There are a wide array of project-based learning opportunities that enable teachers to "go global." The key is finding the right partners, having ample time for the teachers involved to hash out precisely what their goals are and what they are able/willing to with their students during or outside of class time in order to get there.
In the absence of being able to travel and find partners in person to work with, there are a number of organizations that have pioneered getting teachers linked and connecting students via platforms that enable students to collaborate on global projects. I have investigated and/or used several of these and find them to be useful resources to pick and choose from. It's wise to experiment with a number before determining which platforms work best for a particular school or classroom.
In the absence of being able to travel and find partners in person to work with, there are a number of organizations that have pioneered getting teachers linked and connecting students via platforms that enable students to collaborate on global projects. I have investigated and/or used several of these and find them to be useful resources to pick and choose from. It's wise to experiment with a number before determining which platforms work best for a particular school or classroom.
Global Concerns Classroom
(http://gcc.concernusa.org/)
At the moment, my personal favorite vehicle for global project-based learning is Global Concerns Classroom (GCC). Based in the US, Concern Worldwide is an international humanitarian organization that focuses on relief, assistance and advancement of people around the world. The GCC involves youth in this work and focuses on key themes in global humanitarian work, enlisting youth in classrooms to work with project-based curricula and then participate in person or virtually in a Global Youth Summit. The opportunity to focus on global issues with an organization that actually is involved with taking action is why this is such a good platform with which to work. The theme for 2016-2017 is “complex emergencies,” and my students will be participating alongside students from all over the world. My students will be working on this theme and participating in February in the Global Youth Summit.
(http://gcc.concernusa.org/)
At the moment, my personal favorite vehicle for global project-based learning is Global Concerns Classroom (GCC). Based in the US, Concern Worldwide is an international humanitarian organization that focuses on relief, assistance and advancement of people around the world. The GCC involves youth in this work and focuses on key themes in global humanitarian work, enlisting youth in classrooms to work with project-based curricula and then participate in person or virtually in a Global Youth Summit. The opportunity to focus on global issues with an organization that actually is involved with taking action is why this is such a good platform with which to work. The theme for 2016-2017 is “complex emergencies,” and my students will be participating alongside students from all over the world. My students will be working on this theme and participating in February in the Global Youth Summit.
Taking IT Global
http://www.tigweb.org/
Similar to Global Concerns Classroom, TakingITGlobal seeks to enlist students around the world through an online platform to address global challenges. With more than 5,000 schools, more than 350 projects from 153 countries have been produced that demonstrate the power of young people to collaborate and create projects that genuinely make change. The best part about Taking IT Global is that they enable teachers who are unable to find global collaborators to identify like-minded educators with whom they could work. The site facilitates collaboration through discussion boards. Projects are posted on the site as well. They span all age groups and disciplines.
http://www.tigweb.org/
Similar to Global Concerns Classroom, TakingITGlobal seeks to enlist students around the world through an online platform to address global challenges. With more than 5,000 schools, more than 350 projects from 153 countries have been produced that demonstrate the power of young people to collaborate and create projects that genuinely make change. The best part about Taking IT Global is that they enable teachers who are unable to find global collaborators to identify like-minded educators with whom they could work. The site facilitates collaboration through discussion boards. Projects are posted on the site as well. They span all age groups and disciplines.
The Great Global Project Challenge
http://www.globalcollaborationday.org/the-great-global-project-challenge.html
Sponsored by the Global Education Conference, the great global project challenge emanates from a group of globally-minded educators who seek to engage students worldwide to design collaboraitve projects in which other students and educators participate. They will be shared at the annual Global Education Conference and with its network so that the projects may inspire future projects or ongoing collaborations. The Global Education Conference sponsors a Global Collaboration Day in which project designers preview their projects online. The goal is to celebrate global collaborative projects and to inspire educators to become more global and collaborative in their project-based classrooms.
http://www.globalcollaborationday.org/the-great-global-project-challenge.html
Sponsored by the Global Education Conference, the great global project challenge emanates from a group of globally-minded educators who seek to engage students worldwide to design collaboraitve projects in which other students and educators participate. They will be shared at the annual Global Education Conference and with its network so that the projects may inspire future projects or ongoing collaborations. The Global Education Conference sponsors a Global Collaboration Day in which project designers preview their projects online. The goal is to celebrate global collaborative projects and to inspire educators to become more global and collaborative in their project-based classrooms.
