See how Global Education helps our Anti-Racist Future by dismantling the single story & empowering our students

WHAT is Global Competence/Global Education?

Both OECD and the Center for Global Education have identified four key aspects of global competence.

Globally competent youth:

(1) investigate the world beyond their immediate environment by examining issues of local, global, and cultural significance;

(2) recognize, understand, and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others;

(3) communicate ideas effectively with diverse audiences by engaging in open, appropriate, and effective interactions across cultures; and

(4) take action for collective well-being and sustainable development both locally and globally.

5 Ways students benefit from Global Collaboration

I whole-heartedly agree with the 5 reasons this article gives as benefits and I include reasons from my classroom experience here.

(1) Showing students we are far more alike than different. You might think meeting kids in a classroom in another country would lead students to identify differences. Not so. In my experience with global virtual exchange, students focus on their similarities, such as common interests, family dynamics, pet peeves, hopes and dreams. They have a unique opportunity to find what unites us all ,no matter what language one speaks, religion one practices or place one is born.

(2) Giving students the opportunity to learn through inquiry. When students are given the time for inquiry before/during/after global virtual exchanges it helps them make their own connections and form a deeper understanding to what they are learning. Students discover about each other and collaborate with projects that often look to benefit each other's communities through projects the teacher may never have imagined. This is where the magic often lies.

(3) Allowing students to be the experts. When students work with learners in other classrooms, they can become the teachers. My students have learned about the Mayan calendar, how to make chocolate the way the Mayans did, and what street food is best in Guatemala from students in Guatemala one-on-one with presentations from our global partner students. Any educator can imagine how much more meaningful these lessons were by being taught by their buddies from a high school in Guatemala City.

(4) Introducing students to life paths they may have never imagined. After global collaboration with my students in Rhode Island with students and faculty in Guatemala City, Buenos Aires and Barcelona I have witnessed my students become inspired to want to investigate more about opportunities to work/travel/study in places they once never imagined, because of their personal connections with folks in these cities.

(5) Building empathy. When my North American students zoomed every month with students from the SEK school in a high school in Guatemala City, and when they zoomed every 2 weeks with a woman from a women's empowerment group in an impoverished area of Guatemala City, and when they exchanged monthly videos with a video partner from a high school in Barcelona, they saw firsthand what students, teachers and moms look like in faraway places. Using the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as a guide, they shared with each other the types of challenges most important to their families and communities and ways they could help tackle them, together!