We will improve the world right now!

Aha! I'm the first)))
So...I'm intrigued...How exactly gonna You improve it? I wonder whether it's generally possible...At least this world can't be somehow changed in ONE day. Or am I mistaken??? i hope so))

Outstanding!!!! Are you a student I met yesterday? I really enjoy it, that you actually want to discuss on that board! Excellent! At first I'll answer on the other boards, than I come back to you in order to spend alle the attention you are deserving! :-))) Tell me please if you are the young man with beart and hat in the undergraduate class, who was so commitded? But a lot of students were committed yesterday! :-)))

@jpm
OH(((OH..In fact I'd be glad to turn into a "young man with beart" if he deserves Your attention. But unfortunately i'm simply a girl without "beart"(maybe beard?)...
But i hope a girl auch ist worth of smth? We're not somewhere in far arabic countries;)) again the Topic U don't wanna return to))

@Alla
When you are not the young man with beard, it's more better, because it proves that there are more than just one very committed and internet-skilled student in the class. I have to answer the questions on the other foren and than come back to you, very motivated. Perhaps, bythe way, You can read my text on the forum "JPM Tagebuch in New York" because I'm describing the history of my project there. See you soon!

Look at the statements from the Dr.Delawter students (Eastern 2004):

@Alla
You are not part from the Pace University students I met yesterday? Of course I'm a little disapointed - at first - but it doesn't matter, because you are a very committed Russian student! It's OK too! So if some Pace University student is writing something on that forum, You may quick answer and present yourself in order to motivate the American students to communicate, would you?

Here in addition to the video by the Pace University students at Eastern 2004, You can read the history from the currently project:

Before carrying on with the description of the New York Projekt I will explain for people who don't understand German and are not able to loadup a posting how to do that:
1. You write your statement in the field "Was Sie allen mitteilen moechten".
2. You write your first(christian) name (or a nick) in the field called "Ihr Name"
3. You click on "Weiter zur Vorschau" in order to see your statement in the actually shape
4. If you want to correct something, you have to click on "zurueck"
5. If you are statisfied with your statement you have to click on "abschicken"
Enjoy it!!!

I'm in the Pace University right now and the students from Dr.Delawter are preparing their statements.

@jpm
Will they also present their ideas here in this thread?

Yes, I think so!

One of the topics we discussed was the potential for the internet to unite the world. Our group thought that the main role the internet could play would be to provide a forum for ideas. It is most useful in raising awareness of global issues. Hopefully users will be motivated enough to pursue their cause outside of an online discussion board. A forum like this would be most effective if users can take it a step further, but it is a good place to start.

Another issue our group discussed was where to draw the line between human rights abuses and respect for others' cultures. The example we discussed was female genital mutilation. Perhaps we can create a discussion online as stimulating as the one we had in class.
-Emily Scott, Pace Univ.

I was also in the class yesterday, and agree with my fellow classmate, who wrote above me ^ Emily. I actually spoke on the video about the poor treatment of females in other cultures [for example, genital mutilation], and was surprised at how passionate the discussion quickly became. This proves to me that our voices should be heard and our hearts have much to express. I think this forum is a great place to start, but I encourage everyone to take a step even further, if you can.
-Alison Hudak, Pace University.

My group members and I believe that the internet is an opportunity to get people all across the world to speak to one another about their ideas on how to better the local communities, which in turn will better the rest of society. BUT, we all agreed that the internet was an opportunity, not an obligation, to talk to other people to help raise awareness and share thoughts, as Emily and Alison had stated earlier. There are many different situations in which people may or may not frequently be in contact with others via internet, phone, etc. and it's up to each individual to take advantage of their resources to make a difference - if they choose to.

I'm a linguist and a colleague of JPM's. My current interest is to convince my linguist peers in Germany that we, paid by society through taxes, must also see how linguistics can contribute to the solution of societal problems, how it can contribute to economic growth and world peace. Since the exchange of information and the construction of knowledge has a lot to do with communication/language, linguists should have something to say on this.

I've presented some of my ideas (e.g. the idea of a Global English) at a conference in Austria last weekend. Obviously, the term "world peace" effects emotional reactions, such as "this is not the task of our discipline", "this sounds very marxistic/extremely left-wing". This was not the first that I witnessed such reactions. Why is this so? Scholars from many other disciplines (including economists) meet to discuss about world peace. How can linguists be convinced of this necessity? (Or are linguists' attitudes different in other countries?)

