Monthly Archives: December 2019

Global Learning Case Studies

This week, I am going to share some of my thoughts about a global learning case study, and ways to create a global learning environment. If you are interested in details or additional sharing beyond this blog post, please feel free to refer back to the book The Global Educator, written by Julie Lindsay, from page 229 to 244.

The first impressive case is about THINK Global School (TGS). TGS is a traveling high school visiting four countries per year. Students from TGS study globally through real-life experiences and project-based learning. This is my first time knowing that people travel around the world as a school. I think this is an excellent method allowing both students and educators to learn authentically from the natives. However, my concern is that if they have enough time to adapt to the new environment at the same time to learn something new academically.

A short FAQs video by TGS students. Students share their reasons for joining TGS, and experiences exploring the world.

I will prefer to stay for more than one semester, maybe including the summer break or winter break before the semester starts. Therefore, they can get used to the living environment, then the studying atmosphere. Also, as the school keeps moving, what is their management? As a Psychology major interested in working in the business setting, I would like to know more about the structures and operations of the organization. Additionally, I am interested in the criteria for enrollment. For example, what kind of skills or knowledge I need to be able to study in TGS? From the website, I did not see anything specific restriction limiting only students with high academic achievement can apply. Instead, they are welcome to candidates who are active in specific soft skills, like self-motivating and community orienting. However, it is interesting to know that they appreciate students with parents who are active and supportive participants in their modern and unique teaching methods. I think it is an essential and excellent idea that they also care about students’ family backgrounds and attitudes. I believe students will learn better if their parents agree or even share the same values as the school. 

Besides the most eye-catching case study I mentioned above, I also with the point stated in the textbook. Indeed, lacking understanding and unwillingness to handle online technologies and policy issues are the main reasons suppressing the development of global collaboration. I had a similar experience that I was not able to use an online survey tool for my internship research using my school account. It was because of the school license restriction. It limited my opportunity to learn valuable skills, which will be helpful in the future in the Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology field. Finally, what I could do is passing the project to my colleagues, letting them do it for me. As they are using their network system, I would not have access to the databases. I could only wait until they shared information with me. It lowered my autonomy and motivation. Therefore, it is crucial and essential to communicate with different stakeholders to find out the best solutions harming nobody. However, I understand the need for license restrictions. I want to discuss with my supervisors as well as different departments to check what I can and cannot do regarding the use of various web tools as full-time staff. What are the conflicts between different parties?

So, how to create a global learning environment? According to Julie, here are what she thinks a truly global learning environment should be:

1. Shares a vision that at EVERY grade level students will have a variety of interdisciplinary online global learning experiences with others beyond their immediate learning enviornment.

2. Understands how to “flatten” the learning so that EVERY DAY there is encouragement and opportunity to learn beyond the immediate….

3. Understands digital scholarship, peer review,…, sharing of local resources to build a global database, social entrepreneurship as a global collaborative objective for learning….

Lindsay, 2016, pp.239-240

I like the third point Julie mentioned. I think collaborating in building a global database is the easiest and first step to create a global learning environment for the education and research field. No matter if you are willing to collaborate with global partners or not, being generous to share your projects with others helps them to reflect and gain inspiration. I would name it “unconscious collaborative.” You do not know when your work will positively affect others, inspire others to explore topics differently. I am partly included in the global learning community while following the guidelines from Julie’s book within these few months. Starting global collaborations is not as difficult as I thought. It is always more comfortable with help from professionals and peers. Also, it is more exciting and worthy than learning alone.

What are your ideas toward global learning?
Do you make any changes after reading my blog or some additional sources I provided?

Finally, thank you for visiting my blog, and please do not forget to follow me on Twitter for more related information and discussions.
Twitter: @PoYeeWong4

Virtual Reality – Experience It Yourself

Have you ever asked yourself “how I would feel if I was the person in this situation?” Have you ever wanted the ability to switch your soul with others so you can experience someone’s life? Now, you have the technology to make your dream comes true. Virtual Reality (VR) is a “simulated experience that can be similar to or completely different from the real world” (Wikipedia). To maximize possible learning opportunities for students, VR is now more often to be applied in the classroom setting.

Virtual Reality (VR) is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Unlike traditional user interfaces, VR places the user inside an experience. Instead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are immersed and able to interact with 3D worlds. By simulating as many senses as possible, such as vision, hearing, touch, even smell, the computer is transformed into a gatekeeper to this artificial world. The only limits to near-real VR experiences are the availability of content and cheap computing power.

