fulbright Taiwan online journal

fulbright Taiwan online journal

Month: October 2020

Brian Bruya: Cross-Cultural Philosophy in the Classroom

Dr. Brian Bruya won his second Fulbright Scholarship to Taiwan in 2019-2020. His project is titled ” Cross-cultural Philosophy in the classroom.” Due to the diversified backgrounds of the students, Dr. Bruya’s class at NTU became an ideal setting to teach comparative philosophy.

Dr. Brian Bruya, is a professor of philosophy at Eastern Michigan University, and an author of books and articles in the fields of comparative philosophy, cognitive science, and educational psychology. He is also a translator and has published translations of a number of popular comic books on Chinese philosophy, which have been featured in the New York Times.

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Reflections on Taiwan

I am honored to have been included in the first Fulbright International Education Administrators Seminar in Taiwan.  I applied to this experience to enrich myself and to hopefully bring back ideas on how my university can send more students to Taiwan.  This seminar marks my first experience in an Asian country, and it was an opportunity of a lifetime to see life in Taiwan and to hear from locals about their home country and culture. I greatly enjoyed seeing how welcoming and open-minded the people I encountered were.  Especially when I do not know the language, I try to avoid being the stereotypical traveler who thinks that everyone knows my language.  So, I enjoyed the pantomiming and my (sometimes failed) attempts at interacting with people in markets, restaurants, and on the street.  I only had one time that I truly felt frustrated – and that was when I had already eaten a meal at the night market, and I was wanting to pay.  It shows how trusting Taiwanese people are when even with expressions and trying to hand over money, they thought I was wanting to order food, not pay for what I had already received.  Then there was the

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Reflections on the Fulbright International Education Administrators Grant to Taiwan

My journey to the Fulbright IEA began in a meeting with some of the people in my International Office. A the time I was at Western Kentucky University (WKU), as the Associate Dean of my college. I dealt with all things having to do with off-campus travel, and in this meeting we discussed some international opportunities for faculty and students. One of the administrators present asked if I planned to apply for a Fulbright IEA. In all honesty I had not heard of the IEA program before that but in browsing, I could see that  some of the countries seemed to align with what we were doing here at WKU. Moreover, some of the timetables for applications and visits seemed to work out. Because it was the closest deadline, I initially applied for an IEA in Germany, but was not accepted. Taiwan was my original first choice, so I re-wrote my application, applied, and was accepted.  In fact, the notification of acceptance came while I was in Cuba working to establish connections with a couple of universities there. Cuba’s internet WiFi infrastructure is not reliable, so I was in a park holding my phone at an angle trying to connect

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波士頓的豐厚文化底蘊與羅拉小鎮的純樸安適:友誼.熱情.學習

二十多年前,在美國賓州匹茲堡大學取得碩士學位的經驗是美好而愉快的,可惜當時的我專注於課業的學習,未能深入體驗美國的文化與生活。回臺灣後,忙著家庭、博士班進修、教學與研究,雖曾在世界各地參與國際研討會,但會議地點均非美國,因此竟然超過二十年未曾踏進美國。

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新冠肺炎疫情下之美國行

很榮幸獲得傅爾布萊特獎助金,讓我有較長的時間在美國進行研究。2020年一月底在新冠肺炎肆虐前抵達芝加哥,先是體驗嚴寒,接著欣賞春光明媚,充分享受季節變換、氣候回暖的喜悅。

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An Unexpected Journey: How I Became a Master’s Student in Taiwan

The Decision to Come to Taiwan I believe that it is nothing short of a miracle that I am in Taiwan. In order to understand how I got here, we have to go back to my undergraduate years. I enjoyed my four years at the University of South Carolina, a college in my home state where I found my best friends, subjects that intrigued me, and issues I wanted to stand up for. What I did not find, and still do not know to this day, is the answer to this question: “So, what are you going to do next?” I have always hated this question, no matter whether it comes from well-meaning strangers, family members, friends, or academic colleagues. It is such a loaded question, one that to me implies “I know what you are doing now is great, but you need to stop living in this moment and create a 5-year plan, specifically one that abides by our societal timeline – education, job, family, retirement.” Now I am not saying that people should not plan for the things that they want in their future, but other people have no right to stress us out with this question and

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打開學術視野與交流體驗-UCSF

抵達美國,先是參與由愛達荷大學(University of Idaho)主辦,為期五天四夜的Gateway Orientation Program。接待人員舉著傅爾布萊特的立牌在機場裡迎接學員們,由機場驅車前往愛達荷大學,歷時約2小時的車程。

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IEA Seminar Taiwan: A Taste of Asia

My International Education Administrators trip to Taiwan was full of delightful surprises, including wonderful food, amazing Taiwanese people and unforgettable new colleagues from the U.S.  There are countless moments that struck me during my two weeks in Taiwan as we visited 16 universities and five foreign agencies.  Overall, I felt honored to be a Fulbright and to be included in this inaugural experience.   This honor was elevated when my group heard the first female president of Taiwan address the Fulbright Scholars of South East Asia.  Moreover, our group was encouraged to make contacts with U.S. Fulbright Scholars and discuss their ground-breaking work.  Indeed, we met with Taiwanese Alumni Fulbright Scholars to discuss the impact of Fulbright on their lives.  As a U.S. Fulbright Scholar-Brazil ’91, I shared immense pride in the accomplishment of these individuals.  Additionally, as an IEA participant, I was encouraged to advise my students and faculty to pursue these opportunities.  When  I returned home, I learned that two of my students had been awarded Fulbrights – one an ETA and one a Fulbright Student Award. During our trip to Taiwan, we met the minister of Foreign Affairs.  She was gracious and answered all of our questions.  We

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The design and learning analytics of minimized collaborative scientific problem-solving activities considering cultural differences

Summary of work Researchers and educators consider CPS as one of the core competencies of the 21st century. However, students often fail to solve a problem as they do not coordinate with peers to reflect upon their CPS activities. To help teachers develop collaborative activities to foster CPS ability, my work in the host institute focused on two main parts: the development of collaborative science learning activities and the analysis of active learning practice, specifically the collaborative learning practice, in the new ALCs. Regarding the collaborative science learning activity, my work has implemented twenty CPS simulations for CPS learning activities, both in Chinese and English, and has established a collaboration network between multiple countries including the European Union, Spain, Thailand and Singapore. Regarding the analysis of active learning practices, the work in the host institution and my prior works were integrated to form a Pedagogy, Space, and Technology (PST) model of space and technology design in supporting collaborative learning on campus which was featured by the IEEE Technical Committee on Learning Technology as one of the keynote speeches of The 18th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies in Bombay. Background It has been stressed by social constructivists that in-depth learning occurs

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Carl Minzner: Who Are We? Evolution of Immigration Policy in Taiwan and Mainland China

Professor Carl Minzner is a Fulbright Cross-Strait Scholar during 2019-2020. He came to Taiwan to conduct research on demographic change, particularly on population aging and policy in Asia. Professor Minzner is an expert in Chinese law and governance, and a law professor at Fordham University. He is the author of “End of an Era: How China’s Authoritarian Revival is Undermining Its Rise“, exploring China’s transition away from the three-decades-long reform era characterized by political stability, ideological openness, and rapid economic growth. Prof. Minzner holds a B.A. from Stanford University, a M.I.A. from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.

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Research & Reflections

fulbright taiwan online journal