The image that leaps to mind when I consider the global classroom is that of a teacher whose head is earth, teaching within a classroom which lacks any definite bounds. To better explain this concept, let me expand on the images. The world, being all our experiences both virtual and real, is our teacher. She helps provide us the means with which to facilitate our learning in the world. The classroom without boundaries is the universe and beyond. We do not know the extent to which our world (in the broad perspective including the depths of space) encompasses. Before we could see beyond the naked eye, that was the extent of the class room. The class was the end of your village. But with the advent of technology, we are now able to interact with things far beyond our physical boundaries. We have come to encounter that space is much broader, and our place within that is much smaller than we imagined. In this sense, the global classroom has no limits, apart from the limits we set within our own minds.
In essence the global classroom is what you do with the vast knowledge that is available to you. The lesson only ends when you die.
I enjoy the analogy but what's your opinion on it working the other way? The world is now much smaller than we used to think. Conversations take place in real-time, between people on other ends of the world. It takes less than 48hours to travel to the other side of the world. Maybe the world is getting smaller and as a result the variety in the classroom just got a whole lot bigger. We no longer have the kids from just our town sitting at a desk next to us, but he could be from anywhere. Two paths to the same intersection. Jason Hutchison
ReplyDeleteIn terms of communication, yes the world seems a smaller place in that you can chat realtime with some one who is from a vastly different culture as yourself, yet that itself points to an expansion of our world. Fifty years ago we still had people manually connecting phone calls, where now we can skype. Perhaps it is in the ability to more readily bring people of differing backgrounds together, that we are more able to think outside of the cultural box, creating potentially limitless learning experiences.
DeleteSarah V
Limitless learning is ultimately what we, or rather I am after. The concept of life-long learning(although a horribly overused term) is still an important one. The global classroom has enabled and created a wealth of opportunities for learning to continue in an ever expanding path.
ReplyDeleteSo yes even though the ideas of a shrinking yet expanding world contrast they do capture the essence of the global classroom. A somewhat chaotic and hazy concept, yet one that promotes development like few other concepts before it.