Tag Archives: globallearning

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

Exploring the World Online – Out of Eden Walk

Is globetrotting on your bucket list? Have you started it yet? If not, what are your considerations? Have you ever thought of virtually travel to countries online to get a brief idea to kick-off? Now, I want to introduce a project to you that you may find impressive and inspiring – Out of Eden Walk.

Paul Salopek, a journalist, is walking across to the globe following the footsteps of the ancestors to explore and re-discover the world differently. His journey started in Africa in January 2013 and will end in South America. The website records all his journeys that he is posting photos, videos, journal writing, and embedded map to share his experiences. People are welcome to visit his website and comment. In this blog post, I am going to share some of my thoughts on different milestones of the journey.

This is a picture of world map with the Pacific Ocean centered. This map is similar to the one shown in Out of Eden Walk website. This is a little game that asking readers if they are roughly outline the pat of Paul's journey.
This is the world map with the Pacific Ocean centered. After visiting Out of Eden Walk website, can you roughly outline the path of Paul’s journey?

Glance Back: 180,000 Syrian Refugees Flee Into Turkey is the most powerful post. I participated in refugee simulations before, which were held by a non-governmental organization. When I was in the room, with special decorating pretending to be the real environment of the places refugee were living in, and listening to the story of young refugee siblings, I could strongly relate to the story that I felt scared, helpless, and hopeless. I cannot imagine how Paul would feel when he was that close to refugees and places around. No one wants to experience difficult situations caused by war. Therefore, Paul’s project allows readers to reflect and get in touch with some topics that are too panic. I like the question he asked in his post that it is connected and related to his walk. This also brings people’s awareness that they need to consider their backgrounds and perspectives when collaborating with them in the future or on topics related.

“What happens when you become a war refugee? You walk.”

Paul Salopek, 2015

Global Bazaar Celebrates the Out of Eden Walk is the second post that I like. They are hosting international fairs to introduce Out of Eden Walk to students. Both people who are going to present ideas they are representing and people who are joining the event receiving information learned at the same time. They were not focusing only on pictures and the journey but also the culture, religions, and food of the countries Paul traveled. I think to host an event is a great idea that people are not waiting for others to visit and look for information online. Instead, they are actively doing something to grab others’ attention and teach. This also matches with what I learned from the textbook The Global Educator that how and what we can do to engage global collaborative learning. 

Finally, Drinking Women’s Lives is another post that caught my attention. People always love to eat and drink something good and tasty. However, have you ever thought of where does all this food comes from? What are the processes before displaying them in the supermarket for sale? Are we fair enough to people planting and growing crops? In this post, we all learned that women are the only people working in the tea tree planting industry. However, they only earn about USD$2.5 per day. At the same time, they have to face different difficulties, such as tea plants being destroyed by animals. What can we do to help? When comparing them to ourselves, what does it tell? Even though India is the world’s second-largest tea producer, there are still social problems that difficult to be treated. 

There is no limitation on issues or topics for global education and learning. When you are just sitting in the office, classroom, or wherever, you are limiting yourself to work on some areas. This is the time to think out of the box. Even you are not able to travel or join Paul as a partner, visit his website, actively engage, and interact with all the resources posted. What global collaborating learning is not only sharing personal experiences or draw global attention but also following, partnering, being inspired, or even developing something new. Finally, I enjoy reading his journal and explore various aspects of how our world is constructed. If this is your first time trying to virtually travel around the world online, I highly recommend Out of Eden Walk.

For more information about Out of Eden Walk, please visit their website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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

How Can Watching A Movie Be A Part Of Global Learning?

Do you like watching movies?
If yes, what is your favorite genre?
Do you think you can learn about cultures from movies?

I recently watched a South Korean movie called 200 Pounds Beauty. It is a musical romantic comedy released in 2006. It was touching, funny, and the most important, inspiring.

Full movie of 200 Pounds Beauty on YouTube with English subtitles.

Plot

The main girl in the movie is Hanna Kang. She has a dream of being a famous singer. She is talented with a beautiful voice. However, she is overweight that she is not accepted to be a pop star. Hanna’s talent being discovered by a director called Sang-jun. The entertainment company takes advantage of Hanna’s voice, letting her be a ghost singer for a famous pop singer, Ammy. Being insulted by Ammy and overhearing the conversation between Ammy and Sang-jun. Hanna figures out that the only reason Sang-jun being so nice to her is because of her voice. Hanna is heartbroken that she thinks she will never have a possibility to gain his love. Being disrupted while attempting suicide, Hanna finally goes to the surgeon and requests a whole-body plastic surgery.

