IVECA Begins Exciting Fall Semester 2021

In September 2021, IVECA started its fall semester with students and teachers from multiple cities in Argentina, China, Korea, Malaysia and the USA. This fall semester has expanded IVECA’s ongoing mission to transform school education towards internationally connected virtual schooling, where any student around the world can have intercultural and global learning opportunities throughout their regular education system.

All levels of elementary, middle and high school students from more than ten schools in Incheon Metropolitan City, South Korea, began their IVECA intercultural virtual exchange activities through support from their City Office of Education. Expanding their participation from the spring semester, an Argentinian School from Pampa initiated using the IVECA program for their language subject classes of their whole secondary school students from 7th grade through 12th grade. A middle school from Florida also adopted internationalizing all their 8th-grade history classes through IVECA.

After Malaysian students’ first participation in IVECA’s Global Summer Camp, their high school in Betong decided to integrate their fall semester curriculum into IVECA’s globalized activities. It is also a great excitement to diversify IVECA’s topic areas by involving Acting and Dancing classes from South Korea and China.

Welcoming all the continuing and newly starting participants, IVECA looks forward to providing unique and meaningful experiences for global citizens of teachers and students.

#IVECA #InternationalVirtualSchooling #InterculturalCompetence #GlobalCitizenship #GlobalEducation

Students Experience Memorable Roundtable Event

Middle and high school students and their teachers from India, Korea, and Malaysia reflected on their achievements following their Global Virtual Roundtable (GVR) Event. Thankful for their experiences, the IVECA Summer Camp students shared a connection that was a memorable and unique learning opportunity. One teacher from Malaysia shared that her “students enjoyed the process so much and we can assure that the knowledge will be cascaded among other students who have yet to undertake a similar journey.”

The IVECA GVR Event was held on July 29 through collaboration with the Incheon Metropolitan City Office of Education East Asia Global Education Institute (IEGI). The GVR was opened by Dr. Choongyeol Yoo, President of IEGI, and attended by distinguished guests from Korea such as Dr. Sunghoon Doh, the Superintendent of Incheon Metropolitan City Office of Education, and Mr. Jihoon Lim, Chairman of Education Council in the Parliament of Incheon. The GVR also had an expert panel of speakers, including His Excellency Dr. Hesham Elnakib, Ambassador Extraordinary of Egypt, as keynote speaker, Dr. Eunhee Jung, President, IVECA International Virtual Schooling, as moderator, and panelists Dr. James Ryan, Superintendent & CEO at PNW BOCES in New York and Dr. Alexander Kotsakis, Atmospheric Scientist at NASA in Washington D.C.

The student teams cooperated throughout the camp on their meaningful projects, promoting the soft powers of their countries to serve humanity. The soft power from each nation was branded and promoted to help other countries, as well as their own nation, achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Students’ projects included national animation companies promoting peace (SDG 16), drama and movie industry raising awareness of gender equality (SDG 5), traditional cuisine contributing to good health and well-being (SDG 3), and an international commodity delivery system demonstrating innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9).

During the GVR, three experts shared their own experiences and observations encompassing the topic of “Promoting Soft Power for Humanity.” H.E. Dr. Elnakib summarized the spirit behind the summer course, that “soft power is the voice of peace, is the voice of humanity, is the voice of prosperity.” Dr. Ryan described the importance of creating school environments where students “engage with others through project-based, problem-solving group activities for empathy building and global citizenship” such as the IVECA Summer Camp. A scientist, Dr. Kotsakis explained how his work and collaboration at NASA contribute to humanity as soft power, “the conclusions that we draw from [the] research ultimately can better humanity by helping inform citizens and the general public.” The experts emphasized that diplomats, policymakers, educators, scientists, and students can all participate in promoting the soft power of their nations and contribute to making a more sustainable and harmonious world.

The closing celebration of the GVR Event welcomed a special guest singer, Mr. Moojin Lee, to entertain the audience and represent one of the soft powers of Korea with his K-pop performance. Students also shared cultural representations of their countries through song and dance performances from India, Korea, and Malaysia.

The IVECA Global Virtual Summer Camp and GVR event served as an unforgettable experience for many students, one student from Korea sharing that, “I will never forget the time when I could communicate with my friends and teachers from various countries and prepare various presentations together.” The Summer Camp course encouraged global collaboration and teamwork among the country’s team members and also between partners from different countries. The course shared a common goal of improving humanity through soft power, with one student reflecting that, “everyone will strive at their best so together we create a wonderful [place] to live.” The IVECA Global Virtual Roundtable was an exceptional event celebrating global partnerships and friendships.

#IVECA #IVECASummerCamp #GlobalCitizens #SoftPower #GlobalVirtualRoundtable #Incheon #21stCenturyEducation #InterculturalCompetence

Korea and Papua New Guinea Combat Climate Change

Students and teachers from Korea and Papua New Guinea were inspired to share about their countries during their Live Class on Friday, July 30. The program was an intense 2-week program exchange between students with meaningful exchange activities. For one student from Papua New Guinea, “over the course of these two weeks, IVECA has helped broaden our understanding on various sustainable development goals and other pressing issues that are affecting the global communities.” Led by their teachers, the student groups had been researching climate solutions to help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13, to take urgent action to address climate change and its impacts. Students tackled climate issues such as sea-level rise, deforestation, and greenhouse gas emissions.

As part of their proposed solutions for climate change, students suggested government partnerships to further the climate agenda. Additionally, some groups recommended youth coalitions to lead awareness campaigns in their countries. Both Korean and PNG groups realized that additional support would be needed to make the most impact on their climate solutions. Students from both countries also proposed technological solutions to the issue of climate change. Ideas ranged from social media campaigns to satellite remote sensing equipment to help combat the effects of climate change. Although the solutions for climate change varied greatly, both countries realized their shared passion for finding innovative solutions together. “It was very impressive that through better awareness of people about climate change and its effects, our countries would be able to combat climate change,” said a student from Daedeok High School in Korea.

#IVECA #GlobalCitizen #21stCenturyEducation #VirtualClassroom #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #ClimateChange #GlobalIssues