Getting Started with Global Learning

The Global Competence Certificate Program was created to track students’ development of competencies that are critical to their success as global citizens who can contribute meaningfully to resolving global issues and ensuring a prosperous and equitable global economy. 

In order to fulfill certificate requirements, students will reflect on their experiences in three key competencies:

  • Global Learning
  • International Engagement
  • Language and Intercultural Learning

What is Global Learning?

Students will be asked to reflect on coursework or learning experiences over the course of their middle or high school careers that challenged them to do the following: (1) Investigate the World; (2) Recognize Perspectives; (3) Communicate Ideas, and; (4) Take Action. These are the four domains of Global Competence. To learn more about the four domains, visit:
https://globalseattle.wixsite.com/globalcompetence/global-learning-experiences.

Students may work with World Affairs Council staff or volunteers and, possibly, an advisor from their school to identify relevant coursework and learning experiences that can be cited for each of the four dimensions.

Ideas to get you started:

  • Have you ever been in a class where you had to research an important issue, like climate change, poverty, or social justice? [Investigate the World]
  • Have you ever talked with people from another part of the world about how things in their culture are similar or different to the way you grew up doing things? [Recognize Perspectives]
  • Have you ever made a poster or written a report or a letter expressing your ideas about these issues? [Communicate Ideas]
  • Have you ever taken part in a service project, perhaps a food drive or park clean-up, where you had to do something for someone else? [Take Action]

If you’ve done any of these things, you may be able to start by reflecting on your previous experience and adding it to your Global Competence website portfolio.

Virtual Global Learning

At this time of COVID-19, almost all schools are closed and students are learning virtually (or remotely) via technology. So, we have to get creative to engage in learning outside the classroom.

Here are some ideas to check out:

Sustainable Development Goals
https://www.globalgoals.org/
In 2015, world leaders agreed to 17 Global Goals (officially known as the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs). These goals have the power to create a better world by 2030, by ending poverty, fighting inequality and addressing the urgency of climate change. Guided by the goals, it is now up to all of us, governments, businesses, civil society and the general public to work together to build a better future for everyone.

  • Read through the SDGs and identify issues that you would like to learn more about.
  • Then check out the Resources from the World Affairs Council Global Classroom to help you get information to read and think about. [Investigate the World]

World Affairs Council: World Citizen Essay Contest
https://www.world-affairs.org/world-citizen-essay-contest/
Take a look at the essay prompts (topics) from previous years. (You can also read winning essays for examples of how to address the topics.) Find a prompt that you like and give it a try. Here are a few examples:

  • 2018 Essay Prompt: You have recently received a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to “take action” toward achieving ONE of the 17 Global Goals (SDGs). In 1,000 words or less, explain why you chose this goal, what region (local or global context) of the world you would work to address it (and why), and what steps or actions you would take to make it sustainable.
  • 2017 Essay Prompt: You have won an all-expenses-paid trip to the destination of your choice. In 1,000 words or less, describe where you will go (and why), and explain what steps you will take to make sure that your travels are truly sustainable.
  • 2016, 2015, etc. Many of these are also really interesting topics. Scroll down to see them at https://www.world-affairs.org/world-citizen-essay-contest/

Start writing your essay. If you’d like feedback, send your draft to Ryan Hauck, World Affairs Council Global Classroom Director rhauck@world-affairs.org or to intledwa@gmail.com.

World Affairs Council: Upcoming Events
https://www.world-affairs.org/events/
Right now all of the events are held virtually so it’s easy for you to get to the them.

  • Find an event related to the issue that you identified from the SDGs (or any topic that interests you right now). Register for it.
  • When you attend the event, take time to notice how you might be hearing things described in a way that’s different than you’ve heard before. [Recognize Perspectives]
  • If you have a chance, be brave and ask a question.

More coming soon on Communicate Ideas and Take Action.

Questions? Ryan Hauck, World Affairs Council Global Classroom Director rhauck@world-affairs.org.

Asia Society Resources on Global Competence

New publication from Asia Society and OECD

https://asiasociety.org/education/teaching-global-competence-rapidly-changing-world

Key Findings From the Publication

Both the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Center for Global Education at Asia Society have identified four key components of global competence. Globally competent youth:

  1. investigate the world beyond their immediate environment by examining issues of local, global, and cultural significance;
  2. recognize, understand, and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others;
  3. communicate ideas with diverse audiences by engaging in open, appropriate, and effective interactions across cultures; and
  4. take action for collective well-being and sustainable development both locally and globally.

The definition undergirds the global competence assessment in the 2018 PISA test, and it also provides a roadmap for educators and education systems to integrate global competence into their teaching.

Global Learning: Projects Designed to Address the UN Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals range from climate, water, and food crises to poverty, conflict, and inequality – which all are in need of solutions that the private sector can deliver, representing a large and growing market for business innovation. Global learning provides the perfect framework for students to explore these goals and build the necessary skills to process and evaluate information, to make informed judgments, and to become lifelong learners in order to keep up with the accelerating pace of information flow and technological change.