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What is Global Competence? Help us better define global competence. Send in your students' work. Be a part of a ground-breaking effort to assess student global competence. We are collecting samples of work that demonstrate student global knowledge and skills at various developmental levels. Once the work is published, it will help teachers strengthen instruction and better evaluate student work and provide examples for students to help them strive for greater achievement. With each submission, you will be entered into a regular drawing for $500 Staples gift certificates. Learn more and get involved (PDF download). A globally competent student can Investigate the World Recognize Perspectives Communicate Ideas Take Action Students investigate the world beyond their immediate environment. Students recognize their own and others’ perspective. Students communicate their ideas effectively with diverse audiences. Students translate their ideas and findings into appropriate actions to improve conditions. Students can: Generate and explain the significance of locally, regionally or globally focused researchable questions. Identify, collect and analyze the knowledge and evidence required to answer questions using a variety of international sources, media and languages. Weigh, integrate and synthesize evidence collected to construct coherent responses that is appropriate to the context of issues or problems. Develop an argument based on compelling evidence that considers multiple perspectives and draws defensible conclusions. Students can: Recognize and articulate one’s own perspective on situations, events, issues or phenomena and identify the influences on that perspective. Articulate and explain perspectives of other people, groups or schools of thought and identify the influences on those perspectives. Explain how the interaction of ideas across cultures influences the development of knowledge and situations, events, issues or phenomena. Articulate how the consequences of differential access to knowledge, technology and resources affect the quality of life and influences perspectives. Students can: Recognize that diverse audiences may perceive different meanings from the same information. Use appropriate language, behavior and strategies to effectively communicate, both verbally and non-verbally, with diverse audiences. Explain how effective communication impacts understanding and collaboration in an interdependent world. Select and effectively use appropriate technology and media to communicate with diverse audiences. Students can: Recognize one’s capacity to advocate for and contribute to improvement locally, regionally, or globally. Identify opportunities for personal and collaborative action to address situations, events, issues or phenomena in ways which can make a difference. Assess options for action based on evidence and the potential for impact, taking into account varied perspectives and potential consequences for others. Act creatively and innovatively to contribute to improvement locally, regionally or globally both personally and collaboratively.

Managing these virtual classrooms can be quite difficult

Baab advises teachers of virtual classes to be very consistent. “Set up a structure and stick with it,” she says. “Maybe it’s creative and colorful to change things every day, but then a student has to learn their ‘classroom’ all over again.”

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Interactive whiteboards are used in many schools as replacements for standard whiteboards and provide a way to allow students to interact with material on the computer. In addition, some interactive whiteboards software allow teachers to record their instruction and post the material for review by students at a later tim

3D virtual environments are also used with interactive whiteboards

World Wide Web enables one to access volumes of information, earn graduate degrees on-line, submit mortgage applications, procure countless goods and services, and communicate instantaneously on a global basis. The increased use of technology in education is accompanied by concerns about technology's role in education.

One study by the Center for Applied Special Technology has shown that students with on-line access scored higher in the areas of information management, communication, and the presentation of ideas. According to one article the use of instructional technology offers great promise in helping "students become independent, critical thinkers, able to find information, organize and evaluate it, and then effectively express their new knowledge and ideas in compelling ways" (CAST, 2000).

In the CAST study the results revealed that students using on-line communication became more confident carrying out and presenting a research project over the course of the study.