In the 21st century the term “Global learning” has come to mean many different things to many different people. This is because there is substantial number factors at play, each with their own respective pressures. For example, the business world has globalized decades ago in pursuit of stronger profits through more diverse audiences. Comparatively however, education has been slow to follow suit due to different aims and complexities. In the context of this writing I am taking “global learning” to have a focus on being concerned with exploring the interconnections between people and places around the world.

In Research Paper No.11 for the Global Learning Programme titled “The Theory and Practice of
Global Learning” (http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1492723/1/DERC_ResearchPaper11-TheTheoryAndPracticeOfGlobalLearning%5B2%5D.pdf)

Global learning is defined as “an approach to learning that necessitates both reflection and critical thinking on the part of the educator. It is not about reproducing bodies of knowledge about development, but rather is about engaging in a process of learning that recognises different approaches and different ways of understanding the world, and engages with them through different lenses.”

Digital e-learning ecologies affords being able to connect individuals of diverse cultural and educational backgrounds. I teach software programming and in one class I had students from Australia, India, Canada, France, and USA. Such diversity brings its new challenges. Some less complex questions I encountered were: do we require all learners speak the same language? How do we account for vast differences in conceptual understanding due to cultural differences? Answering questions such as these requires us as educators to establish a more fundamental standardization in the values we expect a learner in a global world to attribute. The term “Global Dimension” begins to define a place of standardization. The central focus in the promotion of learning in an interdependent world begins with addressing the similarities of peoples around the world and a belief in working towards a fairer and more sustainable world.

There are eight key concepts brought forth in the global dimension: 1) Global Citizenship; 2) Sustainable Development; 3) Social Justice; 4) Diversity; 5) Values and Perceptions; 6) Interdependence; 7) Conflict Resolution; 8) Human Rights. (http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1492723/1/DERC_ResearchPaper11-TheTheoryAndPracticeOfGlobalLearning%5B2%5D.pdf) It is important for us as educators be understand how the global dimensions of learning impact us and the values we instill within our students.

To assist in beginning to design a more global focused curriculum, there are five characteristics of global learning we should consider (https://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/5-characteristics-of-global-learning):

1. Learning needs to happen locally first. When learning is personal this creates immediacy, authenticity, and responsiveness not available when learning seeks to be immediately global. Students must first employ self-knowledge and see themselves as thinkers and learners. Ideally learners think of themselves as both change agents and collaboration agents.

2. Global learners must be self-directed. In a digital age when change happens so quickly and data is so accessible, students must know how to keep themselves relevant and up-to-date.

3. Curriculum development and educator feedback needs to have an iterative design process. When thinking about providing education globally, an increased number of collaborators, and more technology, bring much more complexity than a local education system.

4. Educators and learners must be more socially and digitally fluent in their communications.

5. Driven By New Actuators. This makes powerful new including game-based learning, mobile learning, blended learning, and challenge-based learning, all the more important.

Another challenge in global learning is the execution or application of learning. In her TED Talk “The Global Learning Crisis - and what to do about it” (https://www.ted.com/talks/amel_karboul_the_global_learning_crisis_and_what_to_do_about_it) former Tunisian government minister Amel Karboul desparately tries to communicate that we are facing a global learning crisis. She calls it a “learning crisis” and not an “education crisis” because in addition to the 250 million children who are out of school today, even more, 330 million children, are in school but failing to learn. Amel postulates that if nothing changes, by 2030, half of the world's children and youth, that is half of 1.6 billion children and youth, will be either out of school or failing to learn.

Digital technology and new education approaches can help solve the global learning challenges. A success story to demonstrate is happening in Brazil. In 2009, Brazil passed a new law that made secondary education a guarantee for every Brazilian and an obligation for every state to implement this by 2016. To achieve their ambition goal Brazil developed the “media center solution.” It works like this: there are 60 specialized, trained content teachers in Manaus delivering classroom via livestream to over a thousand classrooms in those scattered communities. Those classrooms have five to 25 students, and they're supported by a more generalist tutoring teacher for their learning and development. The content teachers in Manaus work with over 2,200 tutoring teachers in those communities to customize lesson plans to the context and time.

The distinction between content teacher and tutoring teacher is important because in many countries, there are not enough qualified teachers. Also because usually teachers do too many things they're either not trained for or not supposed to do.

The distinction between content and tutoring teachers is innovative because it is changing the paradigm of the teacher. Each does what they can do best and so that children are not just in school but in school and learning. In some cases, some content teachers became celebrity teachers. Some of them run for office, and they helped raise the status of the profession so that more students wanted to become teachers.

The success story of Brazil is just one example demonstrating the changing paradigm of the teacher. It teaches us how we can harness technology and new approaches for learning.

In summary, global learning means many different things to many different people. The scale and complexities of implementing global learning are numerous. However, by acting locally and with educators having a standardized value system we can begin to instill a productive mindset into the students. With new teaching approaches, digital e-learning technologies afford us a way for us to collectively empower and better the world.