Educational Studies (EDST) 632

Overview

The overall goal of Educational Studies 632: Global Education is to examine the contested phenomena of globalization, particularly the continuous expansion of neoliberal economics since the 1990s, and then to examine the plethora of educational responses to it. Global education grew out of two historic roots: the long liberal tradition of school improvement and progressivism in the early 20th century as well as the international development, peace, environmental, multicultural and human rights educations that evolved since the 1970s. Under the new rubric of global education, educators endeavoured to weave these strands together into a holistic approach. It is important to recognize that the ideological spectrum that informs global education is broad – from enabling the corporate push toward globalization to a substantive critique of the seismic reforms wrought by neoliberalism in both the educational and social arenas. Generally, however, global educators espouse the desire to promote global peace and understanding within the context of growing interdependence and to foster the formation of responsible global citizens and active citizenship.

This purpose of the course is to enable learners to explore the inherent values, assumptions, and ideologies that inform the spectrum of “global educations” as well as engage in personal reflection on their location in the education field. Specific objectives include familiarizing course participants with diverse perspectives on neoliberal globalization and accompanying educational reforms, the historical precursors to global education, as well as the current paradigms, topics and pedagogical approaches within global education, primarily in K-12 schooling but also in adult education. New trajectories of theory and practice have developed out of global education, which will also be examined.

The course will mingle perspectives from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres and various social locations in an attempt to question and challenge dominant Western Euro-American perspectives and epistemologies. Learners will have the opportunity to situate themselves within this global reality, as a form of self-reflexivity and as part of a critical reflection process that considers the social responsibilities and ethical commitments of educators. The course will close by considering the contentious issue of providing space for dissent and social action within institutionalized global education learning.

Objectives

Upon successful completion of EDST 632: Global Education , students will be able to:

• be conversant with the historical precursors to global education, current paradigms within the field, and contemporary developments.
• demonstrate a high level of reflexivity to explore self-understandings, interpersonal understandings, and carry out a social contextual analysis.
• identify contested notions of globalization including neo-liberal and critical perspectives, implications for educational institutions and traditional notions of citizenship, and develop a critique of related educational reforms.
• understand, discuss and critique the development of various global education paradigms, topical areas, and competing agendas within global education.
• distinguish between pedagogical approaches and applicability to their own educational practice.
• research a global issue exploring pertinent sources for information, offering a multi-perspective analysis, and creating a pedagogical process for teaching about this issue.
• create a learning module and debrief the module through an integrative analysis that demonstrates course learning.
• understand the issues in global education as a social movement and the ethical issues embedded in educators fostering dissent and social change.
• engage in respectful and responsible teamwork to carry out a research project and class presentation.
• coherently and concisely present analyses of global education literature; produce logical, well-researched, persuasive arguments in written materials; and display academic integrity and rigor in research and class interaction.

Evaluation

To receive credit for this course, students must participate in the online activities, successfully complete the assignments, and achieve a final mark of at least 60 per cent. Students should be familiar with the Master of Arts—Interdisciplinary Studies grading system. Please note that it is students' responsibility to maintain their program status. Any student who receives a grade of "F" in one course, or a grade of "C" in more than one course, may be required to withdraw from the program.

The following table summarizes the evaluation activities and the credit weights associated with them.

Materials

Athabasca University Online Materials

Course Home Page: You will find Course Information (including the Assignment File and other pertinent information) at the top of the course home page. You will also find your Study Guide presented unit by unit online. You will find your assignments and links to submit your work to your professor on the course home page.

Athabasca University Library: Students are encouraged to browse the Library's Web site to review the Library collection of journal databases, electronic journals, and digital reference tools: http://library.athabascau.ca.

Important links

• Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies
• Focus Areas
• Courses
• Fees and Funding