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Profile - Dr. Geoffrey Bannister

2006 Interview with Dr. Geoffrey Bannister - President and one of the Founders of The Forum on Education Abroad.

What's your view?
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A: The Forum is a new association whose exclusive purpose is to serve the field of education abroad. The association is self-perpetuating. Its members are educational institutions, consortia, agencies, organizations, and individuals that provide, direct, or manage educational opportunities in the field of education abroad. By providing opportunities for discourse and information sharing, The Forum promotes high quality and effective programming through:

On the other hand, publicly traded companies face a level of scrutiny far greater than most colleges. According to federal regulations, they must report very detailed and factual accounts of their performance as the general public is invited to purchase equity in these companies (stockholders). These performance reports can be found in Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, as well as stock analyst reports on the companies and the industry.

• advocating standards of good practice
• promoting the integration of education abroad into high-quality curricular development and academic design
• encouraging outcomes assessment
• conducting research data collection, and
• engaging in advocacy of education abroad at all levels.

Q: While we'd like to hear more about your organization, we were wondering if you'd share with us a little about your experiences working with technology, specifically the impact it may have had on your career in education.

A: I began using computers in the mid-sixties when the University of Otago purchased a room-sized IBM 360 with the 'massive' power of 64K of memory. I learned how to operate it so that we could get the time we needed for processing geographic data (now known as GIS systems.) My interests were in spatial forecasting and satellite imagery processing, and the 'crunching' needs of digital systems far exceeded the capacities of the punch-card driven machines we had available. I chose graduate school at the University of Toronto because their machine had 1,200K (or something like that) and they allowed four of us (all graduate students in Geography) to 'own' the machine all night every Thursday from 10:00pm to 6:00am. Even this was inadequate because we could never get enough storage or computational capacity.

For a while we resorted to laser applications on digital images so we could do signal processing and pattern recognition in real time optically, waiting for the technology to come up to speed with our data needs. Today, it's wonderful because we can do it all on a PC, but I do miss the pranks we could play in the punch-card era as well as the challenges of making our programs operate in a lean environment. It made us into great programmers.

Today, I can do more with my Treo, hooking up to the Internet, taking and sending photos, checking my e-mail and calendar, and using Bluetooth technology than any of those old machines allowed. Now, if they would just put the GPS into my phone, I'd be a happy man!

Q: Obviously you have had a real love of technology and using it as effectively as possible in a variety of circumstances. Are there any specific instances you can remember of technology that surprised or impressed you?

A: I think the most impressive thing I have seen is the new software for GIS. It is simply amazing how much can be done with so little effort. I have also been stunned by the quality of the imagery available for analysis. I once did a very short stint with archeology friends in the Valley of the Queens in Egypt, and was amazed at the capabilities of ground-penetrating radar and infrared imaging to get critical information for the GIS systems to guide us in tomb conservation work.

Q: Following an illustrious career with Butler you launched 'The Forum on Education Abroad'. What was the inspiration for such a move?

A: I have always been a devoted proponent of the value of study abroad, which I seem to have been doing all my life ' I was born in England, did my high school and undergraduate work in New Zealand, my graduate work in Canada, and my professional life in the U.S. The field is of critical importance in the kind of world we live in, but it often does not get the professional respect and attention it deserves. When Kathy Sideli approached me to explain what she and her colleagues had in mind for the first ever national association dedicated solely to education abroad, I was happy to help. Soon, help turned into participation and I have been pleased to give this project over two years of effort. In that time, we have published the first draft of 'Standards of Good Practice in Education Abroad;' gained Justice Department and FTC recognition as the standards setting organization ('SDO') in education abroad for the U.S.; run the first national conference with very successful attendance and results; helped bring the assessment movement and some critical work on curriculum integration forward; and laid the groundwork for the future of further professionalizing an already well established field. We describe Forum today as the small organization with the large footprint ' we have a little less than 200 institutional members but they cater to almost 2 out of every 3 students engaged in study abroad.

Q: How have you implemented technology as part of The Forum's mission? Has it improved efficiency? Helped with communication, information, and resources?

A: Our major use of technology is in communications. Soon we will be unveiling our new website and it will contain:

• information on the activities of the Advisory Council (Forum's principal working body),
• links to the Discussion Boards ' our interactive technology medium for members,
• information and registration links to the conference, and
• a membership data base for communications and management.

Needless to say, we operate a low-paper office and manage almost all of our communications on the Internet. Since I work from Smith College in Massachusetts, Peter Kerrigan works out of New York and our Board and Advisory Council are located all across the nation as well as in Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Australia, The United Kingdom and France, we could never manage such a traveling fraternity without strong technology. Two full-time people manage daily contacts with 65 core volunteers and run a significant national association with a little part-time help. Is that efficient? Well, another higher education association just closed up shop because it could not stay viable with only 6,000 members. The Forum is viable with a minute fraction of that membership level ' and that's largely because we are technology-based.

Q: What is the future of :
Dr. Geoffrey Bannister?
The Forum on Education Abroad?
Technology in Higher Education?

A: For Geoff, another year or two with The Forum and then perhaps back to my 'trade' as a college president, but only if there's a role with a significant international focus. Probably also more fly-fishing and trips back to New Zealand to see the family and old cycling friends, but only if the lovely Jerri will slow down from helping Peter run The Forum's conference!

For The Forum, steady and continued growth in the membership -- we expect to have over 200 institutional and over 400 individual members by the end of 2005 ' plus a significant expansion in overseas participation; the creation of quality development and recognition programs; the addition of research publications in curriculum integration, an assessment guide, and a systematic review of accreditation practices; a better data collection system for the field; the development of training programs; and a stand-alone conference that provides the professional benefits this field deserves.

For technology in higher education' I think Bill Gates 'got it right' when he argued that the significant thing about the new technologies is that they are asynchronous communications methods. For the student who likes to think things over before asking questions, for the professor who needs to communicate with students who live by a different clock, and for the education abroad adviser who needs to communicate with a student who is 17 or more hours ahead, these technologies enable new forms of learning. We have yet to learn how to use them to maximum effect in higher education, but every month brings new possibilities. Our biggest challenge is to open our imaginations to their potential.

Thank you, Geoffrey, for sharing this intimate look at your views on technology and higher education and for leaving us with that inspiring thought.

Interview by Kim Gradel

For more resources on international education, please visit our Study Abroad Resources page