The discussion of attaining a global perspective can be delineated in terms of three distinct questions; what, why, and how. What are the elements of a global perspective? Without an understanding of just what a global perspective is, one cannot begin to formulate strategies to incorporate it. Why should we foster in our children and ourselves a perspective of the globe that contains within it the ability to accommodate all cultures, nationalities, religions, races, and any other characteristic of humanity and the world that has traditionally been a barrier to understanding. These barriers have been the cause of misunderstanding and conflict.
It is the how of the global perspective that this project is targeted towards; how the ever expanding worldwide computer network, the Internet, can be utilized as one vehicle to assist students in attaining a global perspective.
Initially, however, the other questions must be satisfied.
Hanvey (1976, p. 163) defined a global perspective as being composed of five elements or dimensions:
1. Perspective Consciousness
2. State of the Planet Awareness
3. Cross-Cultural Awareness
4. Knowledge of Global Dynamics
5. Awareness of Human Choices
Cross-cultural awareness, perhaps the most important dimension for the purposes of this guide, is defined by Hanvey as:
Awareness of the diversity of ideas and practices to be found in human societies around the world, of how such ideas and practices compare, and including some limited recognition of how the ideas and ways of one's own society might be viewed from other vantage points. (p. 164)
This ability to place oneself inside the head of another culture and look back at one's own actions, motivations, and beliefs from the other cultural perspective, is important in order to be able to negotiate fruitful agreements and undertakings regarding the myriad of problems that face our planet. It leads, almost naturally, to Hanvey's fifth dimension, that of the Awareness of Human Choices as one needs to understand how another culture might arrive at decisions.
Case (1993) accepts Hanvey's discussions on the dimensions of a global perspective as a starting point and expands them to include two dimensions, substantive and perceptual. He describes the substantive dimension as: "...knowledge of various features of the world and how it works" (p. 318). This substantive dimension, therefore, can be viewed as the international education component of global education, more of a physical, social, and cultural geography. It provides a foundation upon which to build global perceptual understanding. Case's second dimension, the essence of his view of global education, and the one that accommodates Hanvey's five dimensions, is the perceptual one. This he describes as "...an orientation of outlook" and further, it "...involves nurturing perspectives that are empathic, free of stereotypes, not predicated on naive or simplistic assumptions, and not coloured by prejudicial statements." (p.318) The National Council for the Social Studies defines global education in terms of the acquisition of a global perspective:
Global education refers to efforts to cultivate in young people a perspective of the world which emphasizes the interconnections among cultures, species, and the planet. The purpose of global education is to develop in youth the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to live effectively in a world possessing limited natural resources and characterized by ethnic diversity, cultural pluralism, and increasing interdependence. (NCSS 1982, p.36) Werner and Case (1996) document the various themes that together constitute the global education movement. From early attempts to describe the earth as a "...seamless great ball of land and water, surrounded by air." (New Canadian Geography, 1899: 3, iii, as cited), through later movements in development education, to the present day movements in peace, human rights, and environmental education, these themes have constituted an attempt to broaden our world view in the belief that:
...the problems, structural relationships, and emerging changes in the world ought to be represented from differing perspectives and with greater complexity. The obligation to do so is a matter of honesty, moral responsibility, and enlightened self-interest (Werner and Case 1996, pp. 3).
Finally, Barbara and Kenneth Tye at New York State University offer their view of perspectives in global education:
1. the study of problems and issues that cut across national boundaries, and the interconnectedness of the systems involved-economic, environmental, cultural, political, and technological; 2. the cultivation of cross-cultural understanding, which includes development of the skill of perspective-taking - that is, being able to see life from someone else's point of view. Global perspectives are important at every grade level, in every curricular subject area, and for all children and adults. (Tye and Tye 1992)
Here, again, is seen the idea of being able to see life from someone else's point of view. It is in this area that the guide "A Global Educator's Guide to the Internet" will concern itself.
