Tonia Lovejoy of the nonprofit Reach the World was one of the scheduled speakers at the Roundtable on Nonprofits and Virtual Worlds, sponsored by Global Kids on July 20. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, Tonia was not able to present.
So I am sharing here her notes from what she had hoped to talk about, which I think is an innovative way of connecting young people to the world. Tonia sees potential in using virtual worlds to help make foreign locales come alive for students through virtual visits to such places as Morocco, Mexico and Japan.
See Tonia's full notes after the jump...
From Tonia Lovejoy of Reach the World:
Reach the World (RTW) is a unique nonprofit organization with the mission of linking students and teachers to online, global journeys that have the power to expand learning beyond the four walls of the classroom.
RTW features multiple journeys on its website www.reachtheworld.org. All of our travelers are volunteers and most are undergraduate study abroad students on scholarships awarded by the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholar Program.
Each traveler writes three types of articles, accompanied by photos and videos, for the website each week. Teachers select a traveler to follow and introduce their students to their traveler through videoconferencing and email. Over the course of the semester students learn about the country or region the traveler is visiting through their interaction with the traveler and the content produced by the traveler on the website.
Through online journeys, RTW hopes to give all students a reason to become caring stewards of the Earth’s environments and cultures.
One of the most exciting aspects about exploring Second Life in relation to the mission of RTW is the opportunity for students to virtually visit the historical locations and cities that their traveler is writing about in their articles.
RTW is continually looking for new ways to integrate technology into our curriculum to aid educators with the task of teaching students 21st Century Learning Skills and Global Competence.
One of our greatest challenges as an organization is that computer and Internet access is still severely limited in many public schools, particularly in the public elementary and middle schools in under-served communities that we serve. Additionally, teachers are often uncomfortable with using new technology tools and applications to teach.
One of the most exciting aspects about exploring Second Life in relation to the mission of RTW is the opportunity for teachers and RTW supporters to virtually visit the historical locations and cities that their traveler is writing about in their articles. This would fulfill one of our goals, which is to unite our online supporters into more of community network.
For student-led experiences, this workshop has led me to investigate other resources, like Google Earth and Taking It Global, which allows for teachers to direct and design student projects.
