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Two
hours into a 24-hour around-the-world event held over the Internet,
a 12-year-old American girl logs into a chat room to ask a woman
in Antarctica, "Have you seen any penguins today?" Five seconds
later, through a satellite phone call from Antarctica to California
patched into the Internet, she gets her answer, "No, no penguins.
It was much too cold to go outside."
The
young girl, the woman and a man in California connecting the technology
together were all taking part in Global Learn Day III on October
10, 1999. In fact, the man acting as intermediary between satellite
phones and the Web was founder of the event, John Hibbs.
"Global
Learn Day is part global celebration, part conference, part experiment
and part exploration," explained Hibbs. "We're demonstrating that
education and training can be delivered affordably, from anywhere,
to every nook and cranny on the planet." The yearly event starts
at 00:01 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), during Columbus Day weekend
in the U.S., and ends 24 hours later at 23:59 GMT.
 Volunteers
passionate about distance education and making learning accessible
to everyone, deliver presentations over streaming audio or video.
Simultaneously, other volunteers weave together creative combinations
of technology to transmit that information so that no one is left
behind.
From
New Zealand to Hawaii, the long way around, the event moves from
time zone to time zone, with "harbor masters" in each geographical
area direct-ing regional contributors. At some "port stops, " they
hold in-person events in conjunction with the one happening in cyber
space.
GLDers
LEAD THE WAY
Hibbs
started Global Learn Day as founder and director of the Benjamin
Franklin Institute of Global Education, an organization dedicated
to raising awareness of distance education and to promoting education
worldwide.
He
spoke fondly of the volunteers he called "GLD-ers." They're leaders
in distance education, technology gurus, university educators and
people from all walks of life who care about teaching and learning.
Their mission? To lead global efforts in reducing costs of distance
education while improving electronic delivery.
"GLDers
have a spirit of their own," said Hibbs. "Like Woodstock, this is
not just a one-day event. Through discussion groups, GLDers can
gather year-round to share new findings and build relationships
with people around the world."
Hibbs'
job is to organize presenters
and coordinate volunteer
efforts. "It's quite a challenge," he said. "For Global Learn Day
III, we had 141 countries involved and presenters from 79 of those
countries. Herding cats would be easier than getting GLDers to all
pull together, all at one time, from all over the planet."
Yet
Hibbs has successfully herded GLDers together for three years, and
will do so again for Global Learn Day IV, set for Columbus Day weekend
in October. Major discussion areas include: students, the Digital
Divide, knowledge sharing, technology and futurists.
THE
MAIDEN VOYAGE
Global
Learn Day I, the maiden voyage in 1997, was an exciting beginning.
One
GLDer involved from the start is Terry Redding. He's a retired U.S.
Army officer, past W.K. Kellogg fellow, and founder, president and
CEO of On-
Line
Training in Florida, where he develops and delivers online continuing
education courses.
He
discovered Global Learn Day the day it took place. He had set up
a new computer for his business on Saturday morning, and by afternoon,
he settled in for the full 24-hour event. He listened to presenters
through streaming video, viewed their PowerPoint slides and participated
in online chats.
By
4:00 a.m., John Hibbs had found Redding in the chat room and talked
him into being a presenter. In a 24-hour period, Redding had learned
about and participated in a global conference, all from the comfort
of his home office.
"The
event changed the way I view collective educational activities and
made the access issue of paramount interest to me," said Redding.
"It's been a cornerstone for my company and for how I approach education
in general."
ACCESS
AND AFFORDABILITY TWIN GUIDE POSTS
With
Global Learn Day II and III came opportunities to further explore
creative technology uses, and to continue with the goal of making
education accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world.
"Access
and affordability are the twin guide posts of Global Learn Day,"
said Hibbs. Coordinators ensure that those who are physically disabled
don't get left behind, for instance, making presentations and Web
pages accessible to the blind and deaf. However, meeting the needs
of the disabled is not nearly as big a challenge as reaching people
who can't afford technology. "There are six billion people on the
planet, and only one billion are using the Internet," he added.
"We cannot afford as a society to leave five billion people behind."
Eric
Baber is a GLDer from London who teaches English over the Internet
to people worldwide. Although he sees the Internet as a way of providing
access to education that many people would not have had even 10
years ago, he's very aware that many students who would benefit
the most from distance learning do not have access. "During Global
Learn Day, we talked about how to reach these people and how the
Internet can also be accessed by satellite phones, ham radio or
e-mail," said Baber. As a result of these discussions, GLDer John
Dada from Nigeria, who struggles to bring education to villagers
in remote areas, is now able to view Web sites by e-mail.
DISTANCE
LEARNING A WAY TO LIFELONG LEARNING
Continuing
education is also an important part of the access idea. Terry Redding
has developed a concept about lifelong learning. It begins at about
age 10, when some children undergo an experience he called "the
first moment of lasting excitement. At that moment, something captures
their imagination, whether it's science, art, literature, writing
or sports," explained Redding. "The expe rience fuels their lifelong
learning."
They
then become highly self-directed learners. Redding is convinced
one can create an educational environment that develops more of
these. "These people will demand access to continuing education
because they crave knowledge and know they'll need it to meet constant
change," said Redding.
He
believes that face-to-face education will always exist since people
are social beings by nature. He also sees distance education as
an important, sometimes preferred, supplement.
A
MOVEABLE FEAST
Neil
Hynd, "harbor master" for the events in Abu Dhabi, called Global
Learn Day a "moveable feast" of worldwide education. It breaks down
barriers around the world, and makes people aware of many other
approaches.
"Much
like the Arabian approach to displaying maps," explained Hynd, a
Briton who has worked in the Middle East since the early 1990s,
"the south is at the top. Now, you can't be much different, can
you? The image looks unusual, but it's exactly the same information.
You're just seeing it in a different way."
New
technologies are opening up wide possibilities for Global Learn
Day IV. The format is expanding to a five-day conference, starting
midweek, with physical and virtual events, workshops, seminars and
presentations.
"On
Sunday, the 24-hour spotlight event will happen much as before,"
said Hibbs. "That's where the celebration will start, perhaps with
some prizes for some of these heroic people doing their magical
stuff."
A
CANARY WORTH WATCHING
Hibbs
feels that many others in the education and training fields can
learn from Global Learn Day.
"We're
the Wright brothers of event education," he said. "We're experimenting
with a lot of novel applications of existing technology, so we're
a 'canary worth watching.'
"I've
come full circle since the first Global Learn Day. Then, it was
all about real-time delivery of audio and video, and reach
students in Bombay being able to take classes from Boston. I think
that's real, but it's a decade out in terms of wide use."
He
thinks that affordable, well-used technology in classrooms could
accelerate learning by 15 to 25 percent. Productivity could go up
dramatically.
He
advised schools and corporations to look at e-mail, newsgroups,
chat rooms, good Web sites and good instructors, rather than spend
a fortune on real-time delivery of video and audio.
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By
Gina Adams Palmer
John
Hibbs
