The Great Firewall Of Foreign Language. Just as there are many different languages which shape the worlds of their speakers, there are many different Internets, all with their own sub-set of language-specific media. Theoretically, we are all connected, but in practice we’re living in parallel universes. The Origin Of Language: From Communication To Confusion There are about 6800 to 6900 distinct languages on the planet. In the Western world we like to believe that if we know English that covers for most of the communication gaps and yet English ranks only on place 3 among the world’s most commonly spoken tongues, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.
Why are there so many languages? The origin of language is still one of the biggest riddles in human history. In the ancient legend of the Tower of Babel it is said that once upon a time all people spoke one language and were able to understand one another. As the story goes, God wasn’t too fond of that idea. Making a Name What language did Adam use for his first , one might ask? Why Open Education Matters. The Why Open Education Matters video competition was launched in March 2012 to solicit creative videos that clearly communicate the use and potential of free, high-quality Open Educational Resources— or “OER”—and describe the benefits and opportunities these materials create for teachers, students, and schools everywhere.
Open Educational Resources are teaching and learning resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits their free use. Open Education Resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools or materials used to support access to knowledge. Open Educations Resources have the potential to improve the quality and reduce the costs of educational materials. While Open Education Resources have been available for the more than a decade, they are not well known, thus Open Society Foundations partnered with the U.S. First Prize Second Prize Third Prize. The Global Classroom Project: Building Commmunity.
We’re always interested in programs that help teachers and their students connect with each other.
So when I heard about the Global Classroom Project I asked Michael Graffin to write a blog post to tell us more. About the Global Classroom Project The Global Classroom Project was co-founded by Deb Frazier (@frazierde) in Ohio, USA, and Michael Graffin (@mgraffin) in Perth, Western Australia. Since its humble beginnings in April 2011, #globalclassroom has evolved under the leadership of @mgraffin into an online learning community, connecting teachers and students around the world. This is our story. When we began our 2011-12 Project, we had some goals in mind: Global Classroom Manifesto And we are succeeding beyond our wildest dreams … We now find ourselves running a global educational network involving hundreds of teachers, and thousands of students, across 32 countries and 6 continents.
We’ve created a global community. This is impacting on our students too … Kids Speak 2011-12 (@frazierde) Blog: Australian Curriculum. There is great congruence between global education and the Australian Curriculum.
Goals Global education aims to develop global citizens through promotion of open mindedness and a willingness to take action for change, respecting and valuing diversity, and being active in the development of a peaceful, just and sustainable world. It has much in common with the Melbourne Declaration on Education Goals for Young Australians (2008), which promotes equity and excellence, development of successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens. Approach Global education promotes flexible learning, which empowers students to learn about the world, develop values around a positive sense of self, appreciation of cultural diversity, passion for social justice and human rights and building sustainable futures. Skills Critical and creative thinking Ethical behaviour Personal and social competence Intercultural understanding.
Perspectives.