Global Nomads Group
(www.gng.com)
A very exciting online platform for facilitating global interaction, Global Nomads Group offers three different ways to get students interacting. Their Campfire has a curriculum to explore the central question of “How do we, as youth, engage our communities to create positive social change?” This fits squarely within our mission statement and no doubt those mission statements of many schools in the Boston area. The online campfire becomes the site where students from various countries post photos or videos as well as participate in discussions. It requires a minimum of six weeks but they are highly worthwhile. Their Youth Voices program has several options:
Their PULSE program consists of virtual town halls in which students connect on a topic, listening to guest speakers or engaging in conversations about issues.
And a tantalizing extra: Global Nomads is embarking on a virtual reality platform. Stay tuned: VR is a promising platform that students already find fascinating.
(www.gng.com)
A very exciting online platform for facilitating global interaction, Global Nomads Group offers three different ways to get students interacting. Their Campfire has a curriculum to explore the central question of “How do we, as youth, engage our communities to create positive social change?” This fits squarely within our mission statement and no doubt those mission statements of many schools in the Boston area. The online campfire becomes the site where students from various countries post photos or videos as well as participate in discussions. It requires a minimum of six weeks but they are highly worthwhile. Their Youth Voices program has several options:
- Global Citizen in Action (GCA) program was founded with partners in Afghanistan and Pakistan, so this might be particularly relevant to schools like ours where students are often studying current events or American foreign policy. It creates pairs of classrooms to allow students to interact.
- Youth Talk links students in the US and in the Middle East and North Africa through virtual conversations.
- Connecting Cultures, Exploring Science (CCES) pairs schools in US and Qatar to explore science topics jointly.
Their PULSE program consists of virtual town halls in which students connect on a topic, listening to guest speakers or engaging in conversations about issues.
And a tantalizing extra: Global Nomads is embarking on a virtual reality platform. Stay tuned: VR is a promising platform that students already find fascinating.
iEARN
(www.iearn.org)
I want my students to engage globally with partners from all over the world on topics that are relevant to my class (and presumably to theirs). Enter iEARN, a fabulous site that already boasts 30,000 schools and youth organizations in more than 140 countries using their site. These students are collaborating on projects over the internet.
The beauty of iEARN is that you have plenty of access and inspiration. You can search the site by topic of interest and/or by country you wish to collaborate with. And voilà: you enter a collaboration space, either one of your own invention or one that you join. In the collaboration centre, there are teacher and youth forums as well as a general discussion space, a project space, and a learning circles space. There are so many projects to consider possibly adapting or simply joining with your students. iEARN allows you to reinvent the wheel (if you choose) or to join the collaborations already underway.
Postcard Educate
(http://postcard.com/educate)
I became aware of Postcard Educate thanks to Deanna D'Onofrio, a teaching colleague who was part of my cohort traveling to India. Deanna uses Postcard Educate to create action campaigns in her highly interdisciplinary middle school classroom. I was immediately intrigued and, since late August, have been working with Postcard Educate to develop a series of possible social action campaigns. Their mission is to inspire students to become global citizens dedicated to making the world a better place through action.
Students choose the issue about which they wish to create an impact campaign. They create the campaign and write a call-to-action, determining to whom the postcards should be sent. But postcards are not simply mailed. A batch might end up on a government official's desk, while another might become an art mural in a public space. Yet another group might be distributed at a rally or an event.
