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Global Citizens Educating Future Global Citizens: Using Social Media for Environmental and Social Justice

11/21/2013

Education for global citizenship has received increased attention over the past decade but it is certainly not a new concept. Andrzejewski (1996) defined global citizenship as knowledge and skills for social and environmental justice. This resonates with the “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights” adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948. Article 1 of this declaration stated that "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." The globalization of the economy and the increasingly interconnected world has stressed the urgency for the education of students of all ages in preparation for a role in this new world. Study abroad programs have long embraced the concept by grounding education for global citizenship in a student’s personal experience in an international community setting. Unfortunately, not all students can afford traveling aboard but this does not lessen the need for learning and engaging in activities that help forge an active global citizen. Core competencies in global citizenship have been adopted by educational institutions in United States, Canada, Great Britain, Norway, Ireland, and Slovenia are a few of the leaders in this effort. Oxfam and the Asia Society are just two of the non-profit, non-governmental organizations that have become active in supporting academic organizations with the distribution of resources to educate our future leaders and global citizens.

The University of Utah has established the Upper Division International Course Requirement to ensure that each undergraduate student with a broad base of knowledge about global issues and about global perspectives in a comparative context. The purpose of the requirement is intended to introduce students to international frames of reference so that they may think critically about long-standing and newly emerging issues. Each course that is approved for the International designation must have as its primary focus an international, transnational, or comparative focus that includes a variety of perspectives. Further the courses must focus on cross-border phenomena (borders conceived in the broadest sense: language, cultural, economic, political, etc) and on contemporary issues, or show how historical approaches are relevant to contemporary issues.

This session will provide a case study as to how two courses fulfill these standards and incorporate the use of social media to empower the students to reach out to a broader community to educate others on these issues. The online Global Citizen course targets the general student body whereas the hybrid International Tourism course targets students studying in the parks, recreation and tourism industry.

University of Utah International Course Content Criteria

Course primarily has an international, transnational, or comparative focus that includes a variety of perspectives
Course focuses on cross-border phenomena (borders conceived in the broadest sense: language, cultural, economic, political, etc)
Course focuses principally on contemporary issues, or shows how historical approaches are relevant to contemporary issues.

The Global Citizen course serves as a guide for international travelers and those desiring a career in the global marketplace. Students learn to make responsible choices when planning and engaging in travel experiences regardless of the purpose of the international trip. The course fosters ongoing connections that build understanding and bridge culture differences, compassionate listening, conflict resolution and other skills necessary to promote cross-culture communication and responsible travel.

The International Tourism course investigates current trends and issues in international tourism. The course utilizes the case study method to examine issues from the perspective of the international tourist, the business manager, host community members, and government officials. Global tourism is a dynamic phenomenon influenced by global events and the demand for tourism, therefore the topics may vary from year to year.

This session we will highlight the resources available to support the topics of climate change, world peace, human rights, endangered species, intercultural respect, fair trade, sustainable and responsible travel, among others. Each example will illustrate how the students achieved the learning outcome through a variety of learning activities, such as, blogging for clean water in South Africa, pinning images to increase awareness of endangered species, tweet-chats to promote human rights, and “infographics” to advocate for fair trade practices and human rights. Participants will receive examples of assignment instructions, guidelines for student use of social media, and evaluation rubrics for the assignments.

Learning Outcomes:
At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will able to:

Define global citizenship.
Identify two new uses of social media for increasing awareness for global issues, such as, climate change, fair trade, and human rights.
Identify 2 free online resources for designing infographics. (Piktochart and Easel.ly)
Describe the effectiveness of social media to actively engage students in global citizenship. (Use a Pre-test & Post-Test to measure effectiveness in addition to improvement of scores on assignments.)

