Today, December 3, 2013, in recognition of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) is launching the “Lives Without Limits” campaign to promote the importance of including persons with disabilities in international exchange programs. The includes stories and features video testimonials from alumni and current students.
President Obama has made disability rights a core part of U.S. foreign policy. The partners of the Connect All Schools Consortium are committed to making all of their virtual and physical exchange programs inclusive and accessible. Join us this month and share stories #WithoutLimits!
Answers to that question may be found in a fascinating new free online resource that was introduced yesterday by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at the U.S. Department of Education as part of International Education Week celebrations. “Mapping the Nation: Linking Local to Global,” is the new state-by-state, country-by-county visual resource from Asia Society, the Longview Foundation for Education in World Affairs and International Understanding, and analytics leader SAS. Created with “nearly 1 million data points,” that “tell a cautionary tale,” the mapping project has set out to “prove what parents, businesspeople, and policymakers already know: American students must be globally competent to succeed in the interconnected 21st century.”
A quick click on the “California” link resulted in an infographic that gives a quick snapshot of the state’s global connections, including a rather surprising (and dismal) fact about the number of California students who take part in study abroad programs:
The “Global Competency” section concludes with a clear and urgent message:
Learning about and with the world occurs within and outside of school, and it is the work of a lifetime. Globally competent students are life long learners. They are able to adapt and contribute knowledge and understanding to a world that is constantly, rapidly evolving.
Global competence is a crucial shift in our understanding of the purpose of education in a changing world. Students everywhere deserve the opportunity to succeed in the global economy and contribute as global citizens. We must fashion a more creative and visionary educational response to the interconnected world of the 21st century, starting now.
The entire site is worth exploring, especially for educators, parents, and students seeking information, tools, and visuals about why we should connect all US schools to schools worldwide, starting now.
Digital Promise’s Karen Cator concludes her thoughtful LinkedIn post, “Education is Having Its Internet Moment,” with the question, “Are we ready?” The fair answer for education systems worldwide is, “no, but we are working on it,” and that is one of the purposes of this October’s Connected Educators Month. Since the publication of the National Educational Technology Plan by Cator’s team at the Office of Education Technology at the U.S. Department of Education in 2010, connected education has gained prominence and advocates across all levels of education. In the past few months, the practice of “anytime, anywhere” teaching and learning has accelerated. More than just having its Internet moment, education is having its “connected moment.”
As U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan — expanding upon Malala Yousafzai’s UN speech — made clear in August at the USAID Education Summit, “If we want both justice and peace, then we must work for education.” Secretary Duncan’s speech, arguably the best speech of his term in office, laid out an inspiring vision of what education can accomplish. A few days later, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled his vision to connect everyoneto the Internet. These visions recognize connected teaching and learning as a powerful and effective development strategy, especially for marginalized urban and rural youth, youth with special needs, and women and girls.
Our country is not ready for Secretary Duncan’s or Mark Zuckerberg’s vision, but the Connect All Schools Consortium and others are working toward the goal of meaningful connected education for youth worldwide. New platforms and social media channels are connecting teachers and students worldwide in creative ways at increasingly huge numbers. We still need much more investment in our country’s international exchange programs, global awareness curriculum developers, and cross-cultural professional development providers. Disappointingly, Federal funding for international training and education has been cut by 41% in the past four years. While private sector investment in education’s connected moment is crucial, this investment is much more effective when leveraged with local, state, and Federal government investment. If we want justice and peace, we need connected education to be funded as a top national security issue.
Connected education also needs to be represented in the Common Core State Standards. The Common Core have no mention of learning about the world (global competencies), interacting with the world (global collaboration), or working with peers to address justice and peace (global citizenship). While the Common Core are not curricula, the Standards do reflect what we think are important for our next generation to learn; In short, our values. As standards, the Common Core are adequate, but as a roadmap for what American education can contribute to justice and peace, the Common Core come up short.
The good news is that 9 out of 10 students want more world affairs, foreign language, and international education in their classrooms. These students know future employment and tackling global issues like climate change, require global competencies, language skills, and connections with peers abroad. These students want to make the world a safer, more prosperous, and more hopeful place. Let’s follow their lead, connect, and embrace this transformational moment in education together.
