Review of Global Education Networks

Review of Global Education Networks

Review of Global Education NetworksMichele BodineEDTC 645

Date: October 14, 2014To: Coordinator of Health Education M. GrizioFrom: Michele BodineSubject: Global Education NetworksTechnology in the twenty first century has positively affected the lives of all of its users and will continue to do so as the technology improves. Within the realm of education, technology enhances students learning and allows students to participate in tasks that would not be available without its use. Global learning is a focus that will enhance learning and students global perspectives. One way to achieve this through telecommunication. Telecommunication can change education by bringing students and teachers out of the isolation of their classrooms and by promoting communication and collaboration throughout the world an electronic community of learners (MAGI Educational Services, 1995). Therefore, participation in global education networks will be beneficial for students participate in.Included in this report are reviews of three global education networks that will be helpful in expanding the knowledge of my health education students. Since the subject of health affects everyone worldwide, it is important to obtain a global perspective of health issues in order to fully understand how health impacts lives. The global education networks listed below are three that will help achieve that goal. I have thoroughly researched each of these networks. They are user friendly and enhance learning for all that utilize the site. I have listed the sites of how beneficial they would be for health education (first listed being the most beneficial):1. Global School Net a non-profit organization that offers teachers and students the opportunity to collaborate in e-learning projects that focus on the development of independent thinking skills as well as great global perspective. 2. iEarn the largest non-profit global network that provides teachers and students the opportunity to engage in meaningful educational projects with peers in their countries and around the world (iEarn - About, 2014).3. Taking It Global For Educators (TIGed) - empowers classrooms to understand and act collaboratively on the world's greatest challenges by supporting educators to utilize technology to create transformative learning experiences for their students (TIGed, 2014).Global School Net (globalschoolnet.org) is a non-profit network that offers free, non-commercial education that (1) produces customized interactive, collaborative content; (2) develops new online tools; (3) provides consulting services and professional development to schools, universities, businesses and government organizations; and (4) makes keynote conference presentations that excite, inform and inspire (Global School Net, 2014). Global School Net also provides professional development to instructors in order to minimize any issues associated with implementing a new project a classroom. Additionally, each year Global School Net offers a range of free projects, activities and tools, such as International Schools CyberFair, Doors to Diplomacy, Mosaics of Life, GeoGame, Projects Registry and the Collaborative Learning Center (Global School Net, 2014). Although this project has a plethora of valuable ideas and resources, it does have one weakness. Compared to other global education network, Global School Net does not offer as many programs as the larger networks so teachers and students do not have as many choices. Image retrieved from http://www.globalschoolnet.org/

The program that I chose from Global School Net is the Newsday Project. This project is for all ages, learning levels and subjects. Through the use of research and reading and writing skills, students will create a newspaper about a chosen topic. The Newsday Project will work well with my health classes. With a school wide focus on improvement of reading and writing skills, it will not only meet the needs for my curriculum but for the school as well. The Newsday Project will initially be incorporated into the disease unit. Each student will be given a country to research. The focus for the research will be current events relating to diseases. With the knowledge they have obtained, students will create a small newspaper depicting different events that are occurring in their area of the world. Each newspaper will be uploaded to the Newsday Project website for others worldwide to read to respond back to. Along with their own research, students will be required to read newspapers of students who are not in their class. Both tasks will allow them to develop on great global perspective on health related issues. This project meets National Health Education Standard 1 - Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health (CDC 2014) and ISTE Standard 3 Research and Information Fluency (ISTE, 2014).

Image retrieved from http://www.globalschoolnet.org/GSH/project/newsday/index.cfm

iEarn (http://www.iearn.org/) strives to increase the learning of students in over 140 countries through the use of technology. Using the Internet as its primary means as well as other technologies as support, iEarn aids in improving its 2 million student participants global perspective. Through iEarn, students throughout the world can interact with each other to discuss issues that affect all of them. "Initial investigation suggests telecommunication projects focusing on real problems offer strong affective benefits to users (Anderson, 1995). This type of collaboration can take place in the teacher and student forums that iEarn provides to its users. With over 200 programs to choose from, students and teachers of all ages can find one or several programs that meet their collaborative needs. iEarns focus supports National Health Education Standard 4 Students will demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health and avoid or reduce health risks (CDC, 2014). Although this site has many positives, one negative is the cost to become a member which is $100 a year. The price includes a one year membership and a subscription to the iEarn monthly newsletter. Some schools have memberships so it wouldnt be a problem but this could deter teachers from using the site if their school does not have a membership.

