Evaluating Global Digital Education - Student Outcomes Framework Paper

The powerful force of economic and cultural interdependence among nations called globalization, with all its strengths and drawbacks, is here to stay. How can the next generation of students be prepared for the challenges they will face? Recognizing that students should develop global competency at a young age, K-12 schools today offer more global education opportunities than ever before. These include well-developed curricula, strategies for teaching tolerance and cultural understanding, and resources for internationalizing instruction. But how can the complex learning needed for a global education best be made accessible to students in the classroom? And how can educators know that students are developing the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors that ensure they will become globally competent adults?

Global digital exchange is an innovative approach connecting students directly with peers around the world online. Its essence is linking students across national borders, so they can learn from one another to acquire global competency. By taking advantage of student interest in digital technology and peer communication, global digital exchange also supports general academic learning. As technology and internet connectivity become cheaper and more widely available in schools, digital exchange can also make global education more inclusive of students from low-income and isolated communities.

Global Cities, Inc., a Program of Bloomberg Philanthropies, created and operates the Global Scholars digital exchange program for students ages 10 to 13. An indicator of the program’s success is its increasing enrollment over the last five years—cumulatively totaling over 35,000 students— which reflects its low dropout rates, high levels of student assignment completion, and program reenrollment.

Andreas Schleicher, Director, OECD Directorate of Education and Skills, provided advice on this paper.

Table of contents

• Global Education
• Global Digital Exchange
• Analytic Program Model
• The Global Scholars Program
• An Evaluation Framework For Student Global Competency
• Conclusion
• Bibliography

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