Abstract
Educators in the 21st century need to be globally competent to help students understand the complexity and interdependence of global issues or forces to meet the diverse needs of students from diverse sociocultural, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds; to effectively integrate educational technology in practices; and to foster active and responsible citizenship for both local and global communities. This chapter discusses the considerations of using critical online conversations as an authentic adult education strategy to develop educators' global perspectives and competences. Informed by the critical global citizenship education, critical online conversations can be a cost-effective approach for creating an open and safe virtual global learning community for educators. Assessing participation in critical online conversations is also discussed as an engagement and evaluation strategy.
TopIntroduction
Educators and learners in the 21st Century are experiencing increasingly complex relationships with the rest of the world given a wide range of avenues including: social, cultural, technological, economic, environmental, and political. Increasing global migration and geopolitical instability have led to significant increases in the immigrant, refugee and international student populations across many education systems and communities. Globalization and technological development have dramatically accelerated the global interconnection and interdependence among peoples, cultures, and nation-states. Internet access, social media, global trade, increased geopolitical conflicts, and competition means that many global issues impact local communities and local choices and decisions ripple out into the world. These external political, social, economic, technological, and ecological forces have changed the demographics of schools and signal the uncertainty of the future for students in complexity. There is an urgency for developing educators’ global competency to ensure they can help students understand the complexity and interdependence of global issues or forces; are able to meet the diverse needs of students from diverse sociocultural, linguistic and ethnic backgrounds; can effectively integrate educational technology in practices; and are committed to fostering active and responsible citizenship for both local and global communities (Kürsteiner, 2016; Parsons & Beauchamp, 2012). Developing globally competent educators or global educators through pedagogically sound technology-enabled education and training is critical for transforming education for students’ success in the 21st Century.
A globally competent educator or global educator is a professional who has the knowledge and a critical literacy in global, national and local issues; understands interconnectedness and the interdependency of issues, peoples and countries; is culturally competent to create an inclusive learning environment for a diverse student population. The competent educator also understands how to create opportunities for students to develop multiple perspectives and high-order skills for solving complex problems, and demonstrates a commitment to justice, peace and sustainability by fostering global citizenship in educational praxis (Deveaus & Guo, 2012; UNESCO, 2015). Teachers need professional learning and training opportunities to develop global competencies for leading and teaching in the 21st century that expand their knowledge of significant global issues and trends to enhance their professional capacity to integrate global perspectives and technology into their curriculum and teaching, while educating for global citizenship through curriculum planning and educational practices, as well as developing the capacity to assess global citizens effectively (Banks & Banks, 2016; Davies, Evans & Reid, 2005; Guo, 2013). Global education courses that focus on developing an educators’ global competency through examining world issues and age-appropriate pedagogy and assessment strategies contribute to a greater likelihood of developing a students’ global competencies by integrating informed global perspectives into curriculum and teaching (Carano, 2013; Kirkwood-Tucker, 2004).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Global Competence: A performance-based developmental process in which learners acquire the knowledge of significant issues affecting local and global communities, develop higher-order transferrable skills in critical thinking, problem-solving, communication and collaboration, deepen understanding and appreciation of cultures and perspectives different from their own, and foster commitment to justice, peace and sustainability for all.
Global Educator: An educator who has the professional knowledge, skills, attributes and commitment in helping learners develop global competencies and citizenship.
Global Learning: A critical analysis of and an engagement with complex, interdependent global systems and legacies (such as natural, physical, social, cultural, economic, and political) and their implications for people's lives and the earth's sustainability.
Critical Conversation: A dialectic process of communication for analyzing and making meanings of texts through questioning and answering, giving and taking, sharing with cross-purposes, and developing multiple perspectives on a shared topic.
Andragogy: The art and science of adult learning.
Global Citizenship: A sense of belonging to the global community and a common sense of humanity, with its presumed members experiencing solidarity and collective identity among themselves and collective responsibility at the global level. It is a 21 st Century approach to living in which principles of global responsibility and accountability are applied to everyday local actions and complex global problems are addressed on an individual basis.
Critical Global Citizenship Education: The global citizenship education approach that challenges the traditional world order built on colonialism, deconstructs traditional knowledge and power boundaries and constructs new knowledge that includes diverse world views and ways of knowing.
Critical Reflexivity: Critical reflexivity is the capacity to see one’s own perspective and assumptions and understand how one’s perspective, assumptions and identity are socially constructed through critical reflection.