Educators to Discuss Bridging the Digital Divide in Underprivileged Communities Around the World

All the World‘s a Classroom: Inspiring Telecollaborative Learning Activities in Underprivileged Schools, is a public discussion of an award-winning, international program that links educators in developing nations through telecollaborative learning activities. This colloquium, which is free and open to the public, will be sponsored by the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa‘s College of Education on Friday, November 1, from 3:00 - 4:30 p.m. in the School of Architecture Auditorium (Room 205).

The integration of networked technology introduces the possibility for students and teachers to acquire greater global awareness. However, many teachers in Hawaiʻi and abroad lack experience beyond their national borders as well as with the technology necessary to construct global learning communities on the World Wide Web. How can these teachers prepare their students and themselves for the profound changes that occur when they step from the shelter of four walls in a local classroom, to the public forum of a worldwide community of learners? How might their participation in global, telecollaborative learning communities stimulate pedagogical innovation and new opportunities for their students?

This event will feature speakers involved with the World Links program, an educational initiative that began in the World Bank Institute in 1997 and now serves students and teachers in 27 nations. Thereza Brino, the national coordinator of Enlaces-Brasil, will describe how the program fosters an online learning community dedicated to the professional development of educators in the public schools of the "favelas," impoverished communities in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. R.W. Burniske, an assistant professor at UH Mānoa‘s Department of Educational Technology, will discuss the challenges of designing and implementing a professional development program for a global community. Burniske is the author of Literacy in the Cyberage: Composing Ourselves Online and co-author of Breaking Down the Digital Walls: Learning to Teach in a Post-Modem World.