UNESCO Chairholder in TVET and Lifelong Learning, Professor Bob Adamson was part of a project titled ‘Understanding Global Issues through Cross-Faculty Collaborations’ which was established to find out whether students’ global awareness was actually being increased by their engagement with global components of selected courses and their other interactions and experiences that were introduced for this purpose. In the first stage of the project, 20 participating staff from across the three faculties in the Education University of Hong Kong developed the global awareness elements of 18 courses. The impact of these courses and other experiences on students’ global awareness was assessed in the second phase through a survey of students who took the courses, self-reflective questionnaires completed by the staff, and a series of interviews with students and staff.
The findings show that there is potential for cross-faculty collaboration in developing students’ global awareness through formal (such as including global elements in all courses) and—particularly—non-formal learning experiences. Student choice and involvement in the planning of such experiences can also contribute to greater global awareness.
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