The Global Dialogue Cafe:

A joint project of Cisco Systems, CWRU’s Information Technology Services, and the Laura and Alvin Siegal Lifelong Learning Program at CWRU

The Global Dialogue Cafe offers an exciting experience for connecting “communities of interest” around the world with international experts in a wide range of subject areas. As opposed to the “passive” educational opportunities available through podcasts, MOOCs, and other more typical online modalities, the technology platform for this project encourages fully interactive engagement from all participants. The Café provides an informal setting for interested individuals to participate actively with others in their local community, as well as at partner locations around the world, in faculty-facilitated discussion on topics of interest to the general community.

The technology platform is a High-Definition multi-point videoconferencing network developed by Cisco Systems and managed by the IT Services office of Case Western Reserve University. The pilot program will be initiated on the CWRU campus with partner “café” venues in Lisbon, London, and Paris. As a program open to the general public, the pilot sessions will be offered in the “lunchtime” 1:00 pm slot in the Eastern American time zone, which will correlate with early evening (“happy hour”) time slot of Western Europe and slightly later in the evening farther east in Europe and the Middle East. Each partner café will manage its own technology and provide an on-site facilitator.