Using Blended Learning to Promote Global Education

What is Blended Learning?



Blended learning combines traditional face-to-face pedagogy with online resources.  An increasing number of online tools allow students to work on student-centered projects and collaborate with groups both local and global.  Asynchronous technologies such as email and discussion forums allow students to work on their own schedule and interact with others from any area.  Synchronous technologies, such as online webinars, chat rooms, and web teleconferencing tools allow for immediate feedback and real-time face-to-face interaction with experts who can offer additional information on a subject (Bonk, 2009).

Using blended learning can promote global education by using Web 2.0 tools to communicate with people from other regions of the world to supplement classroom learning. Students can consult blogs, wikis, videos or podcasts, to name a few available tools, to supplement existing textbook and traditional classroom tools, and to communicate with global citizens to learn about other cultures. They can also learn to speak foreign languages, like at the Confucius Institute at Michigan State University (Bonk, 2009).

Students can participate in virtual field trips to global museums and other authentic sites, like Global School Net to learn more about a region they are studying.  Teachers can use Project Based Learning to initiate student directed Internet research and collaboration that is combined with face to face interaction in the classroom. They can arrange for video conferences with speakers from another culture using Skype or Google Hangouts, or direct students to YouTube videos showing life in other countries. 




The World Wide Web is a great tool to promote learning about places outside our own borders. 

Bonk, C. (2009). The World is Open. San Francisco, CA/Jossey-Bass.