China is not a sleeping giant - these days it is a
dragon that roars. Young people today need to understand more about
China as a country, the Chinese culture and language, and make vital
connections for future understanding. China is likely to be a part of
future employment, tourism, education, and business for many.
The
'Connect with China' Collaborative successfully joined learners from
Australia, the USA and China. Teachers, students and community
organisations came together to learn from and with each other. Through
careful selection of tools and learning design to support online
collaboration participants explored the concept of 'My Community' and
shared local ideas to create global outcomes. Cross-classroom teams of
students researched thematic material and came together using a tool
called Voicethread.
Highlights of
the semester included real time linkups with China where exciting
intercultural exchanges strengthened understanding between learners. One
teacher in California shared at one of the regular synchronous teacher
meetings that the conversation he had with his 6th grade class about the
'Great firewall of China' was illuminating and meaningful. The final
online summit had classrooms from all three countries sharing their
experiences in a virtual meeting room. Barriers such as language and
connectivity issues melted into insignificance when participants
realised they COULD in fact connect to others, and to China and
communicate and share both synchronously in live sessions and
asynchronously using online learning platforms.
Online global
learning is imperative for all learners across the world. The Connect
with China Collaborative is just one example of how meaningful exchanges
lead to collaborative teamwork and ongoing construction of new
knowledge. Every student at every level in every year of schooling
should have a variety of online global collaborative experiences. If you
are a teacher or and education leader, what are you doing to embed this
into the curriculum and across the learning environment?
Explore the Connect with China 2015 pilot highlights - pictures, blog posts, co-created multimedia.
Join us in 2016 THEME - Climate Change
How is climate change impacting the world?
What is my responsibility to understand and share this impact?
How does my daily life affect climate change and how does this effect me?
All countries are invited to be part of the collaborative and make authentic connections with China.
Follow us on Twitter #ChinaConnects
Cross-posted with Connect with China Blog
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