The Global Educators’ Open Course
From Devwiki
Eliane Metni
During the workshop, I will demonstrate how “future teachers” from Argentina, Canada, Holland, Lebanon, Slovenia, and the United States learnt together with enthusiasm and contributed to the peer production of the pilot Global Educators course which will be offered in six universities internationally this September. For a period of eight weeks, from March 3 to April 30, 2008, and with the guidance of an expert from their local institution, future teacher learnt in a Wiki based open platform how to address global challenges in their future teaching.
The Global Educators’ Open Course
“How do we educate the teachers of the 21st Century”
As we wondered what would entice people to collaborate and commonly produce content, peer production turned out to be at the heart of our concept and rather than use content, learners produced the content which is the base of the Global Educators Course development.
Today a large number of organizations rely on open source software or content. In fact, it is an extraordinary yet complex concept which contributes to global knowledge.
For open source software, usually, individuals download, use, ask questions, comment, enhance and contribute to a community of practice using that specific software; the community is regularly informed of updates and newer versions. The same applies to content of the Global Educators Pilot course, which lead us to think of innovative ways of creating and delivering an open source course to educate new teachers that are ready for global learning.
Join us at the workshop of the Global Educators’ Pilot Open Course to explore it, discover its content, and discuss it.
During the workshop, I will demonstrate how “future teachers” from Argentina, Canada, Holland, Lebanon, Slovenia, and the United States learnt together with enthusiasm and contributed to the peer production of the pilot Global Educators course which will be offered in six universities internationally this September. For a period of eight weeks, from March 3 to April 30, 2008, and with the guidance of an expert from their local institution, future teacher learnt in a Wiki based open platform how to address global challenges in their future teaching.
Based on the findings of the research conducted by Wageningen University, The Netherlands, during the course implementation, the course will be modified in July 2008 and piloted in September 2008.
The main goal of the Global Educators’ pilot review course is to prepare future teachers to integrate global challenges in their curriculum. It encourages teachers and students to learn in the world rather than just teach about the world.
The course is conducted by The Round Table Foundation, in close collaboration with the International Education and Resources Network, iEARN, and builds on 20 years of experience in making a difference around the world through online project-based learning in classrooms.
Eliane Metni
The Round Table Foundation
IEA, International Education Association
iEARN-Lebanon Coordinator
