Global Learning Experience-Flat Classroom Project

http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/

Last semester when I was taking Emerging Instructional Technologies with Dr. Z, we participated in the Flat Classroom Project. The Flat Classroom Project is a global collaborative project that connects middle and high school students from local and international schools. It is based on the collectivist view of education, the principle of a "multi-modal learning environment that is student centered and a level playing field for teacher to student and student to teacher interaction," (FCP, 2012). Students were to explore the 10 "flatteners" described in Thomas Friedman's book The World is Flat (2005), and create a wiki page devoted to exploring examples of this flattener in different spectrums of our society. These topics included politics, education, science and medicine, and more.

I LOVED my role in FCP. The students I was involved with were in the project to win, or at least connect personally with the project and really put in great effort. Our topic was Web 2.0 and how it has helped to flatten the world, particularly on the social spectrum. I helped to guide my team when they were editing their wiki, through comments and suggestions about information accuracy, organization, and grammar, usage and mechanics. I felt very proud for being an expert advisor to my group, because they really wowed me with how much they knew about how Web 2.0 has played a role in globalization. This was such a validating experience because I got to see how the students responded to my comments, and how they really looked at me as an expert to give them advice and tips on how to make their project even better.

During the judging portion of the experience, I got to judge many final videos (none from my team) and give feedback and comments to the students. This was SO awesome, because the range of approaches that students took in making the videos shows an immense array of creativity. Some groups played it relatively safe with their video approach, simply explaining how the flattener related to the world generally. Other groups used real-life examples of what globalization is accomplishing, like the first place winner here:

First Place  
Title of video: 4.E.3 The Changing Shape of Information: Group Stories 
Emily W Masco, Boxford, MA United States

Judges comments: "You chose an excellent topic on which to construct your video. I was very impressed with the level of editing and organization, as well as the content itself. The focus on the Arab Springs situation was a perfect example of how uploading has become prevalent all over the world today. You really took the global perspective to a higher degree, and did a very good job with your information." and "The student chose to apply her understanding of the importance of uploading to things happening on a global scale. Not only did the student inform the audience of the power of uploading in social media, she informed us of the power that uploading and global connections hold in very dire situations." Alison Leytem

I was a judge for the winning video, and my comment was featured on the FCP 11-3 webpage. You can watch Emily's video, and all the other winning videos from the FCP I participated in here: http://www.flatclassroomproject.net/fcp-11-3-award-winners.html

Flat Classroom Project showed me how enthusiastic students seem to be about the opportunity to collaborate with other students around the world on a collective endeavor. I was so proud of my group, and of all of the students who participated. They showed me how global education is capable of bringing different people together to create a real project, a real movement, and a real change.

A Fresh Start in a New World with Flat Classroom

Earlier, I watched the keynote of the first Flat Classroom Project installment of 2010, by Judy O'Connell from St. Joseph's College in Hunter's Hill, Australia. In her video, Judy mentioned the popular film, "Avatar" and how it can be seen as a kind of metaphor for the Flat Classroom Project. In the film, Jake Sulley is given the opportunity for "a fresh start," on "a new world." "You'll be making a difference," he is told, and these words are his invitation to travel to Pandora on his mission. All Jake must do is say yes, and accept his mission. As we come to see in the film, it is not an easy one, but Jake comes to learn about, participate in, and eventually understand a different culture and group of people different from himself. He learns, however, that he and the people of Pandora, are not so different after all.

Like Jake Sulley, participants in the Flat Classroom Project are given an opportunity to participate in a new world. "The Flat Classroom Project is your Pandora, a fresh start in global learning, it's your opportunity to be world-class students, develop your world-view, demonstrate to all of use the importance of good scholarship and good digital learning." O'Connell is spot on in her analogy, in that the power of the Flat Classroom lies in students' opportunities to expand their perspectives in our world, and see beyond the walls of their physical classroom. Instead of limited interaction with students within our physical community, Flat Classroom makes meeting, communicating, and collaborating with students across the globe, a reality. Children are highly adept at using online applications, Web 2.0 tools such as social media, search engines, as well as other tools supporting creativity. Therefore, they have the perfect set of provisions to support their learning in an online, global environment.

The Internet provides an optimal platform for global education to occur because it "levels the playing field" for individuals anywhere. Using multiple means of creativity and sharing, from text, audio, video, hypertext, and other multimedia, we can show our thoughts and ideas, and give feedback to others, with just the click of a mouse. And because our students today are so used to (and good at) this high level of media creation and manipulation, it is becoming more prominent in classrooms, both traditional and online. Check out this video created by Michael Wesch (in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University!) about how today's students feel about changing the face of learning and the traditional "classroom."



The Flat Classroom Project supports both digital literacy skills and learning, as well as global collaboration between classrooms across the planet. In the Flat Classroom, cultural understanding becomes personal, for each student, because he or she is interacting with students from cultures outside their own. What better way to learn about another culture than to speak and work with individuals from diverse backgrounds? The result is that students become less ethnocentric, and more globally aware. By learning about other areas of the globe, we also learn about ourselves. They also work on their skills with Web 2.0 tools, as well as tools essential or online learning and communication. There may come a day where our classrooms, however we define them now, may look a lot different, in that there may be no more "classrooms" but students will host their own learning networks, through online collaboration and communication.

I am starting to look at my own classroom experiences differently. I am starting to think "I wonder what it would be like if everyone in my classes, including myself, became more globally aware?" Would we see each other differently? Would we see what we read about, write about, and learn about in the same way? Will my future students have a better sense of global relevancy, and how will this affect the lessons I teach and the literature I choose to share? As a future English teacher, I am focused on how my students will read and write in the classroom, sure. But now I'm starting to think, how will my students read, write, and SHARE? And where will this lead them?