From Afghanistan

Kristin Leclaire�s sophomores are finishing up their study of The Kite Runner. They�ve had a series of in-class fishbowl discussions about the book, but on their next-to-last one over Chapter 23 they had some additional input to consider.

If you take a look at that post, you�ll see the above picture sent to them from Afghanistan by Rob, an American who�s currently serving as Senior Military Adviser to the Afghan Army�s National Threat Warning Center in Kabul. Then if you scroll through the comments you�ll come to this one by Rob, where he gives them a little bit of his perspective, and then asks them a question about whether social class � in light of their study of Kite Runner � is still important. Many students respond to the question, and then Rob comes back one more time with some additional information.

Nothing earth shattering here, but this is what I�d like to see much more of in all of our classes. We should be reaching out to folks in different locations and with different perspectives, including �experts� but also just people with different life experiences. It�s so easy to do, whether it�s asynchronous like this example, or the use of something like Skype for synchronous conversation. I guess I�m wondering why it doesn�t happen more often.

What�s holding you back?