Extract of “Bringing history and civics to lifeby Karalee Wong Nakatsuka and Laurel Aguilar-Kirchhoff. ©2022 International Society for Technology in Education. Reproduced with permission from the publisher.
Edtech to connect
There are many ways to harness educational technology to build community within our classrooms and to bring students into the global community. ISTE Student Standard 1.7 Global Collaborator provides a framework on how to approach this: “Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively as a team locally and globally.”
There are many edtech tools that help foster community building while providing holistic perspectives and engagement for students, both inside and outside the classroom. Incorporating global community connections into community building helps students build bridges between all the communities in which they participate. It can also open up new avenues for students to see themselves as part of a larger global community and give them a new awareness and understanding of their place in the world. .
StoryBody
- What it is: A digital archive of recorded interviews and personal stories that convey the humanity of people around the world. “StoryBody‘ is to preserve and share the stories of humanity in order to connect people and create a more just and compassionate world.
- Connection to the global community: Students can explore stories from across the country and around the world, or they can search for specific stories that correlate with class content and projects. Students are given the opportunity to recognize the global humanity that brings us together, as well as perspectives that may be different from their own.
Flipgrid GridPals
- What it is: Although many teachers and students are already familiar with creating short videos using Flipgrid in their classrooms, there is a unique opportunity to connect with other students and classrooms around the world by using Flipgrid GridPals.
- Connection to the global community: Once logged into their teacher account, teachers can search and connect with other educators around the world. This allows teachers to collaborate on learning experiences that connect their classrooms asynchronously via video (without time zone constraints) in a secure online learning experience.
Digital Citizenship Institute
- What it is: The Digital Citizenship InstituteThe goal is to help our students connect the world through our shared citizenship in a digital world. It’s about “humanizing the person next to you, around the world and through the screen. . . .In today’s interconnected world, this is our opportunity to put global education into practice to empower others to become agents of change using technology for good in local, global and local communities. digital.
- Connection to the global community: “DigCitKids” is an aspect of student and community engagement that is available from the Digital Citizenship Institute. This initiative is focused on creating digital citizenship opportunities for kids by kids, with a focus on solving real community problems.
Google Earth
- What it is: Google Earth is more than just an online map; it also provides resources, lessons, and integrations to use with students. These include “… step-by-step guides and tutorials on Google Geo Tools, inspirational stories, as well as lesson plans, product information and more.
- Connection to the global community: Helping students learn about geography and place gives them a better sense of the world and their place in it. These lessons and resources are varied and help students make connections between people, the land they inhabit, and their impact on it.
Matching schools
- What it is: Connecting and collaborating with students from dozens of countries around the world allows students to read, write, and create original projects. “Matching schools connect students from 150 countries to make friends and experience the world.
- Connection to the global community: Students can collaborate with students from other countries on projects that matter to them. It is a unique opportunity not only to communicate with students from all over the world, but also to work together on projects in an educational context.
Skype Mystery
- What it is: It’s a way to create a global community with other classes around the world. It has been described as a global guessing game, in which teachers collaborate and bring their classes together via Skype (or any other online conferencing platform) and then ask students to guess each other’s location. . There are many forms of this “Skype Mysteryand teachers can be creative in collaborating to set up the activities (like asking only yes or no questions to the other class).
- Connection to the global community: With activities like this, teachers and students connect with classrooms around the world, expand their cultural awareness and hone their geography skills, all while collaborating as a class to guess the location of the mystery class.
Global reading aloud
- What it is: What if your students could read the same book and collaborate with students around the world? They can! Each year, for a period of six weeks, the Global reading aloud helps students and teachers connect with common book-based resources and activities. Teachers can connect with other participating classes around the world and decide how much time they want to spend and how involved.
- Connection to the global community: To make these global connections with other classrooms, teachers can harness the power of edtech to connect using tools like Skype, Twitter, Padlet, or Flipgrid. “Teachers tap into a community of other educators to achieve a global project, hopefully inspiring them to continue these connections throughout the year.”
Karalee Wong Nakatsuka, MAED, is a former college professor of United States history. Also a Gilder Lehrman Master Teacher, she was recognized in 2019 as Gilder Lehrman History Teacher of the Year for California and was one of 10 finalists for the national award. She sits on the American250 History Education Advisory Council, the Gilder Lehrman Teacher Advisory Council and the Monticello Teacher Advisory Group. She is a member of the California Council for the Social Studies (CCSS), the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), the iCivics Education Network and the National Council for History Education (NCHE). Nakatsuka appeared in the New York Times multimedia story “What is actually taught in history class?” and was featured in an article in the September 2021 issue of Time Magazine titled “From teachers to caretakers, meet the educators who saved a pandemic school year.” She is passionate about using technology to engage and excite students; share the stories and places where the story took place; create a community in his class; and prepare students to become empathetic, informed, engaged, and active critical thinkers and citizens who care and make a difference in the world.