Image retrieved from http://www.iearn.org/

The collaborative project that I will choose to use for my health classes is the Digital Citizenship Project. Five years ago, a digital citizenship mini unit was added to high health education curriculum. It provides students with the basics of digital citizenship but it lacks in motivational factors to get students on board with the topic. Therefore, it is up to the health teacher to find additional resources to incorporate into the mini unit. This is where iEarns collaborative projects come into play. The goal of this project is for students to learn about Digital Citizenship and develop responsible on line behaviors through focused awareness raising activities (iEarn Digital Citizenship, 2014). With possible project activities including interaction through e-mail and skype students can establish a better understanding of how technology is similar and different when compared with different locations in the world. Assessment tools to show knowledge learned can be shown through some type of visual presentation including a poster, power point, video etc. This project not only meets the national health education standard 4 but ISTE standards 2 Communication and collaboration and 4 Digital Citizenship (ISTE, 2014).

Image retrieved from http://collaborate.iearn.org/space-2/group-182

Taking It Global for Educators (TIGed) (http://www.tigweb.org/tiged/) is a global education network with a learning community of 30,504 teachers and 83,666 students in over 148 countries (TIGed, 2014). By being a member of this teaching community, teachers and students are provided an opportunity to work collaboratively through the use of technology. There are three specific areas that TIGed focuses on. They include global citizenship, environmental stewardship, and student voice (TIGed, 2014). Along with each area, teachers and students TIGed offers professional developments, community interaction, resources and collaborative programs. One issue that could arise with the use of TIGed is that it does not offer a large variety of programs. This can be a hindrance for teachers whose subject matter does not correlate with any of the programs available.

Image retrieved from http://www.tigweb.org/tiged/

The project chosen from TIGed is the Tread Lightly Project. Tread Lightly features innovative online educational tools and resources designed to empower youth to reduce their ecological footprints and take action on climate change (TIGed, 2014). The high school where I am currently teaching (Northeast High School) is working towards becoming a green school. The Environmental Science Club teacher as well as the administrative staff at Northeast has asked teachers in all subject areas to help with this achievement. Within the health curriculum, there is a two day focus on environmental health. Such topics as pollution, natural disasters and ways to become more environmentally healthy are focused upon. Additionally, students in health education classes are required to complete 10 hours of service learning hours as part of the required amount to graduate high school. The Tread Lightly Project will help meet the curricular needs as well as service learning hours for my health education students. This project also meets National Health Education Standard 8 Students will demonstrate the ability to advocate for personal, family, and community health (CDC, 2104) as well as ISTE Standard 3 Research and Information Fluency (ISTE, 2014).

Image retrieved from http://treadlightly.tigweb.org/

Having a global perspective is important because it will allow a person to grow into a better-rounded individual. Although some may not have the means to travel to different areas of the country and world, they can still broaden their global perspective through participation in interactive activities that involve collaboration with others. This is especially true in the subject of health. The use of Global Education Networks can help make this thought a reality. Each network presented in this review provides teachers and students with the opportunity to participate in collaborative projects that are health focused and meet the requirements of the health curriculum. Additionally, each project chosen meets the national health standards as well as the national technology standards. Through the participation with the Global Education Networks, students can develop a better understanding about health related issues on a domestic and global level.

References:Anderson, J. (1995). The International Education and Resource Network: Building A Sustainable Virtual School. Retrieved on October 12, 2014 from http://www.iearn.org/impact/research-and-evaluationCDC. (2014). National Health Education Standards. Retrieved on October 11, 2014 from http://www.cdc.gov/Healthyyouth/SHER/standards/index.htmGlobal School Net. (2014) Global School Net About. Retrieved on October 10, 2014 from http://www.globalschoolnet.org/index.cfm?section=AboutUsiEarn. (2014). iEarn About. Retrieved on October 12, 2014 from http://www.iearn.org/aboutiEarn. (2014). i-Earn Digital Citizenship. Retrieved on October 12, 2014 from http://collaborate.iearn.org/space-2/group-182/aboutISTE. (2014). ISTE Standards. Retrieved on October 12, 2014 from http://www.iste.org/standardsMAGI Educational Services. (1995). Evaluation of the New York State/Moscow Schools Telecommunication Project. Retrieved on October 11, 2014 from http://www.iearn.org/sites/default/files/documents/NY_State_Evaluation.pdfTaking It Global for Educators (TIGed). (2014). About TIGed. Retrieved on October 13, 2014 from http://www.tigweb.org/tiged/about.htmlTaking It Global for Educators (TIGed). (2014). Tread Lightly. Retrieved on October 13, 2014 from http://treadlightly.tigweb.org/

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