How to cite this journal: Author, Date of the post, WMO Conflict Insight, Title of the post, ISSN:
2628-6998, https://worldmediation.org/journal/
This short reflection discusses the enormous benefits and possibilities that the digital age offers the educational industry.
Thank you very much for sharing your time with me, as I am about to share with you my perspective on how to reach a youth that is longing for interactivity, internationalism, and globalism in its widest meaning.
Being responsible for the education of a new generation means first of all to reach this community and to communicate on one common level. Nowadays, we need to accept that the digital age created enormous changes in our daily life. While I do not want to speak about digital addiction and burnouts caused by the restless use of mobile devices, I would like to focus on the chances that the digital age offers us.
We find ourselves at a new stage of independence, flexibility, and creativity. The community of our potential students is well aware of these settings and more likely heavy users when it comes to terms such as networking on a global level, sharing expertise to all corners of the planet, and making friends in a way beyond race – nationality – and believe.
I believe that the pandemic of COVID 19 was a tremendous boost and hint for us to finally make use of the tools that were already latently available to us. But what does it mean when we talk about a Global Education for a Global Generation? To me, it means that educational authorities become the intersection of global expertise and a mass of global students.
Now, we have the possibility to equip universities, colleges, and all kinds of schools with an international staff of experts and an international audience of students at the same time. Digital education enables us to go beyond our traditional understanding of having on-campus lecturers, students, and classes.
Now, that the use of online teaching devices became even more accepted, we are able to connect teachers and students on a global level, and create an exchange of knowledge – from both sides – that we did not experience in human history so far. Not only the students may benefit from a diverse team of lecturers with different backgrounds and conceptions, but also the lecturers themselves may benefit in the same way from the diverse feedback of their students.
Personally, I experienced this wonderful exchange of knowledge transfer – back and forth – for over a decade already. It all started with the online course on Mindful Mediation and Conflict Management that can be found on the website of the World Mediation Organization. Even back then, it was my vision to develop the first training in Mediation that may fit a community of global students without introducing European concepts to their lives, but to merge with their background and make them truly become globally-inspired experts.
Conclusion:
This reflection may encourage all of you to follow this path, to take the next step, and to reach out to a young generation that is longing for your individual expertise. Because only by unifying individual lecturers and students, we become a diverse community of global experts, that is equipped to manage the challenges of this millennium.
Thank you for your attention, and I kindly ask you to contact me for any further exchange.
Stay happy, keep safe.
Dear Stephen,
thank you very much for your thoughts and insights. I hope to clearly communicate my vision in this article but also on this website in general, namely that we all have to get together in order to exchange and to learn from each other. We should all meet on one common level and cherish the process of growing mentally, spiritually, intellectually and as a group in general. As a group, we may encounter our current challenges being well equipped and ready to fight distraction and disorder, and to relocated the focus on where it should be, namely on the welfare of mankind.
Best regards, Daniel
Dear Stephen and Daniel,
The mixing of online resources as the WMO can be further fueled by local groups at places such as libraries where some technology and interaction can be shared.
Fostering online learning is definetly wonderful especially when people better learn to distinguish quality information.
Groups in different countries with different access to technology can thus be united if there is at least one workable point of contact.
Dear Pr. Erdmann.
I deeply appreciate the direction you wish us to follow, especially the young generation. The digital age is near-inevitable space for learning today, and with Covid-19, it has become increasingly more helpful to consider this amazing option. I humbly will say that I am a beneficiary too in the last five years. We might be moving into the generation of what Nye (2007: 279), called the evolution of a hybrid world order, where there are many players, stakeholders, and actors. The cyberspace is growing as well as challenging, and multilevel interdependence is obvious. My concern is that while rich nations could be able to pull through and fast, poor nations (not poor in the human resource but human capabilities), like Nigeria will have to struggle with this for a very long time. Sad!