The idea of (Basic) Global English also met with criticism. First, what is Basic Global English? Well, there have been carried out a number of studies that have shown that many non-native linguistic forms still work in communication among non-natives. What these studies do is just describing. But none of the authors of these studies has thought about the consequence for Teaching English as an International Language. I have tried to set up some rules for teaching English to provide learners with a communicative competence at a very early stage and enable them to fine-tune their English later (cf. www.eurolinguistix.com > Journal). The reaction was: Bad English for everybody? I say: No, a functional means of communication for everybody (in order to exchange information/knowledge and to create social bonds).

What would you at Pace U and other places expect from the work of a linguist?

@ jpm
Quite right, i'm not a student of the Pace University, i'm from Paedogogische university of Kasan...if U still remember it...U seem to lose interest of our co-plans. All of us(Alina & Ko) are upset, if you've really dropped the idea(((
"Tagebuch" i looked through..now i gonna look into

@Alla
Please be a little bit patient, dear Alle. Of course I don't forget my project with Kasan, this project is the most important subject for me currently. But perhaps you would understand, that the Kasan-project needs partners. And I'm in New York in order to find partners for YOU, dear Alla. Are you jalous? :-)))

@Alla
The best way to help me is to answer to the American students statements. Please help me, will you? :-))
@Jessie, Alison, Emily
Thanks a lot!! I hope, German, Russian, Turkish students will now answer to your statements and suggest ways to face the problems you described.

@ jpm
OK. PEACE. I'm glad, you're looking for partners in NY. The projekt seems to become iternational. Superb.

@Alison, Emily, Jessie
Hello, people! I'm from Russia, studying in Kasan Pedagogical Univ. I'm intrested in communication with 'inhabitants' of all boards of this forum. What exactly do you want to discuss here? Have you any ideas?

Yesterday I recorded 7 students-statements. As soon I'll be back in Germany, we will loadup this videostatements in our homepage and advertise them in order to motivate further reflections about the problems you have desribed and we are facing.

After the meetings yesterday I thougt about the statement by a student who was in the junior-class and first said, NY-students have so much contacts with differents cultures, that they don't need as much to have contact with more people outside America. He said, if he want to speak with Russian people, he can. Than, he reflected that Russian in NYC don't have the same view of the world like Russian in Russia. So he says, it would make sense, to have contact with Kasan people or people from Turkey for example.
I think, not different cultures make a difference between people, but the level they can satisfy their basic needs (of course, culture influences the level somebody can satisfy his basic needs).

@Emily
"A forum like this would be most effective if users can take it a step further, but it is a good place to start."
- You are right. But I think that the most people, above all the teachers aren't aware how useful the internet (I mean discussion-boards and an individual homepage) can be useful in education to let communicate students world-wide and share knowledge.
The most teachers and students know about chats, emails and a few about foren and blogs, but almost no one knows about Userpages in Wikipedia. Userpages are free, very easy to set up and extreme usefull. Here me own page:

In my classes I give the students as homework to set up a wikipedia:userpage in the German Wikipedia and in the English one. It's a good training for the future in the business world! So my student Michael Kratky:

That way, people are more motivated to communicate, because they get more information about the communication-partner. But my target, recommanding each student and each teacher to improve his communication-offer for other people, and enlarging his contact-person-network is extremely hard to reach and demands a lot of patience! But doing this is my job!:-))

@Jessie
"There are many different situations in which people may or may not frequently be in contact with others via internet, phone, etc. and it's up to each individual to take advantage of their resources to make a difference - if they choose to."
- I mean, it schould be a subject in the scholl, to teach how to make oneselve available in a big communication-network. So we can better reflect about the problems and solutions, worldwide.

From time to time the forum is not avaiable throug "www.ldl.de" so the best way to reach the forum is following adress:
"http://www.zum.de/Foren/ldl/cgi/forum.cgi"

ok so i am the person with the beard. and ohh my god i have a name, jedd.

OK, jedd, now I know your name! I never will forget it! I promess it!

Hello!

By accident I got to this page. When I read "improving the world" I got interested. I understood that there are a lot of problems in the world. What I did nor understand is hoe do think you can improve these problems and how you know what would be the better alternative? (George Bush also wanted to imprive the Situation in Iraq...)

Hej da°

Göran

@Goeran
Ar you student in the "Deutsche Schule in Istanbul"?

