The Art Miles is just one good part of a growing trend toward holistic learning in our world today. Global Collaborative Learning is a way of connecting knowledge to emotions to actions to students worldwide. Bickley and Carleton’s article “Students Without Borders” is an interesting depiction of what our world in education may soon become with all the advances in technology and speaks directly of this new prospect in the education field. Schools in Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Israel and other countries have connected their students in virtual classrooms so they can learn about each other’s cultures and histories through interaction instead of just typical instruction.
How amazing our technological world has become!
The entire idea behind global collaborative learning is for the student to learn about some other culture, their history (especially how war affects living conditions, stretching even into today’s times), connect with students from that country and create either some artwork to depict their new found knowledge or a care package to send to those students they had met virtually.
Children won’t even realize they’re learning.
I see this teaching approach as not only a useful practice but a needed one. As one student said, “Before the Machinto Project [a specific global collaborative learning project], I never gave the war much thought. Now that I know someone living in those situations, I feel compassionate toward them.” We will be able to teach not only knowledge, but also concern and compassion for how war, famine, and other tragedies affect those all around the world.
However, I foresee this leap in technology becoming an abyss of separation between developed and under developed nations. How can a country struggling against the horrors of genocide and starvation even fathom buying and using technology to connect with someone in Europe or Canada or elsewhere? Yet in fact, these are the very people we, as privileged and blessed members of a developed country, need to be aware of.
So the question is – how do we connect, not just with those with access to technology, but especially with those whose concerns are much more dire?
We begin by conquering our ignorance of the world in general. Learning of what happens in countries like Sudan and Haiti will bring their needs to mind.
Benevolence and persistence can bring the light of hope to all around the world, while simultaneously lighting our own path. Surely we all can learn together to love each other and learn more about each other. with the tools we have in hand.
Bickley, Mali and JimCarleton. “Students Without Borders.” Leading & Learning with Technoogy 37.3 (Nov 2009): 20-23. 4 February 2010 .
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