This article appeared in OnCUE, March 2002, vol. 24, No. 3; Computer-Using Educators. Inc.
Internationalism: Using Technology to Connect Students and Nations
	To be a citizen today, it is no longer enough to know your town or region. You must understand your nation, its place in the world, and how other nations may view things from their own perspectives. To be a citizen today requires an empowered person with multiple perspectives and a global view. Under what conditions do we begin to relinquish control to our charges and begin their real journey to adulthood? When and how do we begin to encourage this empowerment? 
	To quote Ron Herring, executive director of the California International Studies Project (CISP) at Stanford University: “The need for citizen competence in world affairs has never been more urgent.” This was the lead sentence of an article he co-authored with Jonathan Weil (The Contemporary World History Project for Culturally Diverse Students. Social Studies Review, Fall-Winter 1998) which went on to discuss how many California schools have begun to make the study of “unresolved world problems” a core element of their world history curriculums.
	This type of essential question seems to underscore what would seem to be a natural alliance that connects Social Science, Internationalism and technology. We have the Internet. We have curricular standards that cross time and place. And, we now have the technology that can connect us all. 
	How can technology improve our students learning and engagement? What constitutes an example of a ‘Best Practices’ program that utilizes technology to improve standards based curriculum and teaching? How do we prepare our students for the responsibilities of citizenship in a global community?
	One such program that provides elements to enrich and empower the student’s experience, that would not be possible without technology, is a program designed and developed by CISP and the Stanford University School of Education, with support through the Bay Area Global Studies Education Program and the World Affairs Council of Northern California. 
The Contemporary World History Project [CWHP]: Negotiating Unresolved World Problems
	Designed to address the needs of at-risk and middle performing students, CWHP is a yearlong, two-part program, which integrates the study of world problems within the traditional world history curriculum. It also promotes awareness that different countries view many issues differently, depending on their definition of national interests and their social and economic circumstances.
	During the first part of the program, students focus on the historical background of specific world problems within the issue areas of Human Rights, Environment, International Security, International Economics and World Health. In addition to the study of world issues, students give special attention to the history and the culture of their assigned country and its policies. At the same time, students are learning cooperative teamwork strategies and decision-making skills, developed by Elizabeth Cohen (Designing Groupwork: Strategies for the Heterogeneous Classroom. Teachers College Press, New York, 1994).
	The second part of CWHP is a culminating exercise, which is guided by a “World Problems Scenario.” The simulation involves attempts by participating classes to resolve key world problems through communication and negotiation, using email and online conferencing. Eventually, all the delegations meet in a one-day, face-to-face negotiating session in a university setting.
Global Learning Through Technology: Connecting students to…(3)
	Tuckie Yirchott and Carol Marquis have described the CWPH use of technology (Global Learning Through Technology. Social Studies Review, Fall-Winter 1998). Computers are prominent in both the preparation and the simulated exercise itself, which occurs for about eight weeks during the spring semester. Online “press conferences” support the study of the issues and their relationships to the student’s country. In this process, CWHP staff members, know as Simcon (simulation control), pose a series of open-ended questions about specific curriculum. The conferences are very intense and students must take several pieces of discreet information and connect them, matching opinion with analysis and evidence. The curriculum-based conferences also provide practice for future on-line exchanges with their diplomatic counterparts from other nations, i.e., other classrooms.
	Internet research continues with more focus on finding data to inform the country’s positions on the variety of global issues. Each country delegation has eight issues teams that coordinate their research. Each issue team composes a “position paper” that summarizes their research and outlines strategies for future negotiation. The position papers are emailed for review and comment to Simcon, which plays a monitoring role for the entire project. These papers are then posted on an electronic communications system, ICONS, developed by the University of Maryland.
	ICONS provides a web-based email and live conference capability for students, as well as a separate “faculty community” that connects project teachers. The ICONS simulation software was discussed in detail by Jim Masker’s March 2001 CUE article, An Integration of 21st Century Pedagogy and Information Technology.
Preparing the students
	Preparation takes two distinct paths. The first is the utilization of up to 15 CWHP curricular units designed to present the California standards based World History curriculum, as well as to train the students for group work and team strategies. The second path is to prepare them with specific knowledge of their host country, both past and present.
	In particular, my CWHP students used one of our high school’s subscription databases [EBSCO], the ICONS research library site and general Internet searches to develop a series of 30 minute current event presentations for their class mates. The current event format (http://www.sonic.net/bantam1/ce10th.html) was adapted from a presentation format developed by Tamalpais High School teacher Michael Goldstein. With this approach, student pairs are assigned one of the large issue areas and must find current information online to present to the rest of the class in a one-page paper. The paper includes an executive summary and a discussion of the central and underlying issues of their article. In addition, they pose 5 open-ended questions, with an additional 3 online support sites, that their classmates must use to provide a written response, prior to the pair’s presentation to the class. The point of the 30-minute presentation is to provide a student led discussion for each of the issue areas. The paper, lead article and support articles are all posted online.
	 As a first year teacher in the CWHP program, I found both my teaching and my 10th grade World History classes were immediately affected. The students not only began to work in cooperative groups to assess and present information, but they were also learning to value the variety of multiple abilities that each student brought to the table and to express this learning to the rest of the class. For my part, I needed to release a significant amount of the direct control that I usually take with my classes. Yet, my role actually became stronger by virtue of the questioning strategies that are a part of the constant debriefing and by the assessment of their daily individual reports. Higher order questions and seeking evidence became the norms.  It was not until my students first online Press Conference that I began to understand the real significance and effect of this CWHP approach.
The Press Conference
	The first Press Conference occurred upon completion of the unit on Urbanization, Industrialism and Imperialism. This live 90-minute, online exchange gave the ‘delegates’ a chance to demonstrate their content knowledge, their ability to ‘think on their feet’ and to work as a team. 
	As the press conference began, I think that I was the only one who was nervous. These particular groups had only been working together for two weeks. The groups change with each unit; the roles change for each daily activity. In this particular activity, they even changed the keyboardist every 5 minutes. 
	They logged on to ICONS. All began with the same question. From there, Simcon members led each group on their own paths, subject to the nature of their responses. The kids had access to their reports, notes, and textbooks [which are only used for background support]. They immediately took control, discussing, arguing, questioning and laughing. Without exception, every member of each group was involved, contributing and focused on the next response.
	Later that afternoon, Simcon sent me this assessment of the press conference:
Subject: Press Conference Observations
	Just a few quick comments: I'd say the conference was about flawless. No technical glitches of any kind that we saw.
	We were all pretty amazed at the quality of the content/responses. The pace was slower than the usual conference but the answers and focus were superb. It was a real pleasure to get such articulate, detailed and well thought out responses to some pretty high level questioning. I don't think we've ever had any richer exchanges. They really seemed in command of the material. Hope they enjoyed it as much as we did. - Michael
Sample Press Conference questions and responses 
The following are a few of the questions and responses from different teams (Transcript of press conference: http://www.sonic.net/bantam1/transcript.rtf)
First question to all Groups:
Industrialization transformed the countries and cultures of Europe and America in many ways. Today, many countries around the world are just beginning to develop viable industrial economies. Mexico is a dramatic example. Not everyone in such countries welcomes the change. In your opinion, what are the advantages and disadvantages of industrialization? Please be specific when you answer. And feel free to cite current as well as historical examples.         The Press.
	Response: The advantages of Industrialization are that more products are produced, there is more money circulating in the economy, it helps develop technology (for example, the invention and deployment of the Cotton Gin and Steam Engine), and it rockets a country’s economy because as more products are produced, there is more trade with other countries.  The disadvantages of Industrialization are that as more entrepreneurs and businessmen become successful, the hardworking laborers in the factories become more underpaid, and poverty in the community rises. Also with more and more factories being built, pollution at extreme levels is unavoidable, and the environment is greatly damaged.

