Students Unite Against Climate Change

On June 11-12, students in Ukraine, China, and Korea worked on a problem that will impact on the future of humanity. They spoke virtually through a live video call about the implications and issues related to the UN Sustainable Development Goal 13, which asks us to take urgent action to tackle climate change and its influences.

Although this issue is complex and presents numerous obstacles, the students on both sides of the classroom screens were jubilant and hopeful because they had built great insights during the last three months researching this topic. After months of intense research and invaluable collaboration with their partner country, students in Ukraine and Korea were undaunted by this imminent threat to the human economy, politics, and the environment. Through IVECA’s global collaborative platform, students experienced the roles of environmental specialists in this topic and self-actualized while implementing knowledge into tangible actions.

Students from disparate geographies, economies, and histories were able to share with one another the ways in which climate change specifically manifests in their countries. Instead of conducting superficial research solely about one’s own country and leaving the issue there, these students went beyond in their efforts to find the global intersections of climate change as an international threat that must be also addressed locally, through cooperation, mutual understanding, and respect.

Students from Hanil High School in Korea spoke eloquently about the SDG 13 as it relates to the destruction of habitats, the rise of epidemics, and increasing rates of methane gas production. In a wide-ranging and thorough investigation of climate change as it is presented in Korea, these high school students demonstrated a professional understanding of this complex problem. The solutions they presented were intelligent and realistic, dealing equally with the magnitude of the problem and the locality of it as it relates to government, economy, and individual well-being.

Students from STEAM School in Ukraine offered potential solutions and actions that we can take as global citizens to enact meaningful and immediate change. They made the case that, although this issue is global and goes far beyond the individual, there are still ways for us to help mitigate climate change. It starts, they argued, with appealing to local government, organizing peaceful meetings, and using alternative energy sources. Students from Zhenjiang Vocational College in China explained the impacts of light pollution, plastic waste (“White Pollution”), and water pollution. Solutions presented were pragmatic and achievable within the boundaries of UN SDG 13, and were founded in a balance of personal responsibility and collective action.

It was an inspiring Live Class session full of serious dialogue, sharing, and laughter. Ukraine’s principal summarized it well, stating, “We must act together because climate change affects everyone and concerns our common future!” And indeed this Live Class left us more hopeful and sure that we can meet this global challenge with the intelligence and ingenuity required.

#IVECA, #Ed4GlobalCitizenship, #InterculturalCompetence, #PeaceEducation, #LiveClass, #SDGs, #SDG13

IVECA Global Teachers’ Meetings for the Live Class Preparation

This week, teachers from Korea, Guatemala, Ukraine, Brazil, the USA, and China all gathered to discuss their successes this spring semester with IVECA and how they will apply their students’ research and hard work to their upcoming Live Class presentations. Whether it was their first semester with IVECA or they were a returning teacher well-versed in intercultural competence and global citizenship, everyone was smiling and ebullient on the video conference.

IVECA’s team assisted teachers as they reviewed their students’ progress over the past semester and helped them seamlessly integrate their research into presentations dealing with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although the material was wide-ranging and interdisciplinary, through the assistance from IVECA’s team, teachers were capable of recognizing key intercultural components and applying their work to address the complex issues presented in the UN SDGs.

Teachers from Korea and Guatemala collaborated to uncover the relationships between globalization and climate change, offered their students solutions, and brainstormed on how the Live Class session could be an activity of celebration and cooperation amongst countries across the globe. Teachers in Korea, Brazil, China, and Ukraine discussed how their community problems related to SDG 8, 10, 13 and 16 respectively and shared solutions investigated by their students, using this unique opportunity to find commonalities and differences, and exchanged best practices across borders and cultures.

Ultimately, this week was an incredible success and a fantastic demonstration of the power of intercultural communication and competence. Not only were IVECA Teachers left better prepared and more informed about the core tenets of intercultural competence, they also developed tangible solutions to local problems and larger international issues. In a true affirmation of global citizenship, IVECA partners go into the Live Class season as members of a larger global community, more capable of effecting meaningful and sustainable change as individuals who identify as global citizens with shared challenges and equal responsibility for making a more peaceful and understanding world.

#IVECA, #IntercuturalCompetence, #GlobalCitizenship, #Ed4GlobalCitizenship, #SDGs, #ClimateChange, #Globalization, #GlobalCitizen

Global Coordinator Presents IVECA’s Model for Success

On April 25-26, IVECA Global Coordinator Ms. Hind El Mimouni presented

IVECA International Virtual Schooling

to the faculty of Education Sciences at Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco. Within the conference’s larger theme of Innovative Technology and Interculturality, she shared with the academic audience how IVECA connects schools around the world through a virtual experience in which they are able to interact and develop intercultural skills for global citizenship.

Ms. Hind started explaining how an IVECA semester is typically implemented. Teachers, administrators and educational leaders are all welcome to join our program and the first step is to attend an interactive Professional Development Session in which the technological aspects needed to run the program are presented. After that, classrooms are matched with specific partner schools in different countries according to grade, curricular needs, and target language. For a period of approximately 10 weeks, students study and collaborate via IVECA’s Virtual Classroom, while teachers mediate the learning experience and develop their leadership skills in intercultural competence.

Ms. Hind explained the importance and uniqueness of IVECA’s curriculum design framework developed by the IVECA founder, Dr. Eunhee Jung, IVECA’s program seamlessly integrates participant schools’ pre-existing curricula, national standards to the five dimensions of intercultural competence through engaging and challenging activities. She went further and emphasized that as IVECA is also committed to the United Nations (UN) Agenda of 2030, most lessons are aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and, therefore, has been contributing to this worldwide task of a better world. She remarked on the importance of IVECA’s model, which offers ongoing support and assistance throughout the semester, and also monitors and assesses the growth of students’ intercultural competence.

Ms. Hind elucidated the distinct qualities of IVECA’s programming, and how - beyond our internationally respected and UN-supported curriculum - IVECA is also recognized for its effective applications of synchronous and asynchronous exchange methods. Also unique to IVECA is its regular organization of Global Youth Roundtables in New York where youth UN representatives are able to meet in-person in New York and virtually with students around the globe and engage in a constructive and lively exchange of intercultural skills, knowledge, attitude and awareness. Ms. Hind expressed how special the IVECA experience is for all involved - whether they are students (through our STEAM and Global Citizenship program), teachers or leaders in international and innovative education. Ultimately, the presentation was a resounding success and the audience was deeply moved by IVECA's commitment to promoting intercultural competence of Global Citizens in making a more peaceful and beautiful world.

#IVECA, #IntercuturalCompetence, #TeacherProfessionalDevelopment, #Ed4GlobalCitizenship, #SDGs #ICTinEdu #Teaching #GCED #GlobalCitizen