Tools for Global Communication

Students participate in a Mystery Skype

There are many tools and resources available for a K-12 classrooms to enhance communication across the globe.  In order to accomplish connection, I have broken the tools down into three categories:  Finding connections, tools for connecting, and tools to help educate and prepare students for global connections.

Finding Connections

When I was a Spanish teacher looking to connect my students with Spanish speaking classes, I would first turn to Edmodo.  Edmodo contains many PLCs (Professional Learning Communities), and makes it super easy for educators to connect with one another.  With a simple post to the Spanish message board, I could have five different teachers responding with invitations to connect with my class.  Twitter can also provide a similar outlet for these connections, it's just a matter of finding the right #hashtag.  If the openness of Twitter seems a bit daunting and frightening, sites like ePals and LumenEd provide safer alternatives to finding a class for your students to connect with.  Now that you've found a way to establish connections, let's discuss the different tools available for actually connecting.

Tools for Connecting

When it comes to connecting with others, you can employ a myriad of low tech to highest tech methods.  Some may opt for snail mail (and who says a letter cannot be typed and printed?), while most looking for a faster way to connect will turn to email, messaging, and video conferencing.  My go to email is Gmail, which provides an almost unlimited amount of storage.  For messaging,  students can converse via Gchat, Twitter, Facebook, or other international SMS tools such as Viber and WhatsApp.  The funnest way to communicate, in my option, is via video chat.  The three main video chatting services I subscribe to (all for free), are Skype, Facetime, and Google Hangouts.  Now that you're able to communicate with your new global pals, let's take a look at how an educator may be able to enhance the experience.

Preparing students for and Enhancing Global Connections

Before connecting with students from another country, I believe it's important lay a little ground work first.  Using Google Earth, students can view the country they will be connecting with and explore its geography and topography.  Students can also visit the World Fact Book and other global data bases to obtain a base knowledge of the country they will be connect with.  There are also tools to enhance communication with others. Games that I regularly play in the classroom, like Kahoot and Socrative, can be played by parties in both countries at the same time.  Students can also post ideas to the same virtual boards like Pinterest and Padlet.  Imagine both classes writing and sharing book reports about the same book, sharing those ideas via a blog, and seeing how the points of view are similar and different, and how cultural influences can affect opinions.  Finding and connecting with others is the simple first step.  Determining how these connections will foster an authentic exchange of knowledge and increase student awareness of global issues and cultures is what should be kept in the foreground of arranging these connections.

Additional Resources

For additional ideas and resources, visit:

http://www.fractuslearning.com/2013/05/31/global-classroom-connections/

http://www.insight.com/insighton/education/around-world-10-tools-help-classrooms-connect/

http://www.edudemic.com/5-tool-combinations-for-globalizing-class/