Over the past few decades, scientists, theorists, and lay people have come to realize that the human race can no longer afford to indulge itself in regional and nationalistic points of view. Ecosystems know no boundaries. In an age of massive nuclear arsenals, conflicts between and within nations threaten the very existence of the planet. The National Council for the Social Studies issued a position statement on the need for Global Education in 1982. The organization saw the reasons for Global Education as being twofold:
1. The growing interrelatedness of life on our planet has increased the need for citizens to to possess the knowledge and sensitivity required to comprehend the global dimensions of political, economic, and cultural phenomena. 2. Our nation's security, prosperity, and way of life are dependent in large part on citizens developing the capacity to comprehend trans-national, cross-cultural interactions and to participate constructively in decisions influencing foreign policy (NCSS 1982).
With the possible exception of the far right (Caporaso and Mittelman, 1988), all mainstream components of the political spectrum embrace global education in some form or other. From the desire for security, through the need to compete on a global level, to the efforts for peace, understanding, and sensitivity towards the global ecosystem, all of the players on the political stage feel the need to understand and appreciate other cultures and the issues facing the globe. Experience shows that the efforts towards globalization by one element of the political spectrum creates spinoff and unforeseen benefits for the other. Peace brings security. Peace and security afford the opportune climate within which to work at maximizing competitiveness. International trade and competition builds a climate that fosters peace as warfare becomes bad for profits (Newell, 1987).
The world wide computer network, the Internet, is an example of how the efforts towards globalization by one political force, in this case the military, has created enormous opportunities and benefits for all. Initially conceived and created as a tool for communication among the military, administration, and academia, that would be relatively immune to large scale nuclear attack, its resulting decentralized nature and accessibility to progressive minded academicians has been seized on by others of the same ilk to communicate, organize, network, and provide resources. The pure energy of the zeal of these pioneers has created a tool for global understanding (Harvey, 1993). Tye and Tye (1992) point out:
Global education is both an inevitable and a necessary curricular reform, ...inevitable because our society as a whole is moving toward global awareness; and necessary because our children and young people need to understand the world in which they live if they are to live in it happily and well.
A few years after having commanded the spaceship that transported the first humans to walk on the moon, Michael Collins described the development of his own global perspective thus:
From space there is no hint of ruggedness to it; smooth as a billiard ball, it seems delicately poised on its circular journey around the Sun, and above all it seems fragile.... Is the sea water clean enough to pour over your head, or is there a glaze of oil on its surface?... Is the riverbank a delight or an obscenity? The difference between a blue-and-white planet and a black-and-brown one is delicate indeed (Collins, 1974).
Mirroring these thoughts or, perhaps, reinforcing them, the World Commission on Environment and Development begin their report with a reflection of the experience of the astronauts:
>In the middle of the 20th century, we saw our planet from space for the first time. Historians may eventually find that this vision had greater impact on thought than did the Copernical revolution of the 16th century, which upset human self-image by revealing that the Earth is not the centre of the universe. From space, we see a small and fragile ball dominated not by human activity and edifice but by a pattern of clouds, oceans, greenery, and soils. Humanity's inability to fit its doings into that pattern is changing planetary systems, fundamentally. Many such changes are accompanied by life-threatening hazards. This new reality, from which there is no escape, must be recognized and managed (1987, pp. 1).
The challenge for the educator is to foster the development of a global perspective in students, many of whom spend as much or more time in front of the television as they do at school. At the present, sending them to view the Earth as it hangs in space is impractical. Travel, combined with action projects abroad provides, perhaps, the next most opportune method of acquiring and enhancing a global perspective, especially in the areas of cross-cultural understanding as described by Hanvey, Tye and Tye, Case, and others (Carkner 1995, p.i). Yet, as inexpensive as travel is becoming, it is still beyond the reach of most classroom situations. At best, a few representatives from a class can travel to foreign lands and move towards that all important perspective. Their report back to the rest of the class is not likely to cause a spread of their ideals, knowledge, and understanding, however. And so it falls to the classroom teacher to devise strategies for the incubation of a global perspective within the children in his or her charge strategies that can be applied within the classroom, school, and community.
