The March series of Saturday #globalclassroom Twitter chats begins this Saturday, March 10, and we’re pleased to again kick-off the facilitation. This month the topic is assessment:
As teachers involved in global collaboration, we are in a unique position to witness the impact of global collaboration and exchanges on our students. Yet, can this impact be measured?
How can we assess and communicate the effects and benefits of global collaboration with our students’ parents and administrators?
Do we need to rely on anecdotal evidence, or is there a better way to assess the impact of our global connections on teaching and learning in our classrooms?
Globally connected learning a rich subject to study; Professor Margaret Riel’s graduate students at Pepperdine University, for example, have used Learning Circles each year since 2002 to support and organize action research as part of their online Masters of Arts degree program in Educational Technology. The iEARN community is fortunate to have had global classroom collaboration researchers and practitioners in many countries for many years ask such as: Does global classroom collaboration boost learning for marginalized communities? Support peer-to-peer learning? After-school programs? Disadvantaged youth? Civic Engagement? The evidence points to “yes” for all of these questions. Global classroom collaboration is also.
But how, let’s say, do we try to measure what happens when our Kindergarten classes in Singapore, Seattle and Santiago start Skyping and no team of researchers are there to study the interaction? How many Skype calls does it take to impact a third grader? Does it matter enough to use valuable time and resources to measure how flying kites or exchanging teddy bears meets local, state or national educational standards?
We hope you can join us at one of these convenient times.
March 10/11
▪ 3PM New York, 8PM London – Saturday, March 10
▪ 7AM Sydney, 9AM Auckland – Sunday, March 11
March 11 – Europe / Asia / Australia
▪ 9AM London, 11AM Athens, 2.30PM Delhi, 5PM Beijing, 6PM Tokyo, 8PM Sydney – Sunday
* March 12 / 13
▪ 5PM New York, 9PM London – Monday, March 12
▪ 8AM Sydney, 10AM Auckland – Tuesday, March 13
iEARN-USA 