Phase+1+Essay-++What’s+the+Big+Picture+of+GLIP+and+Global+Learning?


 * What’s the Big Picture of GLIP and Global Learning? **

 Global learning are two big words that have a lot of meaning. As we continue to work as a group on our Phase 2 sense of place and travel package, I would like to take a minute and reflect on where we are as global learners, what we have accomplished thus far, and where we will go as we continue on our global journey together. In phase 1, our focus was inward. We were asked to reflect on who makes up our sense of self. This is a rather large question that is one of the first components of global education. In reflecting on ourselves, we begin to think about ourselves in a way that we may not have done previously, and think about who we are, where we come from, and even deeper into what are our perceptions are, and perhaps even misconceptions of some issues. In thinking about your sense of place, one might ask “what does this have to do with global learning?”  Global learning has common themes that connect together to create global citizens. The first theme of global learning is self-reflection and building self-awareness. This is one of the most important steps in global learning. By understanding yourself on a deeper level, you are building awareness of your personal history, culture, perspective, values, beliefs, and even unconscious biases you may have. You cannot move forward as a global citizen in understanding others until you have a sense of self. Phase 1 incorporated this concept by asking us to consider our answers to guided questions. Your answers might change over time,(maybe even by the end of this project) but in analyzing your beliefs and knowledge, you are able to consider others. This “perspective taking” is also another part of global learning. You must be able to consider various perspectives in order to gain true knowledge about an issue or topic.  Another theme is interconnectedness, which is simply a word for how we are connected across the globe. This is the understanding of how our choices affect the world and how we are connected as a global society. For example, when a person decides to throw trash out of their car window, that decision eventually evolves to create a pollution problem for our world over time. Many of your wrote in Phase 1 that a local problem in your country is litter and pollution. Decisions that people have made to throw their “rubbish” outside have effected the globe, and therefore, it connects us all by unclean water and air around your home and sense of place. A project like GLIP brings the awareness that we are all connected in the decisions we make on a global level. It also makes us sit up and take notice that we often have similar local problems, which builds multiple perspectives. In looking ahead, as we work together on Phase 3, we will begin to discuss more about the local problems you mentioned in Phase 1. This will involve collaboration which is another key factor is global education.  Collaboration and communication are vital to a project like GLIP. They are also two more themes in global learning. Collaboration is used when building a travel package for Phase 2, working together to think critically about local problems in Phase 3, and also simply talking and communicating on the same topics or goals throughout the whole project. When we are thinking critically as a group about a specific goal, it creates concentration and motivation to solve a specific problem. On a larger scale, global collaboration is necessary to solve issues like global warming, political unrest, or economic crises. To be able to collaborate in our GLIP group, or also as citizens of a global society, you must be able to communicate. With our GLIP project, communication is utilized through technology, which is also a key factor for communication on a larger scale (businesses, schools, governments,etc). Understanding how to communicate with different groups of people is vital to being a global citizen. It also helps you listen to other perspectives and understand multiple points of views. This may alter your sense of self as you communicate more and more to people that are different, yet similar, to you. Within our group, it is a necessary component of learning to communicate and discuss our responses to the questions and issues throughout the different phases. Without communication, collaboration would not happen. It is also important to consider factors that would make communication easier such as understanding multiple languages and being able to use technology.  Overall, themes such as building self-awareness, perspective taking, interconnectedness, collaboration, communication are all important factors that are found in global learning. It is my belief that GLIP has these elements that help us to work as a group and become global citizens. Taking action, an additional theme of global learning, has global citizens work together to take action again a problem. When considering Phase 1, we were asked to deliberate about a problem that is local or that has been around for a long time. Using collaboration, communication, and perspective taking, it is my hope that we can take action to at least communicate and brainstorm possible solutions for some of the issues mentioned during this project. The wonderful thing about global learning, is when you are participating in the multiple themes, you begin to develop your critical thinking skills and build knowledge and multiple perspectives of various topics because you are listening and communicating with a diverse group. We are all very different people in our group, yet many of the same words and trends have appeared in Phase 1 and Phase 2 when we discussed our sense of self and sense of place.  So why is this so important? What is the big deal with global learning? It is my thought that to truly become part of a community (school, family, town, country, or global), you must have the qualities of a global citizen. You must be able to think critically, question sources of information, understand your own perspective as well as others, listen and communicate, collaborate, reflect, and take action. Whether you plan to continue on to college or university, or you plan to go into a workforce, these skills are needed on a global scale and to succeed in those environments. Issues like global warming or economic crises are not going away on their own. We must work together as a planet, understand each other, be sensitive of various beliefs, and communicate to move forward in a global community. We must build our knowledge about each other to have respect for our similarities and differences. Finally, we must realize that we are all connected, and because of this, we must work together. GLIP is a jump start and a great foundation, but we must continue to alter our sense of who we are to get where we going as a global community.

- Katy (group facilitator)