EME 2040 - Reflection 6

Telecollaborative learning arose when they began a project for students in Israel called "We The Children." They wanted to be sure that the students felt save in their environments, which in turn would help them to learn better. I believe that there are two places where a person should always feel save. Your own home, and your school. Your home is your shelter and if you don't feel safe there, where can you feel safe? Children are in school the first half of their day. It is almost like a second home to them. Usually, children in schools are told to trust their teachers and other school authorities. People we trust are people we feel protected by. If we don't feel safe in a place full of people we are told we should trust, then once again, where can we feel safe? I can imagine that when a student feels unsafe they are nervous and on-edge. It must be hard to properly learn under those conditions. People conducting this project asking the students to describe what thwy considered to be a safe classroom. This information helped them to compare the student's idea of a safe classroom and their current situation to see whether it was ideal or not. Many of the students in Israel felt that they weren't safe in their environment. They were scared to go to places even if they were protected by security, such as the movie theater. And even if they did feel safe going to see a movie with their friends, they felt as if they weren't safe enough to use public transportation to get there! Just about anyone can use telecollaborative learning by gathering a students in groups to help each other solve a problem by using the internet and other resources. This approach will assist the student develop critical and creative thinking skills and even have them get comfortable with the usage of technology. This project had Israeli students and Canadian students e-mailing each other back and forth. They found that the topics they spoke about were of what normal 13-14 year old teenagers are interested in, music, sports, weekend activities, and fashion. They were able to only see the difference when the Israeli students described their unsafe environment in the poems they were assigned to write. One student even wished they lived in Switzerland. The interaction between the very different worlds amongst these adolescence helps them to understand the terrorism going on around them and helps the slightly more privileged students to appreciate the safety that they have in their country. Telecollaborative learning can give the student a better worldview and compassion.