Global Learn Day: Examples

Global Learn Day has always been conceived as the Earth Day of Learning. However, we have been tied to the notion of a free 24 hour Internet based distance education conference which while an innovative idea at its inception clearly cannot by itself achieve the larger vision of a true Global Learn Day. The 24 hour conference was an excellent vehicle for highlighting and calling attention to the various enterprises around the world that were addressing man’s need to teach and extending the acquisition to knowledge to all parts of the planet. It did this on a weekend when volunteer time was at an optimum, but at a time when most formal learning and teaching enterprises were closed.

With this Global Learn Day we have intentionally opened the door to participation on days other than weekends by encouraging educational enterprises that also highlight mankind’s acquisition and distribution of knowledge to engage in activities during the period leading up to Global Learn Day. This is a new effort with few past clear examples of how to go about participating in the celebration.

This example page is primarily a list of suggestions as to the kind of things those who participate in Global Learn Day can do in recognition of Global Learn Day. This may not have much of an impact this year, though it may have some. But it will become more important during the next few years as we build Global Learn Day into a truly global event.

Schools celebrating Global Learn Day

Engage in school wide activities to highlight the importance learning plays in mankind's survival and success on the planet.
This model can be followed in each classroom at each grade.
Stress the importance being able to share knowledge with others and especially being able to build on a foundation of the knowledge gained by those that have gone before.

Libraries celebrating Global Learn Day

Age appropriate reading lists of books about historical figures who made a significant contribution to man's learning. Focus on books and short stories about learning such as the first schools, noted educators, the first text books, significant contributions that historical figures have made in mankind's acquisition of knowledge and passing it on to future generations.
Books on the history of libraries and their importance.
Suggest other activities libraries can engage in to promote and celebrate Global Learn Day (use a form for this).

Museums celebrating Global Learn Day

Identify various aspects of the museum’s display and learning activities as Global Learn Day events.
All museums are about displaying and teaching the public about various subjects. In a very real way they celebrate and acknowledge the importance of learning in mankind’s history and seek to share that importance everyday. Most seem to be local to a community or region, such as the La Brea Tar Pits and Los Angeles County Museum that we visited this summer. Others are tied to a theme like science such as the Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park and our local South Florida Science Museum. They should call attention to contribution they make to learning and the many people each year who pass through the museum and learn, especially the school groups and children who experience a “first moment of lasting excitement” at the museum.
To celebrate Global Learn Day they might consider highlighting the importance of museums, discuss their own history, and acknowledge the importance of their own founding – especially the individuals who had the vision and committed the resources to bring each museum into existence.

Non-profit organizations celebrating Global Learn Day

Most non-profits have an information or knowledge component that is designed to inform the public and their own members. Global Learn Day should allow them to highlight that mission and give examples.
The VHL Family Alliance is our poster child for this aspect of a non-profit enterprise. Joyce has a nice set of pages within this year's GLD space that points to the information they produce and send to those with VHL, the medical profession and even the research they support to add to mankind’s learning and ability to deal with VHL.
Maybe the most profound example of global education can be gleaned from those who use education to reduce the likelihood of conflict. Some of these are school enterprises, others are outreach programs involving sports while others use the arts. Each of these efforts seem to have the common thread of saying we are but one people and we all live on but one planet. We are the same, we live together and we must oppose those who would divide us and cause us to engage in conflict one against the other.