Global Themes
How might we address global themes through the content of this course/project? In this workshop, you will make the content of your course/project deal with broad, interdisciplinary topics that reflect real-world issues and challenges. In your course/project, students will be encouraged to consider issues such as sustainability, social justice, and global citizenship.
Duration
60-90 min.
Materials
For live session: post-its, pens, printouts of worksheets. For online session: Miro template, charged laptop, internet.
People
2-6 people, 1 facilitator.
Preparation
It is recommended to have a basic understanding of constructive alignment prior to using this workshop. Learning objectives and assessment should be pre-defined.
Follow the steps of this workshop, to go from brainstorming on the topic of global themes, to prioritising and developing an action plan for the (re)design of your course/project.
The first activity of the workshop is called the Global Themes Chart. This chart is a table in which the teacher can brainstorm which themes relate to their course and put this information across a certain time span.
Instructions:
- Read the “How Might We… Question” in the yellow post-it on the canvas.
- Reflect: how do the global themes indicated in the chart relate (if at all) to my course/project in 5, 10, 20, 30 years?
- Write down topics and challenges that answer the previous question on post-its and stick them in the corresponding cells.
- Draw arrows to indicate relationships between different topics.
- If needed, add more times spans to the table.
- If needed, add more global themes. You can pick from the list provided on the canvas or check-out the list from West Sound Academy
Now that you have created a chart containing all the global themes that could possibly relate to your course, it is time to prioritise using this 3×3 prioritization template.
Instructions:
- Analyse all the topics and challenges you identified in the previous activity from an Impact perspective (how relevant is this challenge in respect to all the global themes?) and Implementability (how easy it is to implement this topic in my/our course?) and stick them in the corresponding quadrant of the 3×3 template.
- Use the symbols that you find on the canvas to characterise your ideas: is it something that you wish to implement in your course? Or not at all? Is it something that is already somewhat implemented but could be strengthened? Or is it something that could be implemented, but you are currently not?
Now that you have a clearer overview of which themes have more potential than others to be implemented, it is time to create an action plan!
Instructions:
- Focus on the ideas (that you haven’t marked with “Don’t want to implement”) in the outlined quadrants of the 3×3 template. Which steps do I need to take in order to implement this in my course? Break down the steps in the blue timeline on the canvas.
- What people, skills, facilities, materials are needed in order to make this happen? Reflect and note it down in the corresponding sections, named “Resources needed”.
At this point, you have a complete overview of what global themes you can integrate in your course and a step-by-step how to guide. Well done!
Resources and downloads
You can access the PDF worksheet canvases through the download button: they are ready for print.
Hey, this Chiara, Education Designer at TU/e innovation Space. How can I help you?
This toolkit is meant to be constantly evolving and improving. Do you have any questions or feedback to make this better? Or do you need help with the toolkit? Get in touch!