While Postcard Educate is not explicitly a globally-focused effort, one can easily see how it could become a global project-based experience. Imagine two schools from two different nations collaborating to create a grassroots campaign about a global issue, whether it is the violation of human rights, the issue of refugees, the question of ongoing pollution of the seas. The vehicle--the postcard--a visual image that speaks volumes could become a vehicle for intercultural exchange. Imagine hundreds or even thousands of them from partners in different parts of the world. Thus the inclusion of Postcard Educate on this list. My students will work with Postcard Educate this fall and they have already proposed myriad issues to potentially address.
(http://postcard.com/educate)
I became aware of Postcard Educate thanks to Deanna D'Onofrio, a teaching colleague who was part of my cohort traveling to India. Deanna uses Postcard Educate to create action campaigns in her highly interdisciplinary middle school classroom. I was immediately intrigued and, since late August, have been working with Postcard Educate to develop a series of possible social action campaigns. Their mission is to inspire students to become global citizens dedicated to making the world a better place through action.
Students choose the issue about which they wish to create an impact campaign. They create the campaign and write a call-to-action, determining to whom the postcards should be sent. But postcards are not simply mailed. A batch might end up on a government official's desk, while another might become an art mural in a public space. Yet another group might be distributed at a rally or an event.
While Postcard Educate is not explicitly a globally-focused effort, one can easily see how it could become a global project-based experience. Imagine two schools from two different nations collaborating to create a grassroots campaign about a global issue, whether it is the violation of human rights, the issue of refugees, the question of ongoing pollution of the seas. The vehicle--the postcard--a visual image that speaks volumes could become a vehicle for intercultural exchange. Imagine hundreds or even thousands of them from partners in different parts of the world. Thus the inclusion of Postcard Educate on this list. My students will work with Postcard Educate this fall and they have already proposed myriad issues to potentially address.
The Global Classroom Project
(https://theglobalclassroomproject.org/)
The Global Classroom Project has been the repository for K-12 global projects and connects teachers from over 42 countries. The group began by using wikis to link teachers worldwide to find global projects. As they grew, they began using asynchronous chats with a global community of educators to facilitate deeper connections among like-minded educators. Using the twitter handle #globalclassroom, the group has created professional learning network communities and have built a repository of global education projects, events, or activities. This is a useful professional network to join in order to keep abreast of developments in global education and opportunities for collaboration.
(https://theglobalclassroomproject.org/)
The Global Classroom Project has been the repository for K-12 global projects and connects teachers from over 42 countries. The group began by using wikis to link teachers worldwide to find global projects. As they grew, they began using asynchronous chats with a global community of educators to facilitate deeper connections among like-minded educators. Using the twitter handle #globalclassroom, the group has created professional learning network communities and have built a repository of global education projects, events, or activities. This is a useful professional network to join in order to keep abreast of developments in global education and opportunities for collaboration.
IREX
(www.irex.org)
And last, but certainly not least, is the IREX (the International Research and Exchanges Board). On behalf of the US Department of State, IREX administers the Teachers for Global Classrooms (TGC) program that is the reason that this Global Education Guide has come into being! IREX is a phenomenal organization that oversees fellowship program for non-US teachers to come to the US and collaborate with US universities and primary and secondary schools. They are a gateway organization for an immense area of global education opportunities for American educators and are a key resource if one is embarking on a global, project-based learning collaboration.
(www.irex.org)
And last, but certainly not least, is the IREX (the International Research and Exchanges Board). On behalf of the US Department of State, IREX administers the Teachers for Global Classrooms (TGC) program that is the reason that this Global Education Guide has come into being! IREX is a phenomenal organization that oversees fellowship program for non-US teachers to come to the US and collaborate with US universities and primary and secondary schools. They are a gateway organization for an immense area of global education opportunities for American educators and are a key resource if one is embarking on a global, project-based learning collaboration.