“Global Issues Gateway (GIG) [found at http://www.gig.org] has been showing steady progress in its efforts to advance the University’s global learning mission and increase the University’s positioning as the leader in global education,” said Michael Sperling, vice provost for global learning (Metro/Flor).

Since its external launch in October 2004, GIG has grown tenfold, from 205 monthly users to 2,177 monthly users. At the same time, GIG has risen to number 15 (out of about 1,800,000 hits) on a basic search for “global issues” using Google, the most popular Internet search engine. Nearly 100 non-FDU Web sites around the world now link to GIG.

The site presently includes pages dedicated to politics, science, ethics, culture, economics and K-12 education, as well as archives of streaming video from the University’s U.N. Pathways lecture and videoconference series, Interrogating Boundaries Faculty Seminars and original essays written by members of the Global Virtual Faculty (GVF).

Future plans for GIG include development of a major “GIG Communities” section — “GIG Forums,” for public discussion of global learning topics; “GIG Blogs,” for members of the GVF to post content and interact with site visitors; “GIG Courses,” for global learning opportunities for site visitors; and “GIG Wiki,” a Web platform for collaborative development of a global issues research guide.

April/May 2005

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Flor =
College at Florham, Madison, N.J.

Metro =
Metropolitan Campus, Teaneck, N.J.

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