One year later, with a lot of effort in recovering, dieting, and exercising, Hanna becomes a “naturally-looking” beautiful girl. She then lives with a new identity — Korean-American from California named Jenny. When going back to the entertainment company for an audition, Jenny receives a chance to be an independent singer and is going to release albums. Ammy fears to be replaced and loses her fame. Therefore, she tries so hard to search for Hanna. While talking to Jenny, Ammy accidentally realizes that Jenny is Hanna. Sang-jun also realizes the truth a day before Jenny’s concert. Jenny is disappointed and heartbroken that she is only a “tool” to Sang-jun helping him to make money. All negativity and pressure break out that Jenny cannot handle it anymore. She reflects and regrets undergoing surgery. To hide her secret perfectly, she loses her best friend, ignores her father with Alzheimer’s, and her true self. She cannot withstand it and tells all the truth in front of her audiences and fans in her concert.

Fortunately, Jenny regains her relationships with her best friend and father. Staff from the entertainment company and all her fans appreciate her courage to admit all her faults and disclose them. She then gives up the name Jenny and develops her new singer to identify with her real name Hanna.


Cultural Aspect Learning

As I was born in Asian culture and now living in Western culture, I would like to compare similarities and differences between the two.

First, in Western cultures, plastic surgery seems to be less common than in Asian cultures. Westerners usually focus on body shape only that dieting and fitness training are always enough to make ideal changes. Therefore, Westerners are less likely to undergo plastic surgery. However, for some Asian people, their facial features are less sharpen than Westerners, which is hard to be corrected with make-up only. Therefore, they are more likely to have surgery to make themselves look prettier. According to the reaction of Sang-jun and audiences towards plastic surgery, they are not accepted at the beginning. However, with a clear explanation and disclosure, they understand and mostly accept it as a good outcome.

From the perspective of ideal body shape, Westerners appreciate healthy body shape with muscles. On the other hand, based on Hanna’s point of view, she prefers only skinny and thin. This difference represents the social norm of people’s definitions of beauty. It is the reason why Hanna chooses to have surgery rather than only physical training. What Hanna does to rebuild her beauty are bone reconstruction and liposuction (a surgical procedure to remove fat from specific body parts). I understand Hanna’s thoughts when comparing the scenes that Hanna and Ammy are wearing the same red dress. She believes that Ammy looks prettier with the same red dress because Ammy is skinnier than she does. Hanna is looking for a body shape like a Barbie doll.

How come an overweight lady not beautiful?

A picture of a tablet with a large sized word "beauty" and different sized relevant words surrounded, such as images, ideal features, physical, and attractive.
A picture indicates relevant words to beauty, giving some ideas on how should people define beauty.

One’s beauty should be determined by internal attributes instead of appearance. A good-looking appearance should only be a bonus, but not the foundation.


At the beginning of the movie, Hanna is asking for a change to her fortune with Sang-jun. She receives an amulet written on a yellow paper with red ink. I think there is a religious difference that Westerners are less likely to ask for something like that, except Buddhist. Instead, I think Westerners prefer Tarot Reading. However, one thing is similar between Westerners and Asian people, like Hanna. People believe in themselves that they trust they can make their dreams come true. Even Hanna is told impossible to be together with Sang-jun, she still tries everything she can think of to gain attention from him. At the end of the movie, Sang-jun starts having a feeling to her. Hanna wants to be a singer, thus, she comes back for auditioning and finally releases albums. Based on my observation of my Americans and Asian friends, they are all hard-working in pursuing their goals. They apply for part-time jobs, look for resources to support their career plans, keep developing both soft and hard skills, etc. Therefore, I believe no matter what cultural background people grow up with, they all hold a strong positive attitude and passion toward their goals.


A picture of Korean hotpot to explain the different eating habit as American.
A picture of the Korean hotpot represents the sharing style of eating habits in Korea. It is different from the Western dining style that there is no specific order of what food to be served first and after.

