Thoughts on Global Eduation

According to The American Forum for Global Education, global education is "the fostering the ability to think creatively, analytically, and systematically about issues in a global context." Educators need to help students prepare for a world where issues have global implications and dimensions. Some questions that educators may ask are:

1. Knowledge: What do your students know about global issues, and how well do they know it?
2. Skills: How are your students going to learn about global issues?
3. Participation: How can students make a difference in resolving global issues?

Global eduation is much more than distance learning, study abroad opportunities, exchange programs, or international campuses. "It is also a curriculum that ensures that all of our students will be able to succeed in a world marked by interdependence, diversity and rapid change. A global education is one that provides knowledge and understanding of culture, language, geography and global perspectives. Most importantly, a global education is one that enables all students, both domestic and international, to understand the world through the eyes of others and teaches them how their actions can affect, and be affected by people throughout the world." (http://view.fdu.edu/default.aspx?id=255) Global education provides cross-cultural opportunities for its students. Students are presented with perspectives different than their own. They are taught skills that will help them become employable and successful in a global workplace and that will help them "meet the complex challenges of living in a global society." http://www.gem-ngo.org/ Global eduation does not limit instruction to issues specific to one's native homeland, but rather expands instruction to include topics and issues with global significance.

Traditional instructional delivery methods may not be sufficient and new media technologies must be used to meet the demands of global education, i.e. students in the same classroom from different parts of the world, with different world views, from different cultural and political backgrounds, with different belief/value systems, etc.

Global education, as a distinct construct from globalization, does what higher education has traditionally aimed to do: extend students' awareness of the world in which they live by opening them to the diverse heritage of human thought, action, and creativity. Global education places particular emphasis on the changes in communication and relationships among people throughout the world, highlighting such issues as human conflict, economic systems, human rights and social justice, human commonality and diversity, literatures and cultures, and the impact of the technological revolution. While it continues to depend on the traditional branches of specialist knowledge, global education seeks to weaken the boundaries between disciplines and encourages emphasis on what interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary studies can bring to the understanding and solution of human problems.” Farleigh Dickinson University's Global Learning Newsletter in an article entitled "What Is the Meaning of Global Education?" by Michael Sperling.

Globalization and Its Many Meanings

Being the left-brainers that we are, we wanted some simple operational definitions of globalization to compliment our course readings.

We found that the term globalization is a popular buzzword, but we also found that globalization, while often referred to in purely economic terms, is a "defining phenomenon of the turn of the century" (http://www.sociology.emory.edu/globalization/about.html). Globalization affects commerce, education, communication, transportation, law, culture, science, religion, society, finance, the arts and humanities, language, politics, technology, etc. Below are but a few of the definitions that we found. We'll give our own thoughts later.

The best definition that we found came from Farleigh Dickinson University's Global Learning Newsletter in an article entitled "What Is the Meaning of Global Education?" by Michael Sperling.

"Globalization's shifting and controversial parameters make it difficult to define. It is clearly a dominant force, both positively and negatively, shaping the multiple environments in which we live. Motivated by economic forces and driven by digital technologies and communications, globalization links individuals and institutions across the world with unprecedented interconnection and immediacy.” Farleigh Dickinson University's Global Learning Newsletter in an article entitled "What Is the Meaning of Global Education?" by Michael Sperling.

Definitions from Other Perspectives

From a financial and trade perspective: Globalization"refers to the increasing economic integration and interdependence of countries. Economic globalization in this century has proceeded along two main lines: trade liberalization (the increased circulation of goods) and financial liberalization (the expanded circulation of capital)." Currency Transaction Tax Glossary of Definitions

Fromthe perspective of a technology giant: Globalization is the "process of developing, manufacturing, and marketing software products that are intended for worldwide distribution. This term combines two aspects of the world: internationalization (enabling the product to be used without language or culture barriers) and localization (translating and enabling the product for a specific locale)." IBM Glossary of Unicode Terms

From the perspective of a political science professor whose area of expertise is Latin America: Globalization refers "in general to the worldwide integration of humanity and the compression of both the temporal and spatial dimensions of planetwide human interaction." It "has aggravated many of the region's most chronic problems--such as the pronounced degree of economic exploitation and social inequality that have characterized Latin America since it came under European colonial domination in the sixteenth century." Richard L. Harris, "The Global Context of Contemporary Latin American Affairs," in Capital, Power, and Inequality in Latin America, eds., Sandor Halebsky and Richard L. Harris (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995), 279, 80

From the perspective of a faith-based service and social justice organization: Globalization is "the term frequently used to identify a trend toward increased flow of goods, services, money, and ideas across national borders and the subsequent integration of the global economy. However, the term is also used to refer to a deliberate project led by powerful institutions, people, and countries like the United States to apply a single template of economic strategy and policy-"market fundamentalism"-to all countries and all situations." American Friends Service Committee

From the perspective of international relations: Globalization is "the increasing scope, scale and integration of interactions between and exchanges of ideas, peoples, and goods globally. It is usually discussed as a set of forces moving beyond the control of the traditional territorial national state." Lenses of Analysis: A Visual Framework for the Study of International Relations by Richard Harknett. (This is a webbook by the way.)