Why did countries around the world develop differently? Please explain the relationship between imperialism and industrialization in your response.        The Press
	Response: Imperialism is the policy practice or advocacy of extending the power and dominion of a nation. The goal of imperialism is the search for profit and industrialization made it possible for Europeans to produce large surpluses of manufactured goods.  Certain countries were often politically unstable, so they would not develop at the same rate as other countries. Some countries did not have the same resources as others, which also contributed to them developing at different rates.

Did industrialization have any political affects? Does it change a country’s relations with other countries? If so, how?        The Press
	Response: Yes industrialization had political effects. An example is the lawsuits against the globalization of Nike having under aged and underpaid children working in factories. Mexico is breaking rules of NAFTA because of these under aged workers and bad working conditions.
So what!
	During the Fall semester, I have been able to observe the students in my classroom learn to connect past and present situations, recognize more of their abilities and have a growing confidence and trust in themselves, their ideas and each other. A significant factor is the connection and accountability they have established online with other professionals and students.
	As the delegation became more informed about their nation, Mexico, they began to see how their country did not always share the same views or conclusions as the United States, nor would they need to. This process also has been mirrored in their relationships with each other. It is no longer necessary for each group to be dominated by one student or one point of view. Each circumstance, each question, each problem must be looked at from its own unique perspective. Gradually, diverse experiences, skills and viewpoints became more valuable than one cloned view. In learning about internationalism and its varied roots and perspectives, the students/delegates also begin to learn about each other. High and low social/academic status has become irrelevant. Background, evidence and perspective have become more valued. Respect for understanding each other and what each brings to the table reflected an increased understanding of what other nations and cultures face and have to offer. 

Some quotes from the classroom:
Josey Alvarado:
	We were all together; like probably any other group, we had different ideas from one another. However, we learned to work things out and work as the group we were. We also enjoyed being by the computer and waiting for the response.
Justine Rege:
	Switching every 5 minutes gave us all a chance to think about the different questions and discuss them individually and as a group. When the press responded, they were completely honest, if we answered wrong, they told us so we could fix it.
This activity jogs your memory of everything we learned and applies it to everyday life.
Allison Marquez:
	Rely on other people in your group, discuss ideas and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Ryan Wiegmann:
	Making sure everyone put in their own input really helped. It gave us different views, which gave us increased information.
Elizabeth Salgado:
	For some reason, it was exciting waiting for a response, from what you wrote, from someone out of town.
Kevin Jones:
	If you do well in your group, you will succeed.
Adam Kennedy:
	It was an interesting way for us to analyze and use the information we have acquired from this unit. It was fun.
Dana Clementi:
	It was a great learning experience, and I am thrilled to have taken part in it.
Chris Stones:
	We all came together for the responses; we worked as a team.

CWHP Began		1993
Added the Global Forum: 	1996
Number of students [total}		17000
Number to global forum (total)		7000
Number of students this year		2200
Number of schools this year		50
Number of classes:		75
3 regions in the state, each representing 16 countries
65 teachers and about 4,000 high school students are currently engaged in a project-conducted, pre and post assessment of Modern World History knowledge and skills.	

Barry Sovel is a social studies teacher at Casa Grande High School, Petaluma, CA. He is the current holder of the CUE/Leroy Finkel Fellowship. (bsovel@pcsedmail.org )