS Conference, Dr. Torres and Dr. Isabel González Roncero, Vice Rector of International Relations at UCO, visit the WSMC. Proposal is presented to explore ways of heightening student interaction across the partnership through task-based language exchange via cooperation between WSMC and UCO Idiomas. Dr. Torres approves the proposal and extends an invitation to WSMC director to visit UCO.

November 2009

The purpose of the first site visit was to meet with UCO teachers, administrators, IT specialists and students to discuss the viability of using new distance learning technologies to enhance and sustain collaborative teaching and research activities between VCU and UCO. Desired outcomes are to heighten student interaction within the partnership through technology-enhanced cooperation. A host of topics were covered during these discussions. Common themes were:

1. American and European perspectives on teaching and research in the face of globalization
2. Internationalization in higher education
3. The challenges of sustaining international partnerships
4. The emerging role of language resource centers in coordinating technology-enhanced international cooperation
5. Growing use of social networking by a new generation of learners

There was a productive discussion on the applications in use at both schools; Blackboard and Wimba Live Classroom at VCU and Moodle and Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro at UCO. A workshop was conducted to showcase UCO’s resources and a successful video conference was held with Dr. Gary Sarkozi, Director of Technology of VCU's School of Education, who was on the other end of the conference in VCU's distance learning lab in Oliver Hall. UCO uses videoconferencing and distance learning technologiy to deliver instruction through its Campus Andaluz Virtual, a network of ten public universities in Andalusia, Spain, that allows students to access “10 Universities in one click”.

There was a general consensus that videoconferencing and distance learning programs offer many rich possibilities for enhancing international cooperation. There was also a shared view that both schools face similar challenges regarding the implementation and integration of academic technology; namely security, usability, functionality, scalability, training and cost.

A comprehensive tour of the UCO campuses included visits to labs, classrooms, libraries and other instructional spaces, such as UCO Idiomas, Campus Menéndez Pidal, and the Servicio Central de Apoyo a la Investigación (SCAI)l, Campus de Rabanales.

A meeting with the director of UCO Idiomas, Dr. Luis Medina Canalejo, was held to explore possible language exchange scenarios through the use of videoconferencing, social media, and through Blackboard and Moodle. The main goal is to provide UCO students of English and VCU students of Spanish with new opportunities for face-to-face immersion and practice via telecollaborative web conferenicng.

The WSMC is committed to supporting VCU’s international partnerships in the area of language learning, cultural exchange and international film and media studies and advocates the use of videoconferencing and distance learning to enhance and sustain these areas. The WSMC is equipped and prepared to support in the implementation and delivery of distance instruction to UCO and other partner schools.

As a result of the site visit, working relationships and new communication lines have been established with individuals in key technology positions at UCO. Next steps are to organize a pilot to promote technology-enhanced teaching and research ventures within the partnership. Heightened student interaction and purposeful cooperation between the schools' language resource centers are desired outcomes.

December 2009

A comprehensive site visit report is submitted to UCO-VCU Partnership Director Heber Dickie Newsome, who responded with favorable comments regarding the impof the visit and thanked the WSMC Director "for enriching the UCO-VCU partnership".

February 2010

Dr. Torres Aguilar, Vicerector de Estudiantes y Cultura and UCO Rector Roldán Nogueras made a surprise visit to the World Studies Media Center.

September 2010

Dr. Torres Aguilar visited the WSMC to inform the WMSC Director of the new Transatlantic Degree in Cinema and Language program between University of Cordoba, University of Messina (UNIME) and VCU. The WSMC was identified as the instructional media and training support unit for the new film studies program.
A modest budget was provided to purchase English, Spanish and Italian language DVDs. The WSMC will continue offering streaming and production services so that instructors can provide media content to students.

WSMC Director begins researching media content delivery products designed for education to more efficeintly serve the new Atlantis program. Cisco's Show and Share is the ideal solution for supporting a translatlanitc film and language degree program offered jointly by VCU, UCO and UNIME.

October 2010

Atlantis project PI Oliver Speck uses the WSMC facilities to communicate with students and teachers in Spain as the new program is launched. The WSMC Director and VCU's HASTECH Business Manager, Mr. John Seo, visit Cisco’s offices in Richmond, Virginia to “experience” telepresence conferencing and to learn more about Cisco’s Show and Share.

November 2010

The WSMC Director submits a poposal to the International Partnerships Major Initiatives Award program that calls for a comprehensive faculty development plan to provide training and support for 2 new Cisco video systems slated for installation in the WSMC in 2011 and 2012; an HD videoconferencing system and a social media sharing/webcasting application. These cutting-edge telecommunication and digital media tools will be used to develop and deliver innovative joint curricular ventures, which will in turn, enhance the partnerships.

The initiative will lead to purposeful
and mutually beneficial cooperation between VCU and UCO in the following areas:

1. Foreign Language Studies
2. World Film and Media
3. Translation and Interpretation

By bringing the partnerships into VCU classrooms through teleconferencing and
social media sharing, SWS will be poised to emerge as a leader in delivering world-class learning experiences that foster discovery and innovation in a global environment. The project is in alignment with VCU’s strategic goals and with the teaching mission of SWS.

My colleagues and friends from Universidad de Córdoba, Dr. Manuel Torres Aguilar, Vicerector de Estudiantes y Cultura and Dr. Pedro Poyato Sánchez, Profesor Titular de Arte de Cine, November 2008, Richmond.

Pictured with Dr. José Manuel Roldán Nogueras, Rector of Universidad de Córdoba.

Pictured from left to right with Dr. Antonio Cubero Atienza, Vice Rector of Infrastructure, Dr. Manuel Torralbo Ródriguez, Vice Rector of Communication and Institutional Coordination, Dr. Enrique Aguilar Benítez de Lugo, Vice Rector of Political Science, Dr. Pedro Gómez Caballero, Vice Rector of Management, Budgets, Societies.

Pictured from left to right with Dr. Enrique Aguilar Benítez de Lugo, Vice Rector of Political Science and Dr. Juan Antonio Caballero Molina, Vice Rector of Information Systems and Technologies.

Pictured from left to right with Dr. Maria Paz Cepedello Moreno, Professor of Literature and Theory, Dr. Fernando Moreno Cuadro, Professor of Art History and Dr. Maria Ángeles Hermosilla Álvarez, Department Chair Professor of Literature and Theory and Dr. Pedro Poyato Sánchez, Professor of Film Art Studies, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras.

Pictured from left to right with Cristóbal Laguna Cañero and Juan Antonio Muñoz Cecilia, Programmers and Distance Learning Specialists, and Dr. Angel Martínez Recio, Director of UCO AulaVirtual, Edificio Ramón y Cajal, Campus de Rabanales, Servicio Central de Apoyo a la Investigaciën (SCAI)

Videoconferencing from Campus de Rabanales directly with VCU’s distance learning classroom in Oliver Hall. Dr. Gary Sarkozi, Director of Technology in VCU’s School of Education, is on the receiving end at VCU.

This is a screenshot of Adobe Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro 7.5 taken during a hands-on workshop on UCO's use of this and other distance learning applications.

Pictured with a pediatric nurse at Hospital Reina Sofía.

Pictured from left to right with Dr. Enrique Aguilar Benítez de Lugo, Dr. Manuel Torres Aguilar and Rector Roldán Nogueras at Restaurante Pic-Nic.

Amigos de Córdoba.

Pictured with Dr. Luis Medina Canalejo, Director of UCO Idiomas.

Dr. Manuel Torres Aguilar, Vicerector de Estudiantes y Cultura and UCO Rector José Manuel Roldán visited the World Studies Media Center in February 2010.