Joe Bardi, 2019

In the picture, a female is wearing the VR glasses participating to a simulation. There is a monitor connected to the VR glasses, which shows what can be seen through the glasses. There is a hand holding object at the right bottom of the screen, which represents the actual hand movement of the participant. In other words, the participant will feel like she is actually in the situation given and experiencing like reality.
The participant is wearing the VR glasses and the monitor shows the scene shown inside the glasses.

In my point of view, VR is not directly using to collaborate with people from different areas, but it helps prepare learners and educators to engage globally soon. This article gives examples of VR uses in the classroom that benefits students’ development. Early use of VR in preschools increases students’ attention and interests to explore and learn in different ways, creating an exciting learning environment for young learners. When they get older and be able to think from different perspectives, VR helps them to virtually travel and explore the world. I believe that it is always different in emotions and inspiration when traveling through viewing photos and to “real environment” right in front of you. Google Lit Trips is a great example that allows students to read international famous literature with additional relevant information pop-up windows. This encourages students to be more open-minded with culture outside the comfort zone or the home town. They may also have more common topics to talk to when they collaborate with their global collaborative partners. It is easier to find common ground. With more opportunities trying to stand on other’s shoes, VR helps users to experience others’ “lives,” training their empathy and willingness to help the needs. 

I agree with the application of VR in the classroom, especially in early education such as elementary school. In my junior year of university, I participated in psychological research. The study applied the use of VR that I played two games. The first one was about the reaction speed that someone attacked me and I had to dodge and shoot to revenge. The second one was more peaceful that all I needed to do was painting. As I was not drawing on the paper, but any spaces around me, I was able to draw in 3-dimension easily. This is difficult to explain and describe the experience that I prefer all of you to try it yourself. However, I want to bring this up in this blog post that I think it would be an extremely helpful tool to help students develop their concept about 3-dimensional drawing. My cousin has limited imagination that he cannot draw cubes or objects with distances on a paper. If VR has been widely applied to school settings earlier, he would have a chance to learn differently and even better.

A video shows how VR is applied in the classroom setting with teachers’ opinions.

Do you have any experience regarding VR?

Thank you for visiting my blog, and please do not forget to follow me on Twitter for more related information and discussions.
Twitter: @PoYeeWong4

Storytelling Web – Animoto

This week, I am going to introduce a storytelling tool, Animoto. Animoto is a video making website allowing users to create their stories using photos, videos, and music. It is easy to use that you can either upload personal pictures or insert them from online databases. To start creating a new project, Animoto provides users with different templates for various purposes, for example, birthday slideshow, event recap, and product portfolio. It is user-friendly that some guidelines and icons help you to learn to use this tool within a few minutes. You can easily add pictures and video clips by dragging to the upload area. There are numerous colors and font styles to choose from. You can also use filters to make the videos look more artistic and professional. Animoto does not only allow users to add background music but also allow them to trim song that perfectly fit with the content and story length. Once you finished making your videos, you can share it with YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. 

A short video on how to create a video with Animoto.

I have made my Animoto video about my hobby, doing calligraphy. In my video, I introduced the use of calligraphy, the reasons I like doing calligraphy, and shared some personal experiences. A special thing about my video is that I tried to connect my hobby with happiness. I want to share this with people as a way to know more about me. Doing calligraphy implies my attitudes and goals that I want my friends and potential collaborative partners to know. I pay all my attention when doing calligraphy, which is also my attitude when working on different tasks. I always try my best and want the outcomes to be as well as it can be. Work-life balance is also one of the goals that I care about my mental state and emotions. To me, doing calligraphy is stress reliving that allows me to take a step back from what I am working on and relax. I am not forcing people around me to do calligraphy with me, but I want them to find at least one thing to help them relax.

https://animoto.com/play/4dHRHywAtHbKTqfB1xaomA
My Animoto video about doing calligraphy.

Overall, I like using Animoto and highly recommend this storytelling web to all of you. It is easy to use with a lot of features provided. It is an all-in-one tool that I can edit and trim with the same tool. It took me no more than 30 minutes to make a video. You have the choice to make the video informative, interesting, and attractive. If you are searching for a tool for your project, try Animoto!

Have you used Animoto before? What are your experiences using any storytelling tools?

Thank you for visiting my blog, and please do not forget to follow me on Twitter for more related information and discussions.
Twitter: @PoYeeWong4