Silver Lining for Learning

This episode of Silver Lining for Learning will highlight global education projects and approaches designed and sponsored by the Centre for Global Education (CGE) in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In the show, we hear from two teachers in South America as well as Terry Godwaldt, the director of the CGE in Canada, and get their views on how to effectively foster collaborative projects and experiences meant to empower youth around the world to become digitally savvy, caring, and committed global citizens. Using online technology, the goal or mission of those involved in CGE is to connect young people to each other so that they can engage in meaningful projects across Canada and the world that address vital social, cultural, and environmental issues. Started in 2008, the CGE has involved more than 400 different schools from dozens of countries in hundreds of activities and synchronous videoconferencing exchanges. Tune in to learn how to engage students in interdisciplinary, project-based activities in globally significant issues that involve both synchronous and asynchronous exchanges (e.g., discussion boards, writing blogs, global project galleries, project management, etc.). You too can start fostering mutual knowledge and understanding across regions of the world and diverse cultures and languages. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

What are the changes we have noticed, the challenges, and opportunities, globally, for both HE and K-12 education to improve and ensure quality in digital education? When the pandemic arose, the world was impacted, and education delivery for the majority of the world pivoted to online environments – a place where Quality Matters (QM) has worked for the last 15 years to improve the quality of online education and student learning.Our education is undergoing a dramatic shift or transformation. According to a November 2020 study by the World Economic Forum, only 29% of adults globally expect higher education to be delivered primarily in-person, while around half 49% foresee a split between online and in-person, and 23% expect it to be primarily online. In response, educators, parents, politicians, and students yearn for any news about the quality of these “new” online and blended environments. Attend this session and hear sage advice for how institutions and organizations (and individuals too) can improve the quality of online and blended learning. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

This session is focused on attracting students’ interest and engagement in inquiry, meaningful learning, global education, and cross-cultural projects. Broadening students’ world vision as well as strengthening their knowledge about different cultures is critical to teaching in the 21st century. Knowing how to break down barriers between students from different learning backgrounds and cultures is of particular importance today. This session of Silver Lining for Learning will highlight how three award winning Fulbright teachers have done just that. Additionally, they have all authored chapters in the recent book of 41 short stories edited by Curt Bonk and Meina Zhu, “Transformative Teaching Around the World: Stories of Cultural Impact, Technology Integration, and Innovative,” published by Routledge. Tune in to hear about their exciting journeys into transformative teaching around the world. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

In this increasingly diverse and globally connected world, global education and exchange opportunities are increasingly vital. Enter World Savvy, a national nonprofit that works with educators and community leaders for the past two decades that focuses on creating inclusive schools where young people effectively engage in activities that involve extensive problem solving, empathy, and higher order thinking skills. With this World Savvy support, students engage in real-world challenges and in their communities and across the globe. In effect, World Savvy effectively prepares young people to be “future ready” learners. since its founding in 2002, World Savvy has reached more than 808,000 students and nearly 7,000 educators in 45 states and 32 countries. Its programs make teaching and learning real, experiential, and relevant for a changing world. As a result, students acquire the kind of knowledge, skills, and dispositions that not only prepare them for college, career, and life in a global society, but help them identify as global citizens who are motivated to contribute to peace, justice, and sustainability for our world. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

This session focuses on the challenges and opportunities for scaling innovations in the education sector in a context of uncertainty, risk, and ambiguity. Guests Monica Higgins & James Honan provide a brief overview of their work on scaling for impact and will highlight some of the key considerations for building leadership and organizational capacities to ensure sustainability moving forward. The Covid-19 pandemic has presented leaders of education sector organizations with a number of disruptive challenges in the design and delivery of teaching and learning at all levels, from Pre-K-12 through highereducation. The episode discusses scaling strategies for educational leaders and organizations in both high resource and low resource settings, in the US and across the world. More about our guests below the video. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Delete and replace with episode notesProse on the SLL episode page can be used for this purpose - but will need some crafting, since some of the episode descriptions are too long. Hyperlinks can also be found on the episode page but may need curating. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Silver Lining for Learning, Episode 100: Celebrating 100 episodes with guests Dodzi Amemado, Lydia Cao, Gerald Fussell, John Heffernan, Robert Nelson, Priyank Sharma & Danty Yin Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

Mechanisms for achieving educational vision with Barbara Means & Jeremy Roschelle Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org

New Zealand North Island: Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogical approach that can hook students into science. In this session, Sutapa Mukund will explain how PBL allows students to explore real-world authentic problems. The problem often drives the learning process as learners are motivated to think about various solutions to the problem. To solve the problem, students are encouraged to work in collaboration with others such as in building and maintaining a communal garden within a school campus. This allows learners to share diverse skills within a team environment. PBL ties in well with project-based forms of learning as learners often work over extended periods of time on a specific project to either solve a problem or design an outcome like a tyre garden, hanging gardens, or hydroponics units. Both problem- and project-based learning approaches are intertwined and encourage learners to master 21st-century skills towards future-focused learning. These approaches allow learners to be bold and curious while challenging them to move outside their comfort zones and adapt to a rapidly changing world. Her chapter in the new book, Transformative Teaching Around the World Stories of Cultural Impact, Technology Integration, and Innovative Pedagogy, edited by Curt Bonk and Meina Zhu, offers a snapshot of both these approaches in a science context.New Zealand South Island: An Urban Concept Farm was established at a Years 7 to 13 college in the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. In this session, the teacher driving the Farm’s establishment and learning programme, Simon McMillan, will detail his development as an educator and the bases for why the Farm has been created. Project-based learning and applied learning in different contexts have seen success in student motivation and engagement. As detailed in this literally ground-breaking chapter in the new book, Transformative Teaching Around the World, this approach also provided the chance for metacognitive experiences to flourish. Moreover, the success of the Urban Concept Farm space underscores the need to challenge how learning traditionally happens in schools. A recent article by Sharon Fowler in Daily Encourager (March 1, 2022), “Urban farm reaps active rewards,” details the program and its successes. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org 

The hosts discuss the most recent episodes and continue the conversation while trying to reflect on the topics that were covered by various guests from around the world. Join the conversation at silverliningforlearning.org