Digital technologies accelerate globalization across the world. Maybe some areas’ globalization process might be slowed down due to its limited access to digital technologies, but in the long term this will not affect the result—people from diverse cultural background or ethnic groups are connected as a whole piece. Therefore, even if we don’t have full access to digital technologies, we still need to cultivate our students’ global competence as well.
Target group: Grade 4 students in China
Target group: Grade 4 students in China
Research Phase 1
In order to find out how much impact does Internet censorship has on China's global education, I collected 41 world popular educational websites and sent them to my friends in China. According to the results my friends sent back to me, 5 out of 41 websites cannot be accessed in China. The following slide presents how accessible are these 41 educational websites to people in United States and China.
In order to find out how much impact does Internet censorship has on China's global education, I collected 41 world popular educational websites and sent them to my friends in China. According to the results my friends sent back to me, 5 out of 41 websites cannot be accessed in China. The following slide presents how accessible are these 41 educational websites to people in United States and China.
Conclusion of phase 1
The research shows only 14% of world popular educational websites cannot be accessed in China. In other words, the Internet censorship in China doesn't have a big impact on educational websites. However, since all these educational websites are only digital tools, and global learning needs not only digital tools but also content about this world, so only have access to the educational websites is not enough. We also need to assess how much global issues can we access to in China.
Research Phase 2
Generally we can get information from three major sources, they are traditional media, digital media, and people around us. Among them, traditional and digital media are the major resources for people's getting information about the world. In China, due to the strict regulations over both traditional and digital media, Chinese people can only access to information that meets the censorship guidelines. For instance, as you may observe from above slide, we cannot use Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube in China, because these websites may violate our government's censorship rules.
Conclusion of phase 2
According to this, we don't have an unlimited access to global issues in China. To us teachers, the educational websites or digital tools are like cars, which can take us to wherever we want to go to; while information about the world is like fuel to the cars, without fuel, no matter how many cars do we have, we still cannot go any further than where we are now. Therefore, we need to figure out some ways to keep fostering our students' global competence in China.
The research shows only 14% of world popular educational websites cannot be accessed in China. In other words, the Internet censorship in China doesn't have a big impact on educational websites. However, since all these educational websites are only digital tools, and global learning needs not only digital tools but also content about this world, so only have access to the educational websites is not enough. We also need to assess how much global issues can we access to in China.
Research Phase 2
Generally we can get information from three major sources, they are traditional media, digital media, and people around us. Among them, traditional and digital media are the major resources for people's getting information about the world. In China, due to the strict regulations over both traditional and digital media, Chinese people can only access to information that meets the censorship guidelines. For instance, as you may observe from above slide, we cannot use Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube in China, because these websites may violate our government's censorship rules.
Conclusion of phase 2
According to this, we don't have an unlimited access to global issues in China. To us teachers, the educational websites or digital tools are like cars, which can take us to wherever we want to go to; while information about the world is like fuel to the cars, without fuel, no matter how many cars do we have, we still cannot go any further than where we are now. Therefore, we need to figure out some ways to keep fostering our students' global competence in China.
Solutions:
1. Support from others.
"Our world views have been shaped by many different influences throughout our lives" (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012, p. 14). According to the research done by Jennifer Pan and Yiqing Xu, there are many economic liberals support constitutional democracy and individual liberty in China. These economic liberals are one of the forces who can support our interaction with international world.
Another supportive source is our parents. We used to have a parents workshop in our school. In that workshop, students can engage in various activities and lectures gave by parents from different areas. In this case we can also work with our parents to give students sufficient opportunities to experience global culture and grow global competency.
Examples:
2. Support from colleagues.
"The very ways in which we think are framed not only by what is said, but also by what is not said" (Marshall, 1992). In order to provide students with a immersion environment about global learning, I also should work with my colleagues in school.
First, I need to create ways to develop leadership among teachers in my school, including myself. By doing this, we teachers can not only create a global learning environment for students, but also advocate for students' global learning needs.
