Atlantic & Aspen Institute – New York Ideas Event: How AFS Can Get with the “Blended Learning” Program

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Eva Vitkova

Today, we are reposting a blog article from the Global Education blog of AFS USA, one of the AFS Intercultural Programs’ member organizations, with permission of the author Sarah Ingraham.

What a spectacular day at the Atlantic/Aspen – New York Ideas event on May 7^th, a gathering of innovative thinkers and groundbreaking discoverers who monitor trends, create possibilities, and navigate our increasingly globalized 21^st century world with excitement and good intention. From the founders of Google to Zipcar to women on Wall Street to a socially conscious eyewear designer with 100% carbon neutral products, the room was buzzing with brilliant minds. And online education, fused with traditional, brick and mortar education – now known as “blended learning” was definitely a hot topic.

As AFS approaches its 100th year anniversary, it is good time to reflect on the valuable advancements our world has made in e-learning, new technologies, and their application in a disparate world – and how AFS will become part of the innovative mix. David Levin, co-founder of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) spoke about serving under-resourced communities with online, open-enrollment, college preparatory schools, and noted the successful interplay between guided and independent practice and strong student retention rates.

Anant Agarwal, President of edX, talked of online courses reaching remote locations. He was asked, “Does e-learning equalize or widen the social divide?” and responded with a scenario of a student in rural Mangalore, India, where university professors are few and far between so are merely required to hold a Bachelor’s degree to teach at this level. Would this student be better off taking an online science technology course at Berkeley from a PhD expert on the topic? Good point.

David Levin asserted that in the long run access to technology and e-learning tools will only serve to democratize education and narrow the gap. However, the importance of great principals and quality teachers alongside e-learning tools is of paramount importance for the best possible results. How can AFS-USA help to promote e-learning in its intercultural programs for students and teachers? An important question to consider.

For more information on blending learning, please see the following helpful resources on the topic:

The Basics of Blended Learning

The Definition of Blended Learning

Evaluating What Works in Blended Learning

Intercultural Link News Magazine v4 i1 – Global Edition

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Anna.Collier

The newest edition of the Intercultural Link News Magazine has just been launched. Read it on-line or download it here. Enjoy!

AFS Intercultural Programs is pleased to announce the January/February/March/April 2013 issue of AFS Intercultural Link Newsletter volume 4, issue 1 – Global Edition, which can be shared with everyone interested in learning more about intercultural education.

The AFS Intercultural Link News Magazine is the quarterly magazine on intercultural learning in the AFS Network. The magazine features content shared by the Intercultural Learning Work Group as well as other AFS Partners and guest writers, including information on trends in intercultural education, interviews with experts in the field and overviews of upcoming and previous conferences.

The Value of Intercultural Skills in the Workplace

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Anna.Collier

Intercultural Skills is becoming a buzzword in educational and work environments, but why do employers value such skills? And which specific skills are employers actually looking for? British Council, together with Ipsos and Booz Allen Hamilton (a market research and consulting company, respectively), recently conducted a study on the Value of Intercultural Skills in the Workplace which addressed these particular questions.

The study found that “employers are under strong pressure to find employees who are not only technically proficient, but also culturally astute and able to thrive in a global work environment.”

The intercultural skills that where shown to be most important were:

The ability to understand different cultural contexts and viewpoints
Demonstrating respect for others
Knowledge of a foreign language

And these skills were so highly valued because employees with them:

Brought in new clients
Worked well within diverse teams
Supported a good brand and reputation for their organization

The study also suggested that policy makers and education providers could contribute to the development of these intercultural skills by prioritizing:

Teaching communication skills
Offering foreign language classes
Opportunities for students to gain international experience

These results from British Council’s study provide further justification for the importance of developing intercultural skills and sensitivity to differences – especially for the younger generations who have not yet entered the job market.

AFS is proud to have a long history of providing opportunities for its audiences to develop intercultural skills – as an exchange student, host family, volunteer, or staff! Read about the AFS Educational Goals and the Intercultural Link Learning Program as examples of how AFS activity contributes to this global theme.

Aspects of “Everyday Life” from an Outside Perspective

Posted on January 15, 2013 by arturo.romeropereda@afs.org

“After 20 years of opining on weighty bilateral issues like NATO expansion and ballistic missile defense, the political analyst Nikolai V. Zlobin recently found himself trying to explain, for an uncomprehending Russian readership, the American phenomenon of the teenage baby sitter.”

In early December, Ellen Barry from the New York Times featured Nikolai Zlobin‘s new book “America — What a Life!” as an interesting read on Culture-Specific Insights and the perception of U.S. culture from another cultural value lens; in this case, the Russian lens.

But this book is not about the past or present political differences about these two countries. While Zoblin has been a political analyst for years, in this book he does not dive into the traditional narratives of political or diplomatic opposition between the United States and Russia. Rather, he looks at the most quotidian aspects of the U.S. American middle class and tries to explain them, with humor, to a Russian audience unfamiliar with such everyday-life matters. As the quote above reflects, one of the topics that the book tackles is “the U.S. American phenomenon of the teenage babysitter”, exploring the tendency of U.S. American parents to look for a youth (non-relative) to be a babysitter when they go out, while Russian parents would call the grandparents to take care of the children. While the tip of the iceberg may seem a bit boring, Zlobin takes this as an opportunity to reflect on the underlying, less-visible values of family and “grandparenthood” in both cultural contexts.

