Agenda MAS Call, January 25, 2011

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Agenda & Notes - January 25, 2011

1. Introductions/Icebreaker
2. Review Goal of Project - Work with our Malaysian partners to create a handbook to assist US families hosting Malaysian students while our partners create a guide for Malaysian families hosting US students.
3. Review Project Plan
   • We will “meet” via phone roughly every two weeks working on the following tasks
     • Data analysis and share results with US group members
     • Literature review (independent research & review of AFS materials on Malaysia) with reference to assigned topic(s).
     • Collaborate with assigned international partner from Malaysia while drafting a presentation on your topic(s).
   • March Meeting in DC – Each member presents the assigned topics that s/he has written so far and we work together to give/receive feedback; It is at this meeting that the final topics will be chosen for each handbook.
     • Homestay: March 3 – 6
       • Who can host?
       • If you cannot host, ask your team/chapter to find potential families
       • Volunteering does not guarantee a visitor – MAS guests will have the option to request regions as well
       • HOW guests (including the ongoing IND & INA HOW members) will be clustered in regions if at all possible.
     • HOW MAS Meeting, Washington DC: March 6 – 10
     • ECA (Dept of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs) Conference: March 10 – 13
       • This part is optional for US MAS HOW group members
       • We are in the process of finding out whether it is required for all Malaysian participants to attend
     • You will be responsible for any costs incurred by extending your stay before or after the meeting and conference in excess of $50.00
     • We will follow up shortly with more specific information about booking your travel to Washington DC—Don’t book just yet!
   • Short break after meeting in March; When our meetings resume we will continue to collaborate with our international partners as we draft the sections of the manual. The drafts will be reviewed before the second meeting in Malaysia.
   • July Meeting in Malaysia
     • Dates to be confirmed
     • In Malaysia we will be giving/receiving feedback on the drafted manual sections
   • Continue to meet periodically in order to continue the editing process
     • Complete and begin editing draft of the manual.
     • International colleagues and host families will also have the opportunity to review the completed draft and provide feedback.
   • Complete handbook by November
4. Technology Check
   • All members of the team are able to accommodate long-distance calling for using Wiggio as a virtual meeting tool. We will use the site for our meetings to share screens and conference call.
   • Skype accounts – option for conference calls because it is free & constantly available?
   • Wiki accounts – where the agendas are on the Wiki
   • Microsoft Office versions – We will be working with Word 2007 and Excel 2003. This means that Excel 2007 users will have to make sure to save all Excel documents to be shared with the group in an .xls format (Compatibility Mode).
   • Intro to Wiggio - All members are signed up for a Wiggio account as of 1/25, post phone call.
   • Other technological ideas - Make sure to copy Paula and Brian's work emails on last-minute group correspondence; concern with limiting or eliminating the use of clip art in the manual editing process.
5. Review Norms
   • Bonnie consolidated our group-generated norms into main themes; Bonnie will be rewriting these into a "norm" format
   • We will revisit our group norms after the March Meeting in order to reevaluate them.
   • Example Norms (for reference): TOE Team Norms
6. Explanation of Data Analysis
   • We have two sheets of data that we will send in a follow-up email (also available on Wiggio)
     1. Host Family Surveys
     2. Customer Service Evaluations
   • Everyone will read each sheet with reference to the six, required manual categories, with a focus on the one(s) to which you are assigned.
     • Introduction – what is culture, etc… (Ruth & Bonnie)
     • Communication style (Paula)
     • Education system (Ruth)
     • Family Life (Brian)
     • Food/Meal time (Brian)
     • Teenager life (Colter)
   • Also while reviewing the data, think about other categories, that we might also need to include for Malaysia
     • Religion (Bonnie)
     • Holidays (Colter)
   • We will also conduct our own research on Malaysian culture to supplement the information gleaned from the data.
7. Divide Existing Topics - See previous section. Topics were divided by individual interest.
8. Homework for Next Call
   • Review data (two Excel workbooks) with reference to your assigned topic; also keep an eye out for other topics not yet identified.
   • Begin independent Malaysia research
   • Review AFS Wiki Tutorial: AFS Wiki Tutorials for New Users
   • Review AFS Educational Objectives: Our Educational Objectives
   • Review AFS Orientation Framework: AFS Orientation Framework
   • Review HOW Handbook Framework: HOW Handbook Framework
9. Scheduling Subsequent Calls
   • Thursday, February 10, 7:00am PST
   • Thursday, February 24, 7:00am PST
   • Thursday, March 24, 7:00am PST
   • Thursday, April 7, 7:00am PST
   • Thursday, April 21, 7:00am PST
   • Thursday, May 5, 7:00am PST
   • Thursday, May 19, 7:00am PST
   • Thursday, June 2, 7:00am PST
   • Thursday, June 16, 7:00am PST
   • Thursday, June 29, 7:00am PST
10. Questions