Resources for Presentation:

Color Slides
Black & White Notes
TweetPoll at http://twtpoll.com/nh7paasn6iallau
Student Blog by Justin Cowan on Clean Water Crisis
Dr. Ralston's Pinterest Page with Course Boards (Ecotourism, Endangered People, Endangered Species, Endangered Places, Global Citizenship, & Going Green is Easy)
Piktochart: Drag-And-Drop Templates Galore
Easel.ly: Theme-Based Drag-And-Drop With Objects
TweetPolls
Tagxedo: Word clouds with customized fonts and shapes
Weebly.com/ WYSIWYG Drag & Drop Editor, Free, Privacy Options
eduBlogs: WordPress powered blogging for educators.
Wordle: Word clouds

5 Comments

Fostering an Online Learning Environment for Student Success

10/16/2013

2 Comments

Welcome to the first of a series of presentations on how to design and foster an online learning environment for student success. In this first part, I will introduce the purpose of this series, identify the importance of Fostering a Positive Learning Environment and relate this to the Community of Inquiry Model. Part 2 will feature an examination of the 7 Principles of Good Practices in Undergraduate Education and Part 3 will feature an examination of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy as it relates to establishing a positive online learning environment.

Recorded Presentation (approximately 14 minutes)

If you would prefer, please review the PDF version of the presentation entitled "Fostering an Online Learning Environment for Student Success"

References:

Chickering, A.W., and Gamson, Z.F. (1991). Applying the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. New Directions for Teaching and Learning. Number 47, Fall 1991. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc.
Drouin, M. & L. R. Vartanian. (2010). Students’ feelings of and desire for sense of community in face-to-face and online courses. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education. Vol 11(3), pp. 147-149.
Gravells, A (2007) Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector – Level 3 Coursebook. Learning Matters ISBN 1844451173.
Rovai, A. P. (2007). Facilitating online discussions effectively. Internet & Higher Education, 10(1), 77-88. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ796865) Available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2006.10.001.
Rovai, A. P., & Baker, J. D. (2006). Community and gender in the virtual classroom. In E. M. Trauth (Ed.), Encyclopedia of gender and information technology (pp. 103-108). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Reference. ISBN: 978-1591408154.
Rovai, A. P., & Barnum, K. T. (2003). Online course effectiveness: An analysis of student interactions and perceptions of learning. Journal of Distance Education/Revue de l'Éducation à Distance, 18(1), 57-73.
Shea, P., Li, C. S., & Pickett, A. (2006). A study of teaching presence and student sense of learning community in fully online and web-enhanced college courses. Internet and Higher Education, 9(3), 175–190.
Swan, K. (2002). Building learning communities in online courses: The importance of interaction. Education, Communication and Information, 2(1), 23–49.
Tsai, I.-C., Kim, B., Liu, P.-J., Goggins, S. P., Kumalasari, C., & Laffey, J. M. (2008). Building a Model Explaining the Social Nature of Online Learning. Educational Technology & Society, 11(3), 198–215.

Please feel free to share your feedback on this presentation on the following comment page.

2 Comments

Changing up the Lecture!

8/22/2013

1 Comment

See a Think-Pair-Share Activity.

Lectures have long been the preferred method of information delivery in the college classroom. The lecture format provides an opportunity to deliver a large portion of information to our students in the most succinct means.

Unfortunately, research indicates that adult learners can only effectively listen for 15 to 20 minutes before nodding off or becoming otherwise inattentive. Unfortunately, the typical college class meets for 50 minutes to 3 hours. Therefore, teachers should plan to incorporate "mental breaks" or otherwise change up the lecture every 15 minutes at minimum.

An instructor should provide time for students to process information particularly if the content is new to the students. One of the strategies that I utilized was having the students share with the person next to them or behind them. The key is to ensure that the student has time to apply the new information to existing knowledge, learning is accomplished by this type of activity.

Professor David Perkins recommends that a teacher should provide time for students to think particularly if the content is new to the students. The Connect-Extend-Challenge thinking routine is one strategy that provides a process whereby a student can connect new ideas to prior knowledge, extend that knowledge to consider a new direction or application, and even challenge the students to resolve a more complicated problem. The Connect-Extend-Challenge model suggests 3 simple questions that can be used with any subject and any age of student.