Another interesting read on this topic mentioned by Barry in her article on Zlobin is Ilf and Petrov’s American Road Trip, a diary of two Russians traveling in the United States and the positive impressions that they had.

Beyond these two books, there are many others that talk about foreign perceptions of a place or country, such as The Great Little Book of Fun Things You Probably Don’t Know About Ireland, a book about Ireland seen from the outside, particularly from an Irish-American perspective, or Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America, the memories of an Iranian girl growing up in the United States.

Can you tell us about similar insightful books that portray a culture from the outside in this manner? Share in this blog entry!

AFS Intercultural Link Newsletter – volume 3, issue 4

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Anna.Collier

The newest edition of the Intercultural Link Newsletter has just been launched. Feel free to leave a comment after you read it. Enjoy!

AFS Intercultural Programs is pleased to announce the October/ November/ December 2012 issue of AFS Intercultural Link Newsletter volume 3, issue 4 – Global Edition, which can be shared with everyone interested in learning more about intercultural education.

The AFS Intercultural Link Newsletter is the quarterly newsletter on intercultural learning in the AFS Network. The newsletter features content shared by the Intercultural Learning Work Group as well as other AFS Partners and guest writers, including information on trends in intercultural education, interviews with experts in the field and overviews of upcoming and previous conferences.

Happy International Volunteers’ Day!

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Anna.Collier

Dear Volunteers around the world – Today is your day!

In 1985, the United Nations declared 5 December as International Volunteer Day, to formally recognize the millions of people around the world who participate in volunteer activities and make visible their contributions on the local, national, and international levels. In celebration of this year’s International Volunteer Day, Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has shared this message:

“Founded on the values of solidarity and mutual trust, volunteerism transcends all cultural, linguistic and geographic boundaries. By giving their time and skills without expectation of material reward, volunteers themselves are uplifted by a singular sense of purpose.”

AFS also extends its heart-felt thanks and appreciation to all of its 43,905 active volunteers, who dedicate their time, energy, and passion to AFS in so many ways! We invite you to view the below video from AFS’s President and CEO, Vincenzo Morlini, as well as visit the AFS Intercultural Programs website today for special information related to International Volunteer Day.

Happy International Volunteer Day!

Culture through Education and Textbooks

Posted on October 30, 2012 by arturo.romeropereda@afs.org

How is culture created? How is it transmitted in educational settings? Can students be exposed to a culture-neutral curriculum? What role do textbooks have in shaping one’s cultural views and attitudes?

These questions arise while reading the article “Textbooks around the world. It ain’t necessarily so”, published in The Economist on 13th October 2012. Textbooks are an essential tool in education and what is taught often spurs controversy, because it may challenge or confirm our accounts of national history, of our culture and the cultures of our neighbors.

An international reference in textbook research is the Georg Eckert Institute, which has collected textbooks from over 160 countries and analyzed their content, maps, images, etc., and has found significant reason to be concerned about this topic. The most controversial areas are history and geography, but opinions also differ around the content of religion and science. Language is a critical area too, especially with regard to which foreign languages are chosen to teach and learn in the general curriculum. The choice of a language may or may not represent the language and the culture that a community speaks. Children and communities expected to learn in a language that is not their first or native language receive subtle messages that their language is not as good, as precise or developed to transmit knowledge and educate. Because language is so rooted in culture, by extension they also sense a devaluing of culture.

Governments and communities all over the world have used textbooks as tools to influence and modify national culture and attitudes, and continue to do so. Sometimes these policies are used to depict the neighbor as undesirable and dangerous. While textbooks can be used to spread knowledge and tolerance, it is important to be mindful of the knowledge limitations and intolerance which can also be built as a result of incomplete or biased information.

We must explore the ideologies printed in educational texts around the world and remain mindful that this is part of our work as global educators in AFS with a mission to build knowledge, skills and understanding that create a more just and peaceful world. As facilitators of intercultural learning, global professionals and emerging global citizens it is critical that we are aware of the messages being sent by our community’s educational institutions. We can reflect on these and ask ourselves how messages are rooted in cultural norms. How do these messages solidify or contradict our values and our understanding of what is right and wrong?

5 October: World Teachers’ Day

Posted on September 24, 2012 by arturo.romeropereda@afs.org

October 5, World Teachers' Day

World Teachers’ Day is approaching! Every year since 1994, 5 October has been a day to celebrate teachers worldwide. The date was chosen by UNESCO to commemorate the adoption of the Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers on 5 October, 1966. This recommendation states the rights, responsibilities and international standards of teachers. Its adoption has helped to establish guidelines to promote the status of teachers and increase the quality of education worldwide.