This month, the International Affairs Office of the US Department of Education released its new strategy document, Succeeding Globally Through International Education and Engagement, which:
… outlines the U.S. Department of Education’s International Strategy for 2012-16 and affirms the Department’s commitment to preparing today’s youth, and our country more broadly, for a globalized world, and to engaging with the international community to improve education. It is fully integrated with the Department’s domestic agenda and designed to simultaneously attain two strategic goals: strengthen U.S. education and advance our nation’s international priorities.
The strategy document lists four objectives:
Objective 1: Increase the global competencies of all U.S. students, including those from traditionally disadvantaged groups;
Objective 2: Enhance federal, state and local education policy and practice applying lessons learned from other countries to drive excellence and innovation in the U.S. and abroad;
Objective 3: Advance U.S. international priorities in strategically important countries through active education diplomacy; and
Objective 4: Develop, monitor and continuously improve ED’s international activities in an integrated and coordinated manner.
The concept of “education diplomacy” is one that the Connect All Schools consortium has championed at the classroom level. So, too, the idea that internationalizing US classrooms advances our national security, while strengthening our overall education system. The strategy document, however, does not mention the role that technology can play in attaining the Department’s two strategic goals. It’s a conspicuous oversight considering that US Department of Education’s 2010 National Educational Technology Plan highlighted that teaching and learning was becoming increasingly global, networked, personalized and mobile, and called for more investment in preparing administrators, teachers, students and parents for globally networked, personalized “anytime, anywhere” learning. The Department also highlighted the role of technology in internationalizing education in August during Connected Educators Month. In fact, the US Department of Education launched International Education Week in 2000 with the US Department of State specifically to promote “the wise use of technology internationally.”
It is difficult to conceive of how the US Department of Education will effectively support education diplomacy—which it calls a “core element” of its work—without using modern technologies or supporting educators to use modern technologies effectively in their classrooms. For example, the strategy document calls for increasing international exchanges, but it makes no mention of virtual exchanges, which are increasingly seen as a powerful new tool to scale diplomacy and cross-cultural understanding, especially for traditionally disadvantaged groups and children too young to travel abroad.
Still, the strategic document is another step forward from the US government in advancing the idea that ALL young people should experience international collaboration as part of their education. And, the commitment by the US Department of Education to “walk the talk” and collaborate closely with their peers globally is important. Why is both classroom and government-level education diplomacy critical? Simply,
… so that we have a nation, and a world, that is informed, engaged, and prepared to deal effectively with the global challenges that will face us.
Connect All Schools consortium partner World Savvy released its 2012 Global Competency Survey yesterday, and the results are both timely (there is a Libya question) and contradictory to the assumption that young people in the United States are not interested in learning about the world. Rather, young Americans are keenly aware that it is both in their best interest and in the national interest that they understand global issues, engage with their peers worldwide, and gain the skills needed to find employment in today’s global economy. For decades, the lack of global competence of US youth has been an easy mark for ridicule. A bevy of books, reports, academic studies, and surveys from National Geographicand others have assumed (and alleged) that US students are not only globally unaware, but also are not interested in learning about the world. Yesterday’s survey results, for example, show that after nearly eleven years of the United States at war, only 28% of US high school graduates can identify in which region Afghanistan is located. Disinterest seems a reasonable assumption. The World Savvy survey results, however, contradict this assumption:
The young adults polled in this survey overwhelmingly report an interest in, and professional need for, global literacy in their lives today. In fact:
86% of those surveyed say they agree that a solid foundation in world history and events is crucial to coming up with solutions to the problems in the world today.
Nearly 9 in 10 believe that developments abroad can have significant implications on the US economy.
79% say that it is important in today’s world to be comfortable interacting with people of different cultural backgrounds (on par with the perceived importance of writing skills (78%), technical skills (76%), and math skills (77%)).
80% believe that jobs are becoming increasingly international in nature.
Yet, the gap between what youth seek for their education and what they receive remains wide:
While the vast majority of young adults see the importance of global literacy, only 12% of respondents say that they “agree completely” that in their 6th-12th grade education they received instruction that helps them to understand the roots of global issues that affect their lives today.
… [T]he majority of the young adults surveyed (63%) indicated that they did not discuss world events in their high school classes.