Finally, I also notice some lifestyle differences in the movie. Hanna and her best friend are eating in a restaurant that has different dishes as restaurants in America. Americans usually have pasta, soup, or salad in the restaurant while Koreans usually have Korean Barbecues or hotpot inside the restaurant. Koreans meals do not have to be set meals. They prefer sharing everything, and no specific order of appetizer comes first with the main course comes after.

From the scene after Hanna finishes her surgery, she goes shopping along a busy street. There are small boutiques like what we have in busy cities. Unlikely to most of the areas in America, there does not have to be a large shopping mall with different brands’ counters inside and a large parking lot outside. Additionally, there are more high-density buildings in Korea. Most of the people live in apartment buildings, and only a small group of rich people live in single houses. Conversely in America, residents are relatively more common in living in single houses or low-density buildings. It is because America, as a larger country, has more spaces for constructions.


Although I mention a lot of comparisons in this blog post, it is not absolutely reflecting the actual culture of America and Korea. I only base on what I see from this movie and what I know about America since I moved here. Also, this movie mainly focuses on the experience of being a pop singer. It is not a typical life of a common young adult. Therefore, the discussion above should be specific to the setting of this movie. There is always room for better, more diverse, and deeper investigation of cultural issues. Therefore, I am always glad and desired to have more comments and suggestions for further conversations. Please feel free to share your recommended movies and your perspectives on cultural differences and similarities between your country and a foreign one.

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

How Students Benefit From Global Learning?

Welcome back to my blog! This week I am reading chapter 4: The Impact of Global Learning of Julie Lindsay’s The Global Educator. The book discusses based on the main four sections:

  1. Global learning’s impact on the educator. 
  2. Global learning’s impact on the student.
  3. Global learning’s impact on the community. 
  4. Golas, challenges, and enablers to global learning. 
A picture that three students holding hands with books around the them and the world implies that people are learning globally with no barriers.
A picture implies students are learning globally without barriers.

In this blog post, I am going to focus on global learning’s impact on students studying Psychology. 

What do you think global learning can change a student? 

According to Lindsay, global learning increases changes for students to engage and partner with all educators and learners worldwide. Students can then hear and share life experiences and cultural differences with each other. Throughout the detail explanations, global learners become more open-minded, trying their best to stand on other’s shoes and finding out both similarities and differences. A journal article, written by Carie L. Forden and Amy M. Carrillo (2014), states that applying global learning to a Psychology course using an online platform brings good impacts on students. The U.S.A. students collaborate with college students in Egypt through the Facebook page to finish assignments. At the end of the semester, students report an overall better understanding of course conceptscultural diversities, and declining in prejudice. Besides, some students also find that they understand themselves more

Back to Lindsay’s point of view, she believes the introduction of global learning on the online platform increases students’ interest in travel and international study. I agree with it that students are inspired to step out and experience the real-world. Hearing from others is a kind of passive learning, in contrast, traveling by themselves is actively viewing and feeling everything around you. Here is the study abroad program website of the University of California, Davis. One of the programs is going to Berlin to study Personality Psychology. The program includes not only lecture classes and exams but also guest speakers, social events with German psychologists and students, and museum visits. Students will have plenty of time and opportunities to explore the city. There are also other education abroad programs recommended to Psychology majors, which mostly have no language prerequisite. However, if you are interested in learning a new language and practice in a native speaking environment, you are welcome to take the language course. 

With some personal experiences, I understand Lindsay’s idea that global learning help with future employment. I studied in Hong Kong for more than twelve years, and I am now studying in the U.S. for almost four years. I always included both places for my future career plan that I am interested in working in both regions with their specific pros and cons. I had a summer internship in Hong Kong last year. It was an excellent experience that I learned a lot about myself, the working culture in a non-governmental organization, and I met different professionals. Now, I am applying for an internship in the U.S. working in the Human Resources department. I am designing to do an independent study during my internship as an HR staff. Therefore, at the end of the semester, I will have both national and international working experiences with people from different backgrounds and cultures. 

International students share their thoughts about studying Psychology in a foreign county.

It is impossible to tell you all the benefits of global learning here, with only a few examples. Luckily, I am sure that global learning does widen students’ horizons and provide them with more opportunities to make their lives colorful. 

Thank you, everyone, for visiting my blog and please feel free to share your ideas and experiences with me.

Please don’t forget to follow me on Twitter for more related information and discussions.
Twitter: @PoYeeWong4