Today a student from the Pace University High School said, she can't improve anything in the world, because she didn't know enough about other countries. So let your students communicate in order to learn from their partners around the world! :-))

Prof. Martin,
I enjoyed your visit to Pace High School. Hopefully the seeds of some wunderbar ideas were planted today. I discussed your project with some other teachers and they are interested in participating if you are still available.
Please let me know.
John Mooney

It's important to want to make changes in our world. I think the only REALISTIC way to make a difference is to take baby steps to making the world a better place. If we find a way encourage everyone to lend a helping hand to their own city or state by doing some sort of volunteer work, maybe people will wnat to do more and help in other places- not just in our own neighborhoods. If everyone is working together and doing the same things in different areas of the world-- change will definitely happen in time.

L.K, Pace University

@ LK:
I think you're right. But it's also important to describe and understand the problems in the different parts of today's world. Here the role of the teacher becomes important: the teacher has to attract students' curiosity and help them to find information and answer their questions. Then the teacher can make suggestions for little projects. (Again, I don't understand colleages who think that it is not the task of my discipline, i.e. linguistics, to make contributions to societal issues. In my opinion, the question can't be whether linguistics can contribute to societal issues, but HOW it can contribute to societal issues. Suggestions where linguistics students may be able to help:
-- finding out about problems of communication in a company (first: description; second: possible solutions for the problem)
-- improving manuals, official forms, guidelines etc.
-- facilitating the acquisition of a foreign language by creating specific material
-- describing the differences of communicative strategies in different nations
-- etc.

@John Mooney
Of course I'm available! Days and nights! :-))
I have check through the videostatements by your three students: there are better as you mean! :-)) The most important by such a project is to hold out, to be persistent. I allways have to contact 10 students in order to get one who is interested mor than a few hours. It's normal. I would like to work with you and help you as much as I can. First I'll answer the other postings on other communication-boards and than I'll come back in order to explain you my ideas more detailed.

@John
Here I am again. As you see, you are one of the very few students, who have written on this forum. So, if you want to carry out an interesting communication-project with your students, you are to be persistent (as I already said). Don't lose to much time with students who are not intersted but concentrate your energie on commited students, just like I do with you! :-))
If you want to work with me, it's important to realy understand my purpose:
- As a professor for education, mi target is not first to "improve the world" but to train my teacher-students to be good teachers in the future and to find good jobs. As communication-skills are the most important skills in the future (from my point of vue), I have to train my students in internet-communication.
- The most students mean, they are trained in communication, because the read and send mails, because they send sms, because the occasionaly chat. But they are not skilled! If they want to be skilled, they have to check and answer their mails every day, they have to be speedy and networked, they have to motive other people to communicate with them, and so on. They have to present themselve in a good, motivating homepage, they have to know, how to motivate other peopole to communicate together (like I'm trying to do).
- If a teacher wants to skill his students in internet-communication, he has to offer a motivating topic in order to mobilize the students-energies not just a few days, but sustaining. That's why my topic for my students is: let us improve the world!! It's a good topic and the problems are allways new and if one problem is solved, the next one is coming on the horizon. You ever will have a matter to communicate! :-))) And that's funny too!
That's the back-ground to my communication-projects: "Improving the world"
If students say to me that they prefer face-to-face interactions, I say: that's not the point! You have to be skilled in virtual communication when you want to get a job in the future! That's the very point! Not if you want or don't wont to communicate throuhg forums!

@L.K
"It's important to want to make changes in our world. I think the only REALISTIC way to make a difference is to take baby steps to making the world a better place."
-That's exactly what we are doing: baby steps. You, me, and John Mooney from the Pace University.
"If we find a way encourage everyone to lend a helping hand to their own city or state by doing some sort of volunteer work, maybe people will wnat to do more and help in other places- not just in our own neighborhoods."
- Why first the one, than the other? We can do both!
"If everyone is working together and doing the same things in different areas of the world-- change will definitely happen in time."
- My experience is, that we perhaps easyier are able to help people far from us than in the neighborhoods. I give you an example: One month ago I was in Russian, in Kasan. There my teacher colleagues said I can help if I send books and magazines. I didn't know, how easy I can help people "in the world"! So if you communicate with students in Russian or in Turkey, you perhaps can helpf easy and cosy. We always think that helping has to be ennoying or exhausting. We can help and have fun too. It's a good feeling, if you can communicate with dynamic girls in Kasan and help in the same time.