So why don’t American adults prioritize global competence as a valued outcome of an education as much as American youth do? If the national security argument is so strong for youth gaining global competencies, why do policy-makers demur encouraging classrooms to connect globally? If the economic casefor youth gaining modern job skills is that compelling, why don’t philanthropists, entrepreneurs, community leaders, and the media increase coverage and support for international issues, cross-cultural exchanges, and new global education tools and resources? The next American generation, perceiving what is in our national interest, are asking us to help them engage with their peers worldwide. It is time to listen to what youth want to learn, rather than to criticize them for what they haven’t learned. It is time for all sectors of our society to help our schools to enable all of our youth to experience international collaboration as part of their education.
Very kind to have Craig Newmark feature the Connect All Schools effort on his Craigconnects blog last week.
Craig writes:
“I recently invited people to share blog posts explaining How You Will Change the World in 2012 for the new Social Good Blog Series I launched earlier this month. Changing the World requires planning and it’s important to think about what problems really need solving. I wasn’t sure what kind of response I’d get to this call for big ideas. You all didn’t disappoint. …
“The Unites States has a lot of room to improve when it comes to global education and David Potter, Chief Development Officer at iEARN-USA, shares his vision for global education in his blog post, America’s Educational Exceptionalism.
David writes about the collaboration model of the Connect All Schools consortium. In David’s mind, “if we set a goal in 2012 to internationalize education for all US students, future generations of Americans will be outward-looking, locally and globally engaged, multilingual, and empathetic.”
High expectations for the Connect All Schools partners? Absolutely.
Read about other inspiring world-changing efforts, including Connect All Schools partner Global Citizen Year, at Craigconnects:
The campaign’s Web site will act as a hub for teachers to share their stories to explain what they did and how it impacted school achievement. For instance, students from Fitchburg (Mass.) High School hosted German students through the Sister Cities International organization, and Manitou Springs (Colo.) Middle School connected with students in El Salvador using videoconferencing and social media. The organizations associated with Connect All Schools, including the U.S. Department of Education and the Asia Society, are available to support teachers and develop an international approach for that’s right for their individual classroom. Gragert says the idea can be implemented across the curriculum in subjects such as math, science, history and world language.
Timothy Magner, executive director of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, believes the goal of connecting all schools by 2016 is attainable. “I think the time has clearly come. We know that essentially every school is connected to the Internet. With this platform, this goal is a reality,” says Magner. “There is an opportunity and an obligation to be connected with the world and to broaden our cultural understanding.” Read more
“If teachers could tell their stories — what they’re doing, what impact it had on their students, how it changed their classroom, how it prepared their students for the 21st Century, and what organizations they worked with to make it happen, other teachers would be able to say, ‘I can do that,’” says iEARN-USA Executive Director Ed Gragert to Mind/Shift magazine. Read full article here!
“The project is fairly simple in its current state. It consists of a Web site where visitors can register to share stories about how their schools are making international connections or read what others are doing. Posts can include text, photos, and videos. Activities described include student and teacher exchanges, global issues curricula, video conferences, and other collaborative efforts, many done through the services offered by the consortium members” Continue reading “Connect All Schools Pushes American Students To Go Global” article in the Journal
On March 24, 2011 iEARN and Adobe Youth Voices Peapod Academy in Redwood City, California, hosted a Skype Conference linking Peapod students with their peers from Karachi and Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The conference call was attended by Judith McHale – the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the US Department of State – who used the opportunity to support the Connect All Schools initiative. “One of the things that both President Obama and Secretary Clinton have asked us to do is to find new ways to bring people in the United States closer to people all over the world so that we could learn about each other and listen to each other with the view that if we do that we will become closer together and we will work together to solve problems”, said McHale. “So I think this project of connecting every school is terrific, because the more young people can learn about each other, talk to each other and just become friends, better off we are going to be”.
Youth at Community School Central and Peapod Adobe Youth Voices Academy are participating in the World Youth News project sponsored by IEARN, UNICEF and PBS Newshour Extra. The video was produced by Diego Pettersson and edited by Peapod Academy students.
Today, December 3, 2013, in recognition of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) is launching the “Lives Without Limits” campaign to promote the importance of including persons with disabilities in international exchange programs. The includes stories and features video testimonials from alumni and current students.
“If teachers could tell their stories — what they’re doing, what impact it had on their students, how it changed their classroom, how it prepared their students for the 21st Century, and what organizations they worked with to make it happen, other teachers would be able to say, ‘I can do that,’” says iEARN-USA Executive Director Ed Gragert to Mind/Shift magazine. 
Connect All Schools Blog 