The rise of the globally connected student

We can start using technology to let young people communicate and collaborate with their peers around the world. These networks have solved some of the key barriers to internet use in schools, chief among them security issues that worry teachers and parents alike.

Global networks such as iEARN and ePals insulate student communication from the rest of the internet and let teachers monitor eMail accounts, as well as provide for the creation of secure blogs that can only be seen by the recipients. Assisted by standards-based curriculum materials, these networks link participants from a diverse range of countries in a discussion of globally relevant issues.

One project led by a facilitator in Iran compares women’s social and political statuses in different countries. Another focuses on the role the United Nations plays in the world.

John Dewey famously said, “Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself.”

A globe full of torment and confusion and danger is made all the more visible by the 24-7 news cycle that today’s students are relentlessly exposed to.

We can pretend in our classrooms that this electronic reality does not exist and that the old rules apply–adults know best, and students need to wait their turn to learn and speak about the issues that so concern them–for everything from global warming to terrorism and flu pandemics. Or, we can let our students engage with the world in ways and on levels they can understand and relate to–ones that are more comprehensible when they understand the perspectives of their peers from other countries.

In survey after survey, the key thing students seem to crave in schools is relevance. If they can find it in their lessons, then they can engage.

Students are looking for personal meaning that can reach out to them amid the forest of facts they need to memorize for a test. How much better would it be, for example, if–rather than plotting the principal rivers and mountains of a country on a worksheet–students understand the perils of water shortages on a continent like Africa and understand firsthand how key fresh drinking water is to their health and economic futures?

We are all inheritors of the new globally interdependent world created after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Today’s students are marked by being the first globally connected citizens, able use their computers and cell phones to connect to all regions of the Earth and contribute to a global discussion through Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and unlimited web sites.

This is a generation that understands the importance of personal connections–even with those they might never meet. Instead of ignoring these facts, we should welcome the opportunity to promote a deeper kind of global awareness using the dynamic ways that new technologies allow.

Laurence Peters is the author of Global Education: Using Technology to Bring the World to Your Students (International Society for Technology in Education, 2009). More information can be found at www.laurencepeters.com.

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