Here a picture from the Kasan-students:

@Joachim (Assistent Prof.Dr.Grzega)
Thank you for helping me with your meaningful contributions! As you know, we have exactly the same targets and reach them also! :-)) But we have to fight against a lot of powerful persons! :-))) That's what's make the project exciting! :-)))) Here, in NYC, if it's succeede me motivating students like John Mooney, I will had done a good job!

Statements by students from the Bilgi-University in Istanbul:

And by students from the German Grammar School in Istanbul:

@Alison
"I actually spoke on the video about the poor treatment of females in other cultures [for example, genital mutilation], and was surprised at how passionate the discussion quickly became."
- Why was the discussion passionate? Did your classmate have different opinions about that topic?

I'm back in Germany and the New York trip is over. I had a lot of interesting days, I met Kathryn and her colleague Sharon Madow, extremely commited, smart and friendly persons. I met a lot of bright and friendly students too.
Regarding the project I think that it will take much more time, before people ar able and willing to communicate worldwide about our problems, looking for solutions and constructing knowledge. The Kasan students are very commited, I suppose because the communication with people in Germany and USA is something new and exciting for them. In addition, Russian students in Kasan are eager to contact people from the west. I don't think, that western students are so highly eager to communicate in the project-frame that I offer. My students in Germany are forced to communicate on the forums and carry out projects with other students in order to get credits im my course. That's why they some of them are working steadily on this projects. But I don't think that it's possible with students from New York or students from Istanbul. They are too busy... That's my feeling...

Anyway! The next steps:
Next week Dr.Agricola will set up and upload the video-statements from the Pace University and the Pace University High School in our Homepage. Then I'll make advertisings about this statements using mailinglists and differents forums. I think, that people then want to express their opinion on our communication-board and I hope that the Pace University students will answer, if some students try to communicate with them.

@Dr.Agricola
I again looked at your weblog "Millenium". Very superb. The opportunity to make comments is an appropriate tool, even if nobody used it. But we have to make this blog more available (telling the students that this blog exists). Here it is:

I think one of the biggest problems facing our increasingly globalized community is the fact that people are saying that they are "too busy" to take the time to talk about what is happening with our world. How can people be too busy to discuss the things that will affect us all??? I hope the students at Pace High School will not be too busy to discuss their global concerns using this cross-cultural forum.

@John
Yes, John. Your'e absolutely right! As you easy can see on this forum, your'e the only student from Pace who participates to the communication. I'm afraid, my trip in NYC was a plaisure for me, but not very useful for the project... Wait and see...

@John
At this stage you are taking a pole-position in my NYC-project. I'm copying your statement and sending it in a lot of mailing-lists.

@ John,
You are right! And it is also a question of motivation. People e.g. in Kasan are more motivated to discuss about globalization-problems because they are touched by it stronger and more directly. The influence of globalization on life of students in USA and Germany ist not so obvious.

@John
Just in order to improve the communication: look at the Wikipedia Roman-Homepage (unfortunately in German - see Link below).
@Roman
It's the right time to set up an English-Homepage, isn't it?

Currently - since ten days - there are violent riots in France starting from the youth generation from immigrant people in the suburbs from Paris, Marseille and several other big towns. The government projects to deploy the army and to declare the curfew. Of course this is the maintopic in all the news and everybody is speaking about this turmoils in France. Other countries like Germany are fearing that this revolt will overleap to other European countries.

Perhaps the problem keeping Western students from participating in this forum is a global problem in itself. That is: learned helplessness, the idea that an individual cannot make a difference in the face of a vast anorphous enemy. More and more, the forces of government, the forces of corporatization and homogenization, are made up of a diffuse heirarchy, seemingly everywhere without any definate target against which to fight. Questions arise: What are we unifying against? What are we fighting? Can we make a difference? The result isn't apathy, it's defeat before the struggle has begun. American students, especially, I think experience this because they live in such an incredibly large country (something we talked about, Jean-Pol) where their voice, and often their vote, comes to nothing.

Is there a way for this forum to empower these students? That is the question I send out to the world.

Cheers from Pace University and New York City, and best to you, JPM. Thank you again for the great day.
Bryce.

