Across the years I have been fortunate to have learned from a number of global educators. Luis Miguel Miñarro, an educator in La Mancha, Spain, shared with me how he used Animoto to make a Carnival 2014 video. Now we interact on Linked-in. Thank you, colleague, for helping me to discover new ways of learning and sharing my learning.
I treasure the “care package” received from educator friend, Inci Aslan, in Turkey who was the principal investigator of an Etwinning project I closely followed…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nps2gd0WTrY?feature=player_detailpage&w=640&h=360%5D Thank you, Inci. I hope that you are well, safe, and happy. I admire what you have done in the classroom.
Lithuanian educator Irma Milevičiūtė befriended me on Epals years ago and whetted my interest in global communication. Heartfelt thanks, Irma–though we have lost touch, what I have learned from you and with you has been enduring
Thank you, Australian educator Julie Lindsay, for expanding my global horizons with your seminar Flat Connections Global Project . My world continues to expand as it shrinks.
How does one keep up with “the learning revolution” or Classroom 2.0? How does one keep abreast of developments in International Education?
I try to keep reasonably aware of international events through reading articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education and The Guardian. I occasionally shadow Global Education Conferences and follow several WordPress blogs dedicated to Global Education. And yet I remain so globally illiterate.
Here are my some of the reflections on this topic a few years ago.
The world is open. I’ve been thinking about how to make our campus and curriculum more global. Here are some incipient thoughts about how that might de done.
- Increase awareness and use of media such as BBC News and Google News.
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Incorporate Kiva into the classroom.
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Tap into high quality online .
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Explore other languages.
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Capitalize on cultural universals such as music, cuisine, sports, and literature. Our international students have so much they can teach us.
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Reading: We need to encourage faculty, staff, and students to read, discuss, and discover world literature. Ann Morgan’s blog (a “Year of Reading Around the World”) is a wonderful place to start.
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Though no substitute for reading, excellent audio and video recordings exist of introductions to world literature, world history, travel, and world religions.
And here are even earlier reflections…..
- What is the appropriate foundation for general education in the 21st century
- Are we faculty appropriately educated for teaching in the 21st century?
- What skill sets, traditions, and knowledge are as vital today as when this academic institution was founded?
- Can we change our general education program without intentionally changing our institutional mission?
- Should part of a general education be mastery of another language? If so, how does one define mastery— knowing the right phrases to allow one to travel within another country?
- Should one be fluent in another culture’s history, customs, idioms, national concerns, and language?
- Can internationalization be achieved through the 21st century equivalence of international pen pals using Skype?
- What defines global citizenship? Global awareness?
- How can we continually reaffirm and rediscover our common sense of humanity?