One of the challenges for teachers in the decades to come will be how to welcome multicultural perspectives into their classrooms and how to bring together students, young and adult, with diverse backgrounds to work in common projects and build a shared multi-faceted culture. Incorporating Intercultural Learning skills and tools into education is needed more than ever.

If you are asking yourself: “What can I do on World Teachers’ Day?”, maybe you can start by creating awareness about the importance of teachers and education in your immediate environment and in our society. Take some time to discuss, share, listen and learn about what education means to you and to those around you. And maybe you can also send an e-card to your teacher (available in English, French and Spanish) to thank her or him for the change that her or his work has represented in your life!

: Send your teacher a ‘Thank you’ e-card!

Language + Culture with VWZ Roeland

Posted on September 14, 2012 by laura.schaack

Intercultural Learning is becoming increasingly recognized as a necessary piece of how modern, global citizens are educated. Some argue that a necessary characteristic of all global citizens is the ability to communicate in a language other than the native tongue. As many languages correspond with one or more cultures and fluency in a specific language could imply competence in a society and culture that speaks that language. To separate the two institutions of language and intercultural learning is to ignore a critical aspect of culture.

Roeland, a Belgian non-profit company promoting language skills in youth, seems to agree. In cooperation with AFS International, Roeland and AFS Partners in Argentina, China, Finland and Switzerland, provided the first group of students to participate in a full English language immersion camp that carried an intercultural component in the United Kingdom this summer.

The aim of this pilot was to test alternative ways of delivering short language programs with an extra focus on intercultural learning, while also being targeted toward a younger age group. Sixteen AFSers between the ages of 13-16 spent 12 days with 50 Belgian students in Sutton Valence, England to gain both linguistic and cultural knowledge. Apart from participating in intensive English language lessons, there were a number of activities, workshops and sport opportunities focusing on ICL, a trip to London and various daily themes such as British Day, Rhythm and Rhyme Day or Fame day. Throughout the camp, students had to follow a very strict “English-only!” rule.

Belgian and AFS Student Participants

Three very dedicated AFS volunteers: Jens Poulsen (AFS Switzerland), Sonja Gustafsson (AFS Finland) and Meng Zhou (AFS China) took charge in bringing the intercultural learning component into action, helped to deal with support issues throughout the camp and supported various other activities at the camp. The work of these volunteers showed how cooperation with like-minded organizations can help us to further the AFS mission of providing intercultural learning opportunities.

AFS International is now in the process of evaluating this pilot program in the hopes of using lessons learned to design a format for possible future collaboration. In the meantime, we hope that this was an opportunity for the almost 70 young students to get a taste of the life-long intercultural learning path, one that has inspired them to explore further avenues with AFS programs and other language-learning organizations.

Rethinking the Groupthink

Posted on August 31, 2012 by laura.schaack

The rise of the 21st century saw the fall of the traditional work space. New technologies and innovations have led to media, speeds, and complexity of communication technologies that we have never seen before. Many have reflected on how new waves in technology have influenced the way humans interact, and we at AFS are no exception. We explore ways to engage and communicate across difference, and to incorporate technology means to be confronted with the challenge of communicating across difference from a distance.

One concept that has been affected by innovation is Groupthink. The term was invented by Irving Janis in 1972 when he wrote Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes, and it is used to refer to the dynamics of a group that collaborates to create, decide, deliberate and destroy. We seem however, to misrepresent Janis. Many societies look at Groupthink as a positive way of co-existing and communicating — a trendy work environment to accompany the trendy new iPad. Work environments want to create a Groupthink feng shui (shared spaces, de-cubalization, and brainstorming stations), and lost was Janis’ true theory. The group, he said, can in fact present a problem.

by Andy Rementer

A recent New York Times article, The Rise of the Groupthink, may be the first step to put Mr. Janis to justice. Studies from a number of accredited universities across the U.S. have done studies on this topic, and have reached similar conclusions: creativity, innovation, efficiency, an increase in both quantity and quality of work, are all possible in isolated environments rather than products of the infamous Groupthink. Some of the greatest innovators in the world have been introverts, working alone in their office without anyone’s input or distraction. A great example could be Steve Jobs, but look one step closer and we find the “introverted Steve”. With all the new noise from the electronics we have, a culture of the extrovert has developed. All the attention and credit goes to the charismatic type. Meanwhile, the basis of the Apple empire started with one man, in a dimly lit basement, with nothing but his own ideas and determination to keep him company.

by Andy Rementer

To clarify, the article does not suggest that personal relationships and social interaction are not important. Instead, it highlights some research conclusions that suggest the peak of creativity happens in solitude. With attention paid to these types of studies, we see how the brainstorming session may not always be ideal. We might take a different approach, creating an office space with a cafe-style atmosphere where you have the possibility of casual interaction and cooperation, but also have the opportunity to work in an individually-structured and focused way. No man is an island, but give him a desk surrounded by oceans and you might be surprised at what he can do.

The ways group dynamics, human interaction, and work environments have been affected by technology and innovation are many and varied – and this varies in the many cultures and countries we live in and visit. What prominent changes have the cultures you identify with experienced?