A Global Context for a Future Learning Space
- Rachel Pearce
- Oct 17, 2017
- 3 min read
This week I have been researching away, trying to decide on a global context and after a lot of deliberation, I'm excited to be able to say that I've chosen a global context for my Future Learning Space (FLS).
My vision for this assignment was to utilise the Teachers Without Borders initiative of Bridges to Understanding as I really liked the idea of connecting students around the world in a way that encourages sociocultural education and cooperative learning. However I really struggled with deciding on the global context most appropriate for this initiative. With a little guidance from my tutor, it was established that my global context had to be one in which students had some form of structured education, in order for my idea to become a realistic possibility. It was at this point that I decided to focus my research on Syrian refugee camps in Jordan, where students have access to education but there is still a dire need for educational assistance. And so with this context established, my idea really started to take off!
Through my research, I found that there is a development taking place in the Syrian refugee camp in Jordan. A low cost school for 3,000 Syrian refugee children is currently being built in the refugee camp of Zaatari and this is where I envision the setting of my future learning space. Another setting directly linked to a classroom in this school, would be an Australian classroom and the two classrooms would interact through a Skype-classroom, a free online platform where students from around the globe can interact and share learning experiences. https://education.microsoft.com/getstarted
I wanted to take that connection made by the TWB initiative and take it a step further with multiple intelligences, connecting each student in the Australian classroom to a child in a Syrian Refugee Camp school’s classroom. It is my intention that linking these students together will form a mutual feeling of belonging and a connection with students through shared strengths, even though their buddy lives in a world completely different to their own.
My intentions is that this FLS will assist both classrooms in different ways.
With the Australian classroom, I hope that this learning space assists with understanding their world on a greater scale, develop empathy and understanding for children who are just like them but find themselves in a distressing situation that is at no fault of their own, while fostering their understanding of learning in the espace and collaborating with students on the other side of the world. For the students in the Syrian refugee school in Jordan, the hope of this future learning space being a success is much greater. I hope that with this FLS the Syrian students can find value in their education once more. My intentions for how the FLS will assist the Syrian students is that they will have the opportunity to develop their english language skills as it has been suggested that learning a language can assist with trauma. please see this link on how learning english is assisting in students psychological rehabilitation.https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/can-learning-languages-help-refugees-cope
I also intend the FLS to give the Syrian students a new and exciting way to learn and assist them in feeling that they are not alone, that there are people in the world that care and that their classroom buddies in Australia want to see them learn and grow through their education.
The FLS is still developing but I am excited for where it can lead. Stay tuned!
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