Tools for Global Communication

Technology is at our fingertips; we have access to the entire world. Technology should be viewed as a tool that should be utilized to increase globalization. It is our job as educators to break down the walls of our classroom and to prepare our students to positively impact the global community. To be a global digital citizen, an individual needs to contribute positively and collaborate in order to build a global community (Israel, 2012). Therefore, students need to have opportunities for positive online interactions. We need to guide children to value technology and the Internet to communicate, collaborate, create and think critically (Blair, 2012). 

With this in mind, teachers need to help students interact and develop connections with others around the globe. Technology has provided limitless opportunities to connect students, educators, and leaders without leaving their home. Tools like Skype, ePals, and even Twitter, offer ways to communicate on a global scale. For example, posting a simple tweet can spark a conversation with a real audience with different perspectives (Davison, 2015). On a global scale, students are able to "share information...and contribute their own thoughts" in an authentic way (Pandolfo, 2012).  

Other Tech Tools for Global Communication:

• Mystery Skype - Mystery Skype suggests you play a game of 20 questions to guess where the other classroom is located.

• Google Hangouts - Students can chat with foreign pen pals or it can also host multiple classrooms for bigger meetings. Sessions can be archived on YouTube through Hangouts On Air, so absent students and parents can catch up on the day’s action.

• Appear.in - This is an application that allows eight users to video chat at once.

• Tumblr - Students can use this blogging site to complete research projects with people from various parts of the world. This site allows users to easily compile and post photos, videos, gifs, text, and other multimedia that would be relevant to the research project.

• Skitch - This is an application from Evernote that allows users to edit photos and snapshots with shapes, arrows, and text. Students can caption pictures, circle important items, or annotate PDF documents posted by others within their group.

• Padlet - This is literally a virtual piece of paper on which users post and organize images, videos, documents, and text. This is useful for collaboration projects.

References

Blair, N. (2012) Technology Integration for the New 21st Century Learner. Retrieved from http://www.naesp.org/

Isreal, R. (2012). What Does it Mean to be a Global Citizen. Retrieved from Kosmos Journal: http://www.kosmosjournal.org/article/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-global-citizen/

Davison, S. (2015, March 4). Social media inside, outside of the classroom. Retrieved from http://smartblogs.com/education/2015/03/04/social-media-inside-outside-of-the-classroom/?utm_source=brief

Pandolfo, N. (2012). Social Media and Video Games in Classrooms Can Yield Valuable Data for Teachers. The Hechinger Report. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/30/social-media-and-video-ga_n_1465082.html

Ronan, A. (2015). 5 Tech Tool Combos for Taking Your Class Global. Retrieved from http://www.edudemic.com/5-tool-combinations-for-globalizing-class/