Action projects as described by Ashford (1995) correlate with directions in environmental education as one method to promote cross-cultural understanding. As well as giving students a focus for their energies, action projects serve as a vehicle to "empower" students and to alleviate the despair that can be acquired as a result of contemplating seemingly insurmountable problems or learning of painful occurrences of inhumanity and suffering. Darling (1995) describes how we acquire or aspire to "objective attitudes" when contemplating , approaching, or dealing with cultures different than our own. She sees this attitude as distancing ourselves from the life experience of the other culture. This "objectivity" is a cultural "zone of safety" that allows us to view but not feel, pretend to understand but not empathize. It is in this concept of empathy that cross-cultural understanding is cultivated (Hanvey 1984, Darling 1995).
It is now an accepted fact that we in the industrialized world live in the "Information Age" (Dyrli & Kinnaman, 1994, Betts, 1994). This Information Age is the direct result of the rise of computer technology in many aspects of contemporary existence.
The Internet provides opportunities for students and teachers to garner information on almost any topic imaginable. Wilson (1955) illustrates that the Internet can, "break down the classroom's physical limitations and expand students' experiences and interactions with people of diverse backgrounds" From topic searches using Veronica on Gopher, to software searches using Jughead with FTP students and their instructors will find the Internet a vast storehouse of resources and information.
But resources and information do not, in themselves, promote a global perspective. They are, at most, simply elements of Case's first dimension of a global perspective, that of the substantive. Should educators simply settle for this use of the Internet, they would be involved in the field of international education at best, learning many aspects of the geography of the world and its cultures, organizations, and institutions.
Wishnietsky (1993) describes the process of developing a global education classroom utilizing telecommunications. He states that in order to establish a truly global classroom, the teacher or teachers in charge need to have a thorough understanding of the philosophical underpinnings and teaching strategies applicable to global education (p.25). Action projects, along the line suggested by Ashford, can become joint action projects with students in classrooms in other parts of the world. These transglobal groups of students make up an action team. The process of collaborating over the Internet with students in other cultures enables students to "...share perspectives, ideas, ... with other students from around the world" (p. 27). Wishnietsky offers two examples of the use of telecommunications over the Internet to enhance student cross-cultural perspectives. One event is the reunification of Germany, in which students from North America, Europe, and other countries were able to discuss the ramifications of the events as they were occurring.
The other event illustrates not only the power of the Internet to advance global perspectives, but as an alternative communications medium as well:
During the attempted coup in the former Soviet Union in August 1991, Moscow television was showing Swan Lake ballet and old movies. But Soviet educators were sending messages on the WorldClassroom global network asking for information about the events happening around them. Network subscribers from North America and Europe were able to respond by sending teachers and students firsthand reports about standing overnight with the crowd defending the Russian White House. The messages expressed fear of what the Soviet soldiers might do but also captured the excitement of victory and the beginning of change in their country (p.30).
One needs to traverse the Internet with care. At least as much misinformation and downright trash exists on the Internet as exists in traditional learning resources. (McLaren, 1995). Anyone with a Macintosh computer, a modem, and an Internet account can publish on the World Wide Web.
Yet, there is a large base of useful information on the "net". The challenge is to access and use it effectively. As Wilson and Marsh (1995) point out, students can "...acquire knowledge far beyond the boundaries of their own communities and experiences and gain first hand knowledge of other cultures. Furthermore, because they are engaging in their own research, the information gained can be personally relevant".
Sorting through the trash McLaren describes on the Internet is a valuable lesson in itself. Parallels exist between the trash on the Internet and the content being offered by the popular media. The skills acquired in testing the information being garnered online can be applied to the information being offered elsewhere.
For the global educator, global communication is one key to the a global perspective, and it is in this area that the Internet provides the most promise. Worldwide email is less expensive than using the post office in many countries, simple, and relatively easy to manage. It can be a powerful tool in the fight to get humanity to see past national interests (McLaren, 1995, Wishnietsky, 1993).
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