Here are some personal recommendations for International Project Based Learning Opportunities:
One World Classrooms!Have your students prepare for local and global citizenship by connecting them with their global peers.
This program offers a ton of opportunities to connect your classroom with an international classroom. I am currently utilizing the Classroom Conversations with the World option, and although it does cost money, it's been a wonderful experience having my students engage with two classrooms from Indonesia. Below is an example of the assignments I created using this tool.
Local Communities, Cultures, Lifestyles, and Schooling in Indonesia and America Assignment |
VoiceThread!Have your students produce media into collaborative spaces with video, voice, and text commenting.
I used this sort of virtual thread to connect my World Literature classes with two classrooms from Indonesia. Like Skype or a webinar, my students have posted videos, pictures, text, and audio to this platform that our Indonesian "pen pals" can interact with and upload their own materials as well. It's a great way for interaction and media sharing to happen without it having to be live. Below are two conversations my students have been having with international students.
2nd Period Classroom Conversation w/ World 3rd Period Classroom Conversations w/ World |
PenPal Schools!Have your students learn from and share perspectives with students from multiple classrooms around the world on collaborative projects.
I attempted to use this free program with my World Literature students, but several aspects didn't quite work for my curriculum. Although it was super easy to use and actually did connect my students with students from around the nation and world, I felt that it was a little geared to elementary school. The projects seemed simplistic. Also, I didn't quite like that I didn't get a choice of where their penpals came from. Otherwise, I would recommend this program.
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Global Nomads Group!Have your students become empathetic, aware, and taking action to solve some of the world's most pressing issues in a variety of ways with this program.
This website uses technology to create storytelling and personal connections between middle and high school students from around the globe. It has short term programming and semester long projects, but the program I was very interested in was the "Campfire," a semester long curriculum that is a virtual exchange program to enable meaningful cross-cultural dialogue and collaborations. It seems like an awesome opportunity and I believe I will try this program next year. Because I utilized One World Classrooms, I didn't feel the need to use this program for this year...But I plan to in the future!
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iEarn!Have your students worldwide work together online to collaborate on a plethora of projects through this organization that is made up of over 30,000 schools in more than 140 countries.
Very popular in the "Global Education World," this program seems to have some excellent opportunities for teachers from around the world to connect their classrooms. I personally did not choose it because teachers are responsible for finding another teachers themselves, using a social bulletin board or feed similar to Facebook. Not only did I not want to spend the time and energy trying to explore and discover another teacher with similar needs as mine, but I also was worried if the relationship would stay effective. I thought maybe a "paid program" like One World Classrooms would be more successful.
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Belouga!Have your students learn about and discuss each others' lives, sharing their classrooms, cultures, and communities in this dynamic global learning experience.
This is another program I did a bunch of research on and was very close to choosing when planning my international collaborative project for my World Literature class. It seems very reputable, popular, and effective. I maybe would have even chosen it except it did seem like it was better for an elementary school setting. It's worth checking out.
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