Because technology connects students with a global classroom, a library technology educator has found that classroom walls do not exist.
At Fountain Valley School, Toni Olivieri-Barton uses technology to connect students at the private high school with students across the world so that they can do projects together.
“Students need to learn at a young level that they have similarities and differences” with students from Mexico, Ireland, Kazakhstan and all over the world, she said. “Kids’ eyes get opened up, and they see things sometimes adults don’t see.”
Olivieri-Barton is one of close to 100 educators around the world that are featured in a new book, “The Global Educator: Leveraging Technology for Collaborative Learning and Teaching, ” written by Julie Lindsay, an Australian teacher and author and founder of online collaboration program Flat Connections.
The trend toward globally shared practices, approaches, and case studies is in its infancy, according to Lindsay.
Oivieri-Barton believes that when students interact with peers in diferent places on the planet, the experience is invaluable. Lindsay included her in the book because she “understands the processes, skills, technologies and habits of learning required to implement online global collaboration into learning.”
“It’s very important that we get rid of issues like stereotyping and racism by allowing our students to work together on topics that don’t have to do with that,” said Olivieri-Barton.
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