“What lens do you use to look at the world?”

“How can we help students explore and find greater depth, to see that things can be accomplished in so many different ways, and not just in terms of our own value systems? How can different value systems co-exist within ourselves and many times we are not even aware? How do we help students see beyond right or wrong, and see their value systems as different lenses that color the way you seek answers?”

This is the mind of Constanza Hazelwood, Great Lakes Water Studies Program Coordinator, as she discusses global awareness in her teaching and learning experiences in the Internship and The Water Studies Independent Studies course she leads in Costa Rica.

Many travel abroad programs aim at taking students overseas.  While visiting another country can be a transforming experience, Constanza Hazelwood emphasizes that the development of global competencies entails more that traveling.

“Traveling is just the first step.  When our students take our course abroad, they are expected to contribute to the daily activities of the host institution and the neighbor communities.  They interact with adults and children by teaching English in one-room schools, working with ESL students at the University, building a biodigester for small farms, performing water quality tests and baking pies at EARTH’s International Fair to collect funds so parents can travel from countries all over the world to attend their students’ graduation.”

In Constanza’s course, students travel to a site overseas where they explore many cultures, while learning about topics such as economics, farming, and renewable energy.  To prepare for the internship they may enroll in a two week Spanish bootcamp course right before they leave and they prepare a presentation to be delivered to students and faculty at the host University.

“Students traveling abroad are expected to be ambassadors for our region. They prepare presentations that have left powerful messages about the Grand Traverse region, a community that is well known for its efforts in water conservation.”

While students prepare for their presentations in Spanish, they begin to make connections with people from diverse cultures and they recognize the value of addressing common problems through multiple lenses.

Constanza’s students have given people abroad a very good representation of our region, and they have left the audience wanting to visit us. 

“We have created a pipeline of interns from EARTH who spend one semester back in our region.”

As much as she appreciates the opportunity of traveling abroad with students, Constanza also sees the need to work on the question of how to develop global competency without traveling.

“There is much to be said about travel abroad, but equally important is to ask how to engage students in the development of global competencies while enjoying the comforts of their own living room? We must  inspire them (students) to act, to do something, to be part of a global community.  No matter what your professional area, there will always be a need to exercise some global competence.”

So, how does Constanza think about developing global competencies in any classroom?

“I am very glad we don’t need to reinvent the wheel”, she says. “Many frameworks, some new and some a bit more aged, help me think about what students need to know and do to become globally competent. For example, one can ask students to:

• Become aware of a global issue:
  • Examine the problem from multiple perspectives.
  • Communicate ideas by using multiple formats, languages, audiences.
  • Act upon a problem of global significance.

For Example:

“You can help develop global awareness by asking students to take different perspectives on an issue. Fostering in your students the ability to understand problems from multiple view points, and highlighting solutions that may not be the most appropriate from their own perspective.

One example that comes to mind is a discussion that takes place towards the end of the semester in our Freshwater Studies class. While our students are conducting an independent study of watersheds around the world, they read about the pros and cons of developing hydropower and they often discuss opposing views towards dam construction. But it is not until we invite a local tribal elder to our class, that our students really come to think critically about water as a “resource”. The tribal value system clashes against the common perspective of treating water as a resource. In the tribal view, every step has a foot print that lasts seven generations down the road. Water represents the veins of Mother Earth that should be allowed to flow freely.

So how do you reconcile both perspectives in the real world? This is when we ask our students to envision their role of resource managers and ask: how will this tribal view change what you value?”

“If you haven’t already explored using global perspectives in your teaching, you should try it.”

Do you have a global assignment you use?  We would love to hear about them, please comment below.