Second, I can work with my colleagues to design our curriculum, or at least lesson plans, together. We can design classes led by big ideas and essential questions rather than solely focusing on teaching guidelines. Guiding by these big ideas and essential questions, we can use TPACK model to combine the technological knowledge and pedagogical knowledge with content knowledge, therefore ensure our students can develop their analytic competence, creative competence, behavioral competence, functional competence, and emotional competence gradually. On this point of view, Common Core State Standards can be a good reference for us English teachers in China. Here are some examples:
3. Support from study abroad programs.
As the old saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. No matter how many activities we created for our students, they still need to practice what they've learned in the class by communicating with people from different backgrounds or even cultural or religions. Study abroad programs are a good supplement to this. Take me for example, I've learned much more about Wester culture within my one-year study and living experience in United States than my over 10 years' English study in Chinese schools. Following are some examples about elementary students study abroad:
1. Support from others.
"Our world views have been shaped by many different influences throughout our lives" (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012, p. 14). According to the research done by Jennifer Pan and Yiqing Xu, there are many economic liberals support constitutional democracy and individual liberty in China. These economic liberals are one of the forces who can support our interaction with international world.
Another supportive source is our parents. We used to have a parents workshop in our school. In that workshop, students can engage in various activities and lectures gave by parents from different areas. In this case we can also work with our parents to give students sufficient opportunities to experience global culture and grow global competency.
Examples:
2. Support from colleagues.
"The very ways in which we think are framed not only by what is said, but also by what is not said" (Marshall, 1992). In order to provide students with a immersion environment about global learning, I also should work with my colleagues in school.
First, I need to create ways to develop leadership among teachers in my school, including myself. By doing this, we teachers can not only create a global learning environment for students, but also advocate for students' global learning needs.
Second, I can work with my colleagues to design our curriculum, or at least lesson plans, together. We can design classes led by big ideas and essential questions rather than solely focusing on teaching guidelines. Guiding by these big ideas and essential questions, we can use TPACK model to combine the technological knowledge and pedagogical knowledge with content knowledge, therefore ensure our students can develop their analytic competence, creative competence, behavioral competence, functional competence, and emotional competence gradually. On this point of view, Common Core State Standards can be a good reference for us English teachers in China. Here are some examples:
- My using digital technologies to increase mutual understanding project http://digitaltechandmutualunderstanding.weebly.com/
- My using digital technologies and Common Core State Standards in English reading
- Multi genre writing assignment done by fourth graders http://www.smekenseducation.com/0da9ccfcdc_sites/www.smekenseducation.com/files/Multi_Genre_STUDENT_SAMPLES__PDF.pdf
- A research about how Common Core State Standards relate to the outcomes of Asia Society Graduation Performance System http://asiasociety.org/education/partnership-global-learning/making-case/common-core-and-more
3. Support from study abroad programs.
As the old saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. No matter how many activities we created for our students, they still need to practice what they've learned in the class by communicating with people from different backgrounds or even cultural or religions. Study abroad programs are a good supplement to this. Take me for example, I've learned much more about Wester culture within my one-year study and living experience in United States than my over 10 years' English study in Chinese schools. Following are some examples about elementary students study abroad:
- A photo about grade 4 students participating in a summer camp.
- Fourth graders' exchange program between China and United States
References
Xu, B. (2015, April 7). Media censorship in china. Retrieved from Council on Foreign Relations website:
http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515
Pan, J., & Xu, Y. (2015, April 12). China's ideological spectrum. Retrieved from Social Science Research Network website: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2593377
Sensoy, Ö., & DiAngelo, R. (2012). Is everyone really equal? New York: Teachers College Press.
Kumashiro, K. (2002). Troubling education. In Troubling education: "queer" activism and anti-oppressive pedagogy (p. 68). NewYork: Routledge.
Xu, B. (2015, April 7). Media censorship in china. Retrieved from Council on Foreign Relations website:
http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515
Pan, J., & Xu, Y. (2015, April 12). China's ideological spectrum. Retrieved from Social Science Research Network website: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2593377
Sensoy, Ö., & DiAngelo, R. (2012). Is everyone really equal? New York: Teachers College Press.
Kumashiro, K. (2002). Troubling education. In Troubling education: "queer" activism and anti-oppressive pedagogy (p. 68). NewYork: Routledge.