@Bryce
You are absolutely right with your hypothesis concerning the learned helplessness. As you say, an individual cannot make a difference, but I think that a big network from young people around the world can make it! In this stage of our project we are identifying the problems we have to face, and the most students in Russian, NYC, Istanbul and Germany says: poverty and clima changing. And all the students makes suggestions in order to combat this problems. Step by step we will let the participants reflecting about the problems and the collective thinking will bring more and more sophisticated solutions. So we will develop a community-feeling between students in Kasan, New York, Istanbul, Bulgaria and in Germany. Like a big brain, first solving little problems, and then more and more difficult ones.
Cheers from JPM and best to you too, Bryce!

What a great idea connecting students all over the world to create a "big brain solving problems" (jpm)!!!
I'm a student at Augsburg University (Germany) and we're thinking about working on a project about the hurricane "Katrina" in New Orleans and on how such a huge city has dealt with this. So that's what we're interested in: How have you felt about the time after "Katrina" and has there been any changes in society or in the minds?
Cheers from Germany. Sarah.

Well, I am a student at Pace University, and I spoke on video about how residents of NYC really have access to cultures and the experiences people have that would be difficult for anyone else to understand. Still, this forum creates the opportunity for people to interact directly with people who are currently living in different locations throughout the world. That is the importance of the project, direct interaction between people with first hand current thoughts about change in their locality.

Now, I am planning to teach in NYC and I also live here. My main concern as an aspiring educator is to have direct impacts on my students. In this urban setting new thoughts and practices are needed, but maybe getting students interested in their studies can be accomplished by presenting them with direct conversations and thoughts from people all over the world.

@Alex
Thanks a lot for your statement!
"but maybe getting students interested in their studies can be accomplished by presenting them with direct conversations and thoughts from people all over the world."
- Yes, as a teacher it's not easy to find sustaining interesting topics for the students. In the light of the gobalization, the worldperspective is more and more a sustaining topic!

Here I repeat for people who don't understand German how to load up a posting:
1. You write your statement in the field "Was Sie allen mitteilen moechten".
2. You write your first(christian) name (or a nick) in the field called "Ihr Name"
3. You click on "Weiter zur Vorschau" in order to see your statement in the actually shape
4. If you want to correct something, you have to click on "zurueck"
5. If you are statisfied with your statement you have to click on "abschicken"
Enjoy it!!!

Here the first statements (Prof.Sharon Medows students). Your need quick-time as programm:

@JPM
Bryce talked exactly about the problem that I’ve discussed with you before: if the students don’t think they could really change anything in the world, they won’t participate enthusiastically in the discussion that you’ve raised .

@Hsiu-wen
Yes, but they can change a lot!

All the statements I videotaped in NYC:

My group discussed the possibility of teaching to change the world. Any improvements must begin with our younger generations. Students must be educated from day one on important global issues such as poverty and global warming. The younger generations are the ones who will have to make the change, therefore it is up to our teachers and future teachers to educate these students. Change starts with good teachers. As teachers, we must teach our students to become global citizens, A global citizen is interdependent on all people around the world. S/he believes that social and economic problems and racial and ethnic inequalities affect all people. We have to give our students the skills they need to participate in society on an international level.

@Alicia
Thanks a lot! Could you see your statement on the video?

@To all the readers
Here is an other opportunity to discuss deaper about our topics:

I will admit, watching myself speak was a lot different than I thought! [I hope my voice doesn't really sound like that haha]
I definitely think that this conversation will flourish because of this video resource.
In watching the other students opinions, I realize that the initial worry that we had about this discussion was far off. At first we believed that many people would be discussing the same topics, but sadly there are enough problems that there wasn't much overlap.
I also think that Alex brought up a valid point about the diversity in New York. He stated that the more you get involved in your local community, the more you'll want to learn about those abroad. I definitely agree, being in New York has opened my eyes to such diversity, and I definitely think it has made me more accepting and open-minded. It can't stop there though. Just because us, the people of New York, live in a diverse area does not mean that we understand what is going on in the cultures that we're learning little about.
I believe firmly that meaning comes from difference, and who we are expands in learning more about others.

@Alison
First, your voice is absolutely enjoyable! ;-))
Second, I think that the most problems the students are focusing have the same roots: we don't deal careful enough with our resources, neither with environment resources (topic: energy, global warming), nor with human resources (topic: tolerance, poverty, education). If we undestand that we have to preserve the natural and human environment, because both are the fundament for our currently wealthiness, we will fight against the pollution and the waste from human beeings. From my point of vue, we need the intelligence from so many people as possible in the world, and communication is the first step.
The diversity in New York make you aware, and, as Alex said, you can enlarge your informations if you communicate with people living in Russia