Connect: How are the ideas and information presented connected to what you already knew prior to today’s lesson?
Extend: What new ideas and information did you learn that pushed your thinking in a new direction, which extended what you knew previously to better understand and extend your knowledge?
Challenge: What is still unclear/confusing you regarding this topic? What aspect of what we have covered in today’s lesson is still challenging to you?

My challenge is to design several Connect-Extend-Challenge activities to be incorporated in my future lectures. Each of these strategies will be helpful in ensuring that my students are encouraged to stop, think and apply the new information to prior knowledge.

A version of Think-Pair-Share Activity: Before beginning class, I distribute a 3x5 card to each student. After covering the lecture for a period of time, I pause and ask the students to individually respond to a question or define a term or consider a problem. I allow only a short 3 to 5 minutes to consider the request and write down their response. Then I ask each student to pair up with another student to exchange their ideas. After another 5 minutes, I have the students return to their seats. Another 15 minutes of the lecture is covered moving to a more advanced concept related to the task on the card. Now the challenge is resumed with the students forming groups of 4 to reconsider the original problem and given the additional information, determine a response to share with the class. The Think-Pair-Share activity is designed to help students move to higher order thinking and comprehending the concept. One of the reasons that I like using this activity is that it increases the involvement of quiet and shy students. Additionally, the types of questions or problems can vary according to the subject and knowledge/skill of the students.

The One Minute Essay: Another activity that can be utilized during a lecture is the one minute essay. Students are given just 60 seconds to write a response to a question. For example, the instructor pauses after a 15 minute segment of the lecture and asks the students to produce a written response to a specific question from the most recent topic. There are several permutations of this type of question:

What was the most important thing you learned during this lesson?
What question do you have regarding this lesson?
What was the most difficult aspect of the lesson? or
What was the muddiest point that remains unclear in your mind regarding topic X?

Exam Question: Many times I like to learn what students think might be worthy of an exam question so I utilize this activity. It is just what is implies, the students are asked to draft a question for the next exam over the material related to the topic you just covered. Now it seems easy to write the exam question, but I always have the students turn the paper over and respond to their own question on the reverse. Of course, another version of this activity is to have the students write the question then they are instructed to pass it to the next student who must answer the question. This can be very revealing in highlighting what students think is important to retain but also it indicates how students are able to answer the question.

The Think-Pair-Share, One Minute Essay, and Exam Question activities are adaptations of the Connect-Extend-Challenge strategy that will be useful in helping students to think, discuss with their peers, and process new knowledge in “digestible chunks.” I hope these strategies will help me design a positive learning environment for my classroom. My next challenge will be to adapt these strategies to the online learning environment.

Please feel free to share your own insight and recommendations. I welcome all feedback.

1 Comment

TED Talks: Sir Ken Robinson asks "Do Schools kill Creativity?"

8/5/2013

2 Comments

Have you checked out the wealth of recorded talks from TED Talks? (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as education, business, science, politics and the arts.

I really enjoyed the thought provoking question and the ideas shared by Sir Ken Robinson in his talk on "Do schools kill creativity?" What you have not heard of him? He is a creativity expert who challenges educators to cultivate creativity and teach to the multiple types of intelligence. Check out his talk below:

As I reflect on this talk I am reminded of one of the most creative people, Pablo Picasso who once stated “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up” When I was in high school my art teacher was very supportive even if I lacked much creative talent with my sketches or paintings. She always commended me on my efforts even if they were not as attractive as some of my classmates. Later I took a class in college and was told that I would never earn a living as an artist. Ouch! I was not even trying for a career in art but rather looking for an opportunity to enjoy "playing with different artistic materials."

According to the Chinese philosopher, Confucius, schools are supposed to teach students in accordance with their aptitude. In my opinion, each student is unique and talented in different areas and they learn in different ways. A teacher should learn who their students are, how they learn and what motivates them. An inspiring teacher inspires their students from within! As I begin the new academic year, I pledge to foster creativity and motivate my students by first learning who they are and designing a learning environment that supports their learning.

