Journal 2: Learning without Borders

Journal 2: Learning without borders (NETS 2,3,4) 

Anderson, S. (2012). Learning without borders. Learning and Leading with technology, 40(5), 12-14. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-leading/digitaledition/digital-edition-february-2013

Summary: “Learning without borders” is about a school in Pennsylvania, USA that agreed to help develop a virtual international classroom exchange with students in China. This classroom exchange was called the Schoolwires Greenleaf program. The program gave a chance for Chinese learners to collaborate with U.S. students and prepare them both for a digital work environment. Anderson agreed to work with the Greenleaf program in her high school social studies class. She liked the idea of her students learning and building first hand experiences with students in another country. The structure of the program allowed her to integrate a collaboration of technology and social studies objectives with her students. The program gave the students a sense of global awareness, global citizenship, multicultural understanding, and project- based learning.
Analysis: I really like the idea of this program because it seems like an enjoyable way to learn through technology and about different cultures. It seems like this program brought many difficult and exciting tasks for the students in both the U.S. and China. I found it interesting that the teacher was able to connect technology and many of the social studies objectives through this online communication. I would definitely use this in my own classroom because students are able to work as teams and communicate with others who may not fully understand them. Students are also able to see how relate able they are to one another even though they are from two different parts of the world. Many of them found out that students in China also liked the same sports and pop culture that they did, here in America. I especially liked the fact that both the Chinese students and the American students had to write properly for one another. The U.S students were not able to use slang or abbreviations because the Chinese students would not fully understand what they were trying to say. This is a great tool that brings fun and learning together with technology.
Question 1: Do the Chinese and Americans have the same technology?
No, they do not. The difficult thing about this program was that the American students were more technically advanced than the Chinese students. It was difficult to exchange some documents because the Chinese were using older versions of Microsoft Word as well as PowerPoint and the Chinese government had prohibited the use of Google Docs.
Question 2: Do the teachers enjoy this program?
Yes, they do. The teachers as well as the students learned about the multicultural differences and similarities with each other. Sue Anderson explained that as an educator, she enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with teachers from another country. She learned that teachers around the world share the same joys and frustrations of teaching as she does.