Week 9 Creating a Global Classroom

Today’s youth are digital natives with so many technological tools at their arms reach. What teachers need to do is show students how to use these tools to expand their knowledge and also contribute back. Also many tools and apps have helped in connecting classrooms globally. We must show students to not only collaborate with others throughout the world but also contribute so others may expand their knowledge through them.

First I will go about explaining the tools I know that can help a teacher reach out globally such as Skype and Google.

Skype has users throughout the world and many are seeking to reach out to others from all over the world. On the Skype webpage teachers can find people who are seeking specific topics on Skype such as language help. Teachers can also connect with professionals in specific fields to contribute to units and instead of having them come into the classroom they can chat with the classroom via Skype from anywhere in the world. Students can do the same when asked to learn about other cultures they can also connect with others through Skype and have discussions. Schools in different countries can also plan to connect with each other to help students collaborate with others on projects.

Google is a great tool that provides many apps which can help students collaborate on projects and share their contributions quite easily with apps such as Gmail, Google docs and drive, Google Hangout, Blogger, and Google Sites. The best part is that all these apps are free with a Google account. Students can have face time or discuss projects via email then contribute on projects easily by working on them on a Google app which can be easily shared and added too by specific members from anywhere.

To find more resources it’s as simple as searching it on Google because there are many projects out there which focus on helping classrooms connect globally to help students get a better cultural awareness of each other. The Global Classroom Project page which helps teachers learn ways to connect globally and by becoming part of this project they can get connected with teachers throughout the world who are working on similar subjects and projects. Classrooms can share what they are working on and instead of making unit projects only within a specific class they can conjoin different classroom and have the students work with each other. The OneWorld Classrooms helps teachers and students participate in global projects. Some the projects that students are working on are teaching each other about their cultures and languages and an art exchange project to help students see each other’s art work.

ISTE (NETS) Standards

The ISTE standards which need to be met by NH teachers and students are technology based. By creating a classroom that is global teachers have an easier time making sure students meet the ISTE standards such as communication and collaboration:

2. Communication and collaboration

Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media

b. Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats

c. Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures

d. Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems

Part 2:

From the perspective of a business educator having students involved in a global classroom teaches them essential skills for their futures in any career path they choose. As the world becomes flat students will be working with coworkers all over the world and also compete with workers all over the world. So for students to have a better chance at competing they must know how to collaborate effectively with anyone by being culturally sensitive and being able to bridge the gap with language barriers. No longer can we teach students in a bubble that lets them assume that they only need to work with those in a small circle but that they can work collaborate and learn from anyone in anywhere.

Also as educators we can expand our knowledge base by learning more from educators worldwide. Which we can do by listening and partaking in the Global Education Conference. I listened to Connecting Students & Teachers Online, Across Continents by Dounia Bredes to get a fundamental understanding of creating a classroom globally. The following is a short reflection of what I learned from this session:

The speaker follows a project based curriculum with monthly projects and activities focused on global issues. The online platform she uses can be found in this link. It’s a private platform but teachers can get more information in the session. On the platform teachers share lesson plans in different languages and classes from different countries contribute to the global projects in different content forms. The platform also has a form of Facebook in which those who are part of the platform can contribute and discuss the lesson plans and projects. Midway through the session the speaker discusses the original setup of the program, the changes that have been added from the 10 years of their service and why these changes were installed; such as making the program private to filter out cyber predators to protect under age students. Also the changes of the technology used due to technology changes and helping meet the technology usage from students from different parts of the world. In conclusion the speaker helps teachers understand the cultural and technological challenges that they needed to overcome when creating a global platform and how teachers can use the same setup in their classrooms without having the same challenges.