Interested in listening to more? Check out these TED Talks on Education.

Now I would like to hear from you. What will you do to foster creativity among your students?

2 Comments

Digitizing Traditional Learning versus Online Learning

5/4/2013

6 Comments

"If we teach today's students as we taught yesterday's, we rob them of tomorrow" ~ John Dewey, 1944.

This post is a continuation of a series on the challenge for today's teachers. The purpose of the series is to explore techniques and best practices for moving beyond the classroom walls and outside the traditional class schedule to better prepare our students for the increasingly technology based communications and dynamic global marketplace.

Digitizing Traditional Course Materials

When I first started teaching online in 1998, technology was rather limited in what we could utilize to provide "cutting-edge" materials online. The WebCT Learning Management System we were using at the time did not have the capacity of recording lectures or video/audio lectures. Communication and dialogue outside the classroom was limited to written assignments, discussion boards, and text chats.

Fortunately, we have come along way in the last 15 years. We are no longer limited to converting printed materials to PDF for presentation online. Still many online courses today are no more than a digital collection of the materials an instructor might use while presenting their lectures in a traditional classroom. These pseudo-online courses are not unlike the traditional independent study courses where students visited a distance learning office on campus to pick up their reading materials. The student would then complete a series of readings followed by written assignments, after which they would then return these documents back to the campus office or via mail. The primary difference is that the online courses deliver the documents electronically, are structured into a time-based series of learning modules, and involve many more students at the same time. This model of learning fulfills the need of convenience and flexibility that so many students seek, but it is not equally effective for all students. The independent study model or pseudo-online courses are only effective for students who possess self-discipline, effective time management skills, initiative, and enjoy reading.

A student in my Academia and the MOOC course shared a video with me that really resonated with me regarding this point. Take a few moments to "Reimagining Learning: Richard Culatta at TEDxBeaconStreet" (14:58 minutes).

Culatta challenges educators today to shift from the status quo of digitizing traditional learning materials to personalized learning. This is not such an earth shattering suggestion as one might consider. When I was in elementary school, we had a reading program where students could work on their own to proceed through a series of readers. Once you finished with one level you completed a worksheet and turned it into your teacher, she then gave you permission to proceed to the next level. You were not limited to the pace of the entire class but rather could move according to your own ability and motivation. Today our students can utilize eReaders or their tablets to tailor an advanced personalized learning model in the classroom.

A modern version of the reading sequence so common in the 1950's and 1960's that provided students with an individualized approach to reading.

Learning Management Systems (LMS) or the online learning environments we commonly use to deliver online courses are ripe for leveraging technology to re-imagine how we can provide our students with a variety of options for a personalized learning model. I currently provide my students with 3 different choices regarding the lecture presentations. Students may elect to listen to a 15 lecture recorded with Captivate, a HTML page of text-heavy content with several short (less than 3 minute) audio clips (or diagrams, charts, photos, or other visualizations of the concept being covered), or a black and white text heavy handout with 6 PowerPoint slides. I am pilot testing a sequence of learning activities that begin with a Pre-Quiz over the content. Based on the questions missed, the students review the related learning segments before completing the corresponding written assignment and/or Post-Quiz. It is possible that students will not listen to a segment or skip the reading as assigned, but I know that they do this with or without an individualized approach. I am simply empowering students to further take control of their own learning. Tomorrow I will continue this post by exploring further how we can individualize our online courses without eliminating the opportunities for collaboration.

Feel free to share your own experiences and insight regarding digitizing traditional learning materials and online course delivery models.

6 Comments

Global Citizens Educating Future Global Citizens: Using Social Media for Environmental and Social Justice

Fostering an Online Learning Environment for Student Success

Changing up the Lecture!

TED Talks: Sir Ken Robinson asks "Do Schools kill Creativity?"

Digitizing Traditional Learning versus Online Learning

Dr. Linda Ralston

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