This fall semester, elementary and high schools in the Daejeon City of South Korea have started IVECA's global collaborative learning program with greater enthusiasm since the city schools joined in 2013. After seven years of individual schools’ commitments, the Daejeon Metropolitan City Office of Education (MOE) and IVECA Center for International Virtual Schooling (IVECA) established an official MOU on their collaborative relationship, which was signed by Dr. Dong Ho Sul, Superintendent of Daejeon MOE and Dr. Eunhee Jung, President of IVECA in New York, February 2020.
Along with Superintendent Dr. Sul, City’s education delegates--Dr. Yubin Ko, Director of Secondary Education Division; Ms. Hojoo Lee, Supervisor of Secondary Education Division; Mr. Chang Yeong Woo, Deputy Director of General Affairs Division, and Dr. Jiwon Baek, the former supervisor of the Secondary Education Division--visited IVECA New York office. The delegates from the City of Daejeon, which has 566 schools and about 200,000 students, made the trip to discuss the importance of expanding education for global citizenship, in particular by enabling students to communicate and collaborate globally via virtual learning environments.
Superintendent Dr. Sul commented in his opening remarks of the MOU ceremony, “We are well aware that IVECA has been putting efforts and contributing to fostering competent global citizens from various cultures through your Intercultural Virtual Exchange of Classroom Activities….. Both of us aim to cultivate global citizens who will lead a happy and bright future. I hope that this MOU will further expand and develop the exchanges between two countries to achieve this common educational goal.”
IVECA’s special guest, H.E. Ambassador Dr. Hesham Elnakib commented during the event, “Congratulations on the partnership between South Korea and IVECA, one of the respected UN-associated NGOs, in your common mission to put students together through education and technology for a better peaceful world. We in Egypt also focus on quality education and look forward to building bridges for such global cooperation.”
IVECA also coordinated their visit to Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES (PNW BOCES) in New York, which provides innovative educational programs and services for 18 school districts. Dr. James Ryan, Superintendent of PNW BOCES welcomed IVECA and the delegates, saying that it was "a great opportunity to learn more about what you do and to tell you what we do.” Local superintendents and administrators from BOCES shared how they collaborate for their school communities.
Introducing the ESTEAM initiative in Yorktown Central School District, Superintendent Dr. Hatter emphasized the importance of implementing “empathy” throughout students’ learning activities. He found its relevance with IVECA’s curriculum framework that integrates “compassion”, one of the key elements in global citizenship, seamlessly with school curricula. Dr. Jung concluded the meeting by addressing the great potentials involved in the multi-organizational collaboration for facilitating 21st-century collaborative virtual learning environments. “It would be great to work together to promote the holistic development of our students as global citizens who care for others and benefit humanity.”
As this fall program with schools of Deajeon MOE and their partner schools in the United States, Guatemala, Morocco, and India demonstrates the impact of the partnership, IVECA hopes to expand these benefits further with more school communities around the world.
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