Global Story Map

In a world where "connectedness" is a prevalent theme for future-focused learners and learning, understanding what is happening at a global level becomes important, and making connections with others in other parts of the world an essential part of that. Increasingly, teachers I work with are finding ways of using digital technologies to mediate connections that provide authentic learning opportunities for their students. Stories have the power to cut through rhetoric, data points, and policies to show what globally connected learning truly looks like – the successes, challenges, and everything else. The map above is curated by Digital Promise Global and links to … Continue reading Global Story Map

Thinking more about Globalisation

I've just arrived back from a trip to Chengdu, China where I was present for the signing of the Sichuan Christchurch Education Alliance. Nearly 40 educators from greater Christchurch were present, with a key focus of the time spent on developing relationships that are intended to lead to opportunities for educational exchanges between Christchurch and Chengdu teachers and students.   Globalisation will undoubtedly be one of the most significant influences on modern learning practice as we look further into the 21st century. The need for students to have well developed understandings of cultural literacy, inter-cultural awareness and a basic grasp of international language(s) … Continue reading Thinking more about Globalisation

Priorities for a better world

Continuing with my learnings from the DEANZ conference in Christchurch – we've been hearing a lot about how the use of open, flexible and distance learning strategies can assist in achieving global connections that lead to meaningful and pursposeful change for a better world into the future.  One of the morning's speakers has been Dr Jonghwi Park, programme specialist in ICT in Education at UNESCO Bangkok. She provided us with an excellent overview of initiatives that are in place to address UNESCO's Millennium Development Goals, with an overarching emphasis on education as a way of addressing this.  The importance of engaging … Continue reading Priorities for a better world

Using science to create NZ’s future

Here's a great opportunity to engage your students and community in  a game-based conversation about the future of NZ. Pounamu is a free, online game set in a future world where EVERYONE in New Zealand can use science as easily as they can use a computer now. Anyone can play; from primary school students to research scientists, from young entrepreneurs to kuia and koro. The game will be live on 29-30 August, from midnight to midnight – all you need to do is register now to be able to access and participate.  Players post micro-forecasts (concise ideas – 140 characters, like … Continue reading Using science to create NZ’s future

Disruptive Technologies that will transform us

Having recently spoken in Hamilton about the Ten Trends at a CORE Breakfast my mind is already thinking forward to what lies on the horizon for 2013, so it was with interest I read this morning the latest McKinsey report on Disruptive Technologies: advances that will transorm life, business, and the global economy.  What I like about the McKinsey report is that it attempts to look beyond the usual hype and speculation that comes with an emerging technology, and dig a little deeper to examine the potential impact of that technology, why they consider it disruptive, and what both the benefits … Continue reading Disruptive Technologies that will transform us

Reading about global education

I've just been engaged in a workshop with a group of teachers considering the issue of globalisation and the concept of global citizenship. Such issues are a significant focus of the The New Zealand Curriculum which has Future Focus as one of the 8 principles. Globalisation and citizenship are two of the four issues that this principle focuses on. Future focus is about supporting learners to recognise that they have a stake in the future, and a role and responsibility as citizens to take action to help shape that future.’ (NZC page 9). In a recent evaluation report looking at the … Continue reading Reading about global education

Future work skills

My colleague at CORE, Jedd Bartlett sent me a link this morning to the Future Work Skills 2020 report from the University of Phoenix – very timely as I'm preparing for a talk in a few days where I will be speaking about a future focused approach to preparing our learners in schools. The report highlights six big drivers believed to be reshaping how we think about work, what constitutes work, and the skills we will need to be productive contributors in the future: Extreme longevity: Increasing global lifespans change the nature of careers and learning Rise of smart machines … Continue reading Future work skills

Educating for global citizenship

One of CORE's ten trends is Citizenship, addressing three key themes, global citizenship, digital citizenship and cybercitizenship. Today I came across an excellent resource for teachers interested in educating for Global Citizenship. Produced by Oxfam, the downloadable PDF titled Education for Global Citizenship: A Guide for Schools begins with the challenge: In a fast-changing and interdependent world, education can, and should, help young people to meet the challenges they will confront now and in the future. Oxfam believes that Education for Global Citizenship is essential in helping young people rise to those challenges. The resource provides an excellent rationale for … Continue reading Educating for global citizenship

Sustainability Film Challenge

With an increasing emphasis on the use of film and media in schools it’s always useful when there’s an opportunity to put those talents to good use as part of a challenge or competition. The NZ National Commission for UNESCO is a project partner in the Outlook for Someday sustainability film challenge for young people aged up to 24 years, making it idea for consideration at the senior secondary or tertiary level. The challenge is to make a short sustainability related film, in any genre, filmed with any camera and at any length up to a maximum of 5 minutes. … Continue reading Sustainability Film Challenge

Global Population Growth

http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf I’ve just spent a couple of days working with some wonderful teachers in Hamilton, as part of two different cluster meetings. In my presentations to these groups I referred to the trends in population growth, and the considerations for us as educators of this on issues of globalisation, cultural awareness, language learning etc. in our future planning. It was with interest that I saw the link to the video above from TED, featuring Hans Rosling on Global Population Growth. I really like this presentation for two reasons… it presents the issues in a very visual and entertaining manner, providing … Continue reading Global Population Growth