During the week of September 17th-21st, #IVECA International Virtual Schooling participated in Global Collaboration Week 2018 – an annual international conference that serves to connect students, teachers, and classrooms “to demonstrate global collaboration and bring awareness of the value of global education.”
This event, of which IVECA has been a partner for the past two years, is an effective way for educators and school faculty to learn about our work and our mission while catalyzing participants to become innovators and leaders in the field of global education. We held three separate Webinars over the course of the weeklong event and communicated a deeper understanding of IVECA’s commitment to sharing a vision of global education that is to foster intercultural competence.
IVECA’s specific contribution to #GCW 2018 comes in our unique approach to global education. Although this conference is open to organizations around the world, IVECA stands out for its long-standing dedication and contribution to the growth of intercultural competence, our role as an NGO in special consultative status with #ECOSOC and #UNDPI, and our commitment to supporting the #SustainableDevelopmentGoals.
IVECA staff Ms. Hind el Mimouni and Ms. Aline Wilbert, with support from Dr. Eunhee Jung, co-directed all three Webinars. During the conversation with educators and school faculty who tuned in from different time zones around the world, they demonstrated how IVECA’s specific mission and vision is available and achievable to all who are interested in making the world a more interconnected, understanding, just and peaceful place. Through a simple assessment, our Program Coordinators can identify how IVECA’s curriculum of intercultural competence can be seamlessly integrated into any school’s existing curricula. Instead of hampering or complicating a teacher’s lesson plan, IVECA’s synchronous and asynchronous programs bolster the ability of teachers and students to interact and learn through our Virtual Classroom.
Our Program Coordinators were able to connect teachers in Ecuador, Brasil, and Tunisia during the Global Collaboration Week 2018 to our #VirtualClassroom so that their schools can begin a dialogue with a partner school on the other side of the world. IVECA’s methodology proves that teachers and students, when given the opportunity to ask questions, share stories, and connect with people of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, are able to develop a better understanding of #interculturalcompetence and our shared community as #globalcitizens.
Our goal at IVECA for #GCW2018 was to initiate a conversation with those that might not otherwise have heard about the successes and importance of our work. To that point, Global Collaboration Week was a triumph for IVECA and the advancement of #global education, #global citizenship, #interculturalcompetence, and the #SDGs. We look forward to strengthening the bonds we made with students and educators last week and the opportunity to participate at #GCW for years to come.