Discussions

Hi, Global Ed Folks. This is Steve Hargadon, co-founder of the Global Education Conference.

I want to do three special two-hour mini-events within this year's Global Education Conference (November 18 - 20) and I'm looking for collaborators. If you're open to participating, presenting, or helping me figure out how to structure these topics, please email me at steve@learningrevolution.com.

1. Gap Years. I'm a big fan of gap years, and have one daughter who took one before college. I'd love to focus on the different ways gap years are promoted and accepted in different countries/cultures, what resources are available for students and parents thinking about a gap year, and what good advice is (and where you'd find it).

2. Family Sabbaticals. Somewhat related to gap years, but more focused on families that choose to do some form of travel/study and take time off to do so. I'm looking for specific examples as well as resources and ideas for those who want to take a "family sabbatical."

3. Finding Truth: Global Information, News, and Media Literacy. We are supposed to be living in an era of unlimited information, but we also are discovering the degree to which propaganda, disinformation, manipulation, and fake news are very real forms of communication and even control. How do we sort through the news to try and determine what is true and what is false, what the competing agendas are, how to respect the complexity of particular issues, and why there are differing viewpoints on important topics? What are good cognitive, media, and educational frameworks for learning about and understanding what is going on in the world? What do we understand about why and how information is created, consumed, and controlled; and what are appropriate ways to teach students about this? And finally, what are the ways for the global education community to make a difference in respectful and intelligent dialog around the events of our time?

If any one of these three topics interests you enough to want to help with creating or participating in these mini-events, please let me know!

Best,

Steve

Steve Hargadon
Co-Chair, GEC
steve@learningrevolution.com