A global exchange

Keeping in mind that experience is the best teacher and true education extends beyond the confines of a school environment, academic learning has taken on a whole new dimension. Instructional technology is the new buzz word.
With the aid of the latest communication technologies, classrooms worldwide can go online. Students separated by oceans and continents can engage in direct interactive dialogue and cultural exchange via videophones, the Internet and advanced satellite equipment.

Last month, a series of video-conferences and live webcasts took place between Jordanian and American schools. Students from both countries were able to "meet" each other and discuss their lives, their dreams and hopes for the future. Both sides came out of the dialogue with a renewed perception of the world that was not affected by media or politics.

It was an incredible learning experience. Says Daniel Snyder, a teacher at Pine Crest High School in Florida whose class participated in this exchange: "My students learned more in an hour-and-a-half than they would have in a month-long course."

The Global Nomads Group (GNG) is a Texas-based non-profit organisation responsible for arranging this multimedia educational project on the invitation from Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan. As education content providers, it is their mission to bring cultural awareness to the world's youth and open lines of communication to enhance global understanding and friendship.

In our days, we had pen pals and exchange student programs to make friends with youth from faraway countries and learn about their culture. Nowadays, students can interact "in person" with their peers around the globe without living in the same country through the technology of Internet broadcasting and video-conferencing.

Representing a new segment of IT ventures with a social purpose, GNG seeks to educate students about the world and its people. "(Just as) a nomad is at home wherever he goes and makes the world his home, we want to bridge the boundaries between countries and nationalities," says David Macquart, one of the founding directors of the Global Nomads Group.

The idea for implementing a worldwide cultural awareness programme began when four college students from diverse backgrounds met at the American University in Paris three years ago.
Macquart, along with his friends Hans Mark von Sponeck, Christopher Plutte and Jonathan Giesen, realised the importance of giving kids an opportunity to see and understand individual cultures.

"To plant the seed for a desire to learn about different cultures among students" is the objective, according to Macquart.
Equipped with sophisticated satellite equipment, GNG travels around the world and connects classrooms from different countries for live video-conferences. In this way, an educational framework based on modern technologies such as the Internet, telecommunications and multimedia, can be created.

The dialogue can then be complemented by information and images on websites, and hence be integrated into a regular academic curriculum. For example, during the GNG project in Jordan, American students viewed Petra's treasury and the Dead Sea through a live broadcast in their classroom.

"It's like magic for the kids, who are thousands of miles apart, to have discussions about issues relevant to their lives," explains Macquart about the reaction he witnessed in the students.
The ultimate achievement for GNG will be "Expedition Earth", a three-year multi-country "virtual" broadcasting project to connect school classrooms in over 30 countries and allow first-hand ability to direct their educational experiences.

Until then, GNG is undertaking pairing of school classrooms between countries. The next project will be with students from the U.S. and a country in Central America.
Macquart recently visited Dubai with a proposal involving a cultural exchange with youth in the Emirates.