Apply the “what, so what, and what next” framework:
- What are the major points of the readings this week?
- Why are these readings important?
- What will you do with your new knowledge about global learning?
The readings this week discuss the global learning environment. After reading the assigned articles and video, I could not believe global learning could be that difficult to understand or interpret. Why are the academic journals and the video making global learning out to be so difficult to understand? Why are there books and entire university courses on the subject?
The complexity was removed from the equation when I viewed the YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbzFcmVEeiw The story is about a twenty-year-old student who has never had a foreign friend and never travelled from her home. Enjoy.
What? For the more academic answer, global learning is about facilitating educational experiences that allow learners to appreciate diverse perspectives, understand the connections to the world and communicate and collaborate across cultures and countries. Learners develop a strong self-evaluation, open to a wide range of ideas and concepts, and distinguish bias from the truth. The learner can draw on knowledge from sources outside their country and interpret it without country or regional bias.
Education for global competence can promote cultural awareness, respectful interactions in increasingly diverse societies, and boost employability. Employers increasingly seek to attract learners who quickly adapt and apply and transfer their skills and knowledge to new contexts. Work readiness in an interconnected world requires young people to understand the complex dynamics of globalization, be open to people from different cultural backgrounds, build trust in diverse teams and demonstrate respect for others (British Council, 2013).
This allows learners to take purposeful action to improve their own lives and positively influence the world around them. It is an effective way to support learners’ holistic academic, social, and emotional development. It helps learners understand today’s world’s realities and processes and develop values, attitudes, knowledge, and skills that will enable them to face the challenges of an interconnected world.
So what? Twenty-first-century students live in an interconnected, diverse and rapidly changing world. Emerging economic, digital, cultural, demographic and environmental forces shape young people’s lives worldwide and increase their intercultural encounters daily. This complex environment presents an opportunity and a challenge. Young people today must learn to participate in a more interconnected world and appreciate and benefit from cultural differences. Developing a global and intercultural outlook is a process – a lifelong process – that education can shape (Barrett et al., 2014; Boix Mansilla and Jackson, 2011; Deardorff, 2009; UNESCO, 2013, 2014a, 2016).
What next? For learners to be prepared to live responsible, productive, and creative lives, educators can provide learners with opportunities for global learning and engaging learners with current issues of global citizenship (Hovland, 2006). Global issues and perspectives can easily be integrated as a lens for teaching all content areas. Global learning can lead to holistic learner outcomes that lead to academic success and overall well-being. Examples include learner engagement, career readiness, social-emotional learning, and learner empowerment. To be globally competent, learners will need critical thinking, intercultural literacy, digital literacy, and cooperation. They will need to know how to work together on shared projects, use technology as a tool for learning, and see themselves as agents for innovation and sustainability.
Schools play a crucial role in helping young people to develop global competence. They can provide opportunities for young people to critically examine global developments that are significant to both the world at large and their own lives. They can teach students how to critically, effectively and responsibly use digital information and social media platforms. Schools can encourage intercultural sensitivity and respect by allowing students to engage in experiences that foster an appreciation for diverse peoples, languages and cultures (Bennett, 1993; Sinicrope, Norris and Watanabe, 2007). Schools are also uniquely positioned to enhance young people’s ability to understand their place in the community and the world and improve their ability to make judgements and take action (Hanvey, 1975).
Promoting global learning in my classroom or online will be a fun and knowledgeable experience. I look forward to the experience of developing my learners to be informed, reflective, empathetic, and ethical in a more global pedagogical learning context.
Laurie
Barrett, M., M. Byram, I. Lázár, P. Mompoint-Gaillard and S. Philippou (2014). Developing Intercultural Competence through Education, Council of Europe Publishing.
Bennett, M. (1993). Towards ethnorelativism: A developmental model of intercultural sensitivity in M. Paige (ed.), Education for the intercultural experience, Intercultural Press, pp. 21-71.
Boix Mansilla, V. and A. Jackson (2011). Educating for global competence: Preparing our youth to engage the world. Council of Chief State School Officers. https://asiasociety.org/files/book-globalcompetence.pdf
British Council (2013). Culture at work: The value of intercultural skills in the workplace. British Council, United Kingdom. https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/culture-at-work-report-v2.pdf
Deardorff, D. K. (2009). Implementing intercultural competence assessment. Handbook of Intercultural Competence, D. K. Deardorff (ed.), Sage, pp. 477-491.
Hanvey, R. G. (1975). An attainable global perspective. Center for War/ Peace Studies. ERIC.
Hovland, K. (2006). Shared futures: Global learning and liberal education. Association of American Colleges & Universities. https://www.monroecc.edu/ArchAnnou.nsf/Attachments/DF7813AC732E325305257DD6006EF41A/$FILE/Global%20Learning.pdf
Sinicrope, C., J. M. Norris and Y. Watanabe (2007). Understanding and assessing intercultural competence: A summary of theory, research, and practice. Technical report for the Foreign Language Program Evaluation Project, Honolulu, HI.
UNESCO (2013). Intercultural Competences: Conceptual and Operational Framework, UNESCO, Paris. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000219768
SIM Global Learning. (2016, Nov 30). Global learning: Starts with you. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbzFcmVEeiw
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