Processes involved in global collaboration

Global education is a personal passion. Tonight’s #globalclassroom twitter chat looked at “Scaffolding learning from class to world” – a fascinating topic that Laurie Renton in a blog post What is Global Taxonomy teased apart for us with a number of questions. One question that sticks out firmly in my mind is “Is there a progression of global collaboration?”

I experienced one step in that progression today – talking to a class of students through an interpreter. My friend, Lorraine Leo was the main presenter from Boston, USA and the class of students were in Japan. This was my first experience of working through an interpreter and an interesting one.

How it looked!

1. Professor Yoshiro Miyata, who I met through Lorraine, and creator of the World Museum Project, invited me to speak to some students along with Lorraine, using skype or google hangout. However, google hangouts are heavy on bandwidth, so I asked for skype. Unfortunately, I could not use my video due to poor sound quality
2. Lorraine shared her screen with Japan and talked about her use of Scratch with her class and beyond by sharing images. This included our collaboration recently on the World Dot Project.
3. Lorraine would speak a few sentences and then pause for Yoshiro to interpret.
4. Then, it was my turn. I spoke a little, paused and could hear Yoshiro interpret. When I felt he had finished I started speaking again. I have no knowledge of Japanese, so it was very much a guessing game, especially as I spoke to a blank screen.

Up until now, I have found classes where teachers have some grasp of the English language – enough to get by in simple connections. However, this was the first time that English was not spoken. Teachers who are interested in genuine global collaboration, will need to learn how to work with an interpreter and how to do so in all situations – virtual and face to face! Another competency for me to work on!

Have you ever worked in a situation that required an interpreter? What advice would you give?

What is a tweetchat?

Chats using twitter to deliver conversations are becoming increasingly popular. A great variety of chats have sprung up over the last 12 months. Some are held weekly, some monthly, usually for one hour. They are aimed at people with a common interest or passion eg edchat, globalclassroom chat, kinderchat etc. It is a group chat in real time using twitter. To get involved, you need to know the hashtag or #. A number of people may moderate the chat and lead the discussion, keeping participants on task and allowing the chat to formally start and finish.

Tonight we have the globalclassroom chat. Here are suggestions for being involved.

1.  Set aside dedicated time to be part of the chat (usually one hour)
2. Goto tweetchat, and enter globalclassroom (or the hashtag you want to follow) into the search bar (at the top, in the middle). Some twitter browsers allow a dedicated column to be setup with the hashtag eg tweetdeck
3. End any tweets with #globalclassroom. This will bring the tweet to the attention of all who are interested in sharing information about Global Classrooms.
4. Register for tweetchat, if you would like control over various elements of the chat eg speed, saving ability etc.
5. Tweets will usually be sent out prior to the time so that the topic is promoted etc
6. Look for the archives of the chat. The link will be shared at some stage after the official chat time. eg Globalclassroom chats are archived on the Global Classroom Chat wiki. You can read through all conversations should you miss the live session.
7. The chat will often continue on a less intense pace once the dedicated time has passed.

globalclassroom inserted into search window

Why get involved?

• Each participant has a voice!
• great opportunity to meet other partipants from across the world who share similar passion
• access the latest in thinking in a particular area
• access some great resources, blog posts, spaces etc that are shared by participants
• ability to hone in a particular subject
• chance to share your knowledge and help others
• txt chat is not daunting, everyone can type in something
• find many new people to follow on twitter
• help develop a networked brain!

Where can you find hashtags and chats?

• list of educational hashtags compiled by cybraryman
• 50 most popular educational chats and how to use them

Won’t you join me and Tasha Cowdy as we co-moderate global classroom chat this evening, Sunday, Setp 16th at 7pm, Melbourne Australia time (gmt+10)

What have I left out? What else would you like to know about tweetchats?