From the perspective of an institution of higher learning that uses web-based simulations as instructional tools: Globalization is "the process of worldwide integration of economic or political systems. Economically, globalization is driven by free trade and foreign investment. The concept of globalization can also be applied to cultural products (such as movies or music) or values (such as beliefs about human rights)." University of Maryland's Icon Project

From the perspective of a professor of international economics: Globalization is "the increasing world-wide integration of markets for goods, services and capital that attracted special attention in the late 1990's. Also used to encompass a variety of other changes that were perceived to occur at about the same time, such as an increased role for large corporations in the world economy and increased intervention into domestic policies and affairs by international institutions such as the IMF, WTO, and World Bank. Among countries outside the United States, especially developing countries, the term sometimes refers to the domination of world economic affairs and commerce by the United States." Deardorff's Glossary of International Economics

From the perspective of a banking institution: Globalization is "the generalized expansion of international economic activity which includes increased international trade, growth of international investment (foreign investment) and international migration, and increased creation of technology among countries. Globalization is the increasing world-wide integration of markets for goods, services, labor, and capital." The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis glossary

From the perspective of an international trade organization: Globalization is "the movement toward markets or policies that transcend national borders." Washington Council on International Trade

From the perspective of a social justice and environmental sustainability organization: "At the most basic level, globalization refers to the way in which commerce, information and culture are increasingly exchanged and managed on a world-wide, rather than local or national, basis. More significantly, the term refers to the intertwined pressures of free trade policies, multinational corporations, and concentrations of power in producing a global culture grounded in financial principles and goals." http://www.eco-justice.org/default.asp

From the perspective of an institution of higher education's library and research staff when categorizing library materials: Globalization is a term "used for transnational influences on culture, economics, politics, etc., especially illustrating global patterns or trends." University of California Riverside

From the perspective of book publisher on the topic of human geography: Globalization is "the increasing interconnectedness of different parts of the world through common processes of economic, environmental, political, and cultural change." http://www.prenhall.com/divisions/esm/app/knox/html/ch1/ch1terms.html

From Wikipedia: "Globalization is a term used to describe the changes in societies and the world economy that are the result of dramatically increased trade and cultural exchange. In specifically economic contexts, it refers almost exclusively to the effects of trade, particularly trade liberalization or free trade..." (Click here to read more about globalization from the Wikipedia site.)

Sources:

http://www.sociology.emory.edu/globalization/about.html
Currency Transaction Tax Glossary of Definitions
IBM Glossary of Unicode Terms
Richard L. Harris, "The Global Context of Contemporary Latin American Affairs," in Capital, Power, and Inequality in Latin America, eds., Sandor Halebsky and Richard L. Harris (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995), 279, 80
American Friends Service Committee
Lenses of Analysis: A Visual Framework for the Study of International Relations by Richard Harknett
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis glossary
University of Maryland's Icon Project
Deardorff's Glossary of International Economics
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Glossary
Washington Council on International Trade
http://www.eco-justice.org/default.asp
http://www.prenhall.com/divisions/esm/app/knox/html/ch1/ch1terms.html
Wikipedia
Farleigh Dickinson University's Global Learning Newsletter in an article entitled "What Is the Meaning of Global Education?" by Michael Sperling.

Social and Cultural Implications of the Development and Use of New Media

In researching this topic, we almost immediately concluded that new media’s impact on culture, society, commerce, learning, politics, etc. is vastly greater than we had originally thought: it’s immense. Below are just a few of the cultural and societal implications.

In M/Cyclopedia of New Media, an article entitled “Cultural and Social Implications of Personal Blogging” speaks of how women in Iran talk freely in blogs about their culture’s taboo subjects and are also free to talk about opinions, dreams, ideas, etc. that they would not be allowed to publicly express otherwise. Additionally, blogging in the Middle East is a quickly growing phenomenon used not only by women who have been repressed and unable to freely express themselves but also by men who have been repressed as well.

New media is changing how citizens participate in their local communities and countries. “Technology, Media, and the Next Generation in the Middle East” by Jon W. Anderson, Catholic University of America talks about how the “parameters of citizenship” are changing throughout the Arab world as a result of new media. Changes, though different perhaps, are occurring throughout the rest of the world as well as citizens get more information, information from more diverse sources, have immediate and ready access to voicing opinions to government officials, can communicate freely with others, etc.

New media broadens the definitions of community and social relationships. No longer are communities confined by geography, space, or proximity. “Virtual communities” are increasing and are becoming “mainstream” for those who have access to new media. Social relationships are becoming more heterogeneous as individuals communicate with others from places around the globe and are not limited, again, by geography, space, or proximity. Interestingly, heterogeneous social relationships may ultimately result in a more homogeneous “global culture”. The routine and immediate communication with others from all over the world may alter the perceptions that people have of their own communities, cities, countries. New media is changing how people interact and relate and how they think of themselves and their place in the world.

New media is also changing business, finance, and commerce; how we learn; how we create and process information; etc. Global markets have resulted in the ability to produce cheaper products. (M/Cyclopedia of New Media “Global Communication”) In North Carolina, which was traditionally a furniture and textile manufacturing state, the entire workforce development landscape has changed dramatically as a result of “off shoring” many furniture and textile manufacturing tasks which is a result of globalization brought on by new media technologies.

A number of articles we read spoke of how new media is changing “centers of status and power”. There are articles and books about how new media technologies are impacting world religions and how individuals go about formulating and communicating their beliefs.

As we stated in the beginning, the impact of new media on culture and society is vastly greater than we had imagined. In some ways that's a little unsettling, but we read about so many positive ways that new media affects culture and society that we are hopeful that the good far surpasses the bad. I hope we're not being Pollyannas!

Sources:

Web Gives Voice to Iranian Women
Cultural and Social Implications of Personal Blogging
Global Communication
Working Papers on New Media and Information Technology in the Middle East
The International Study Commission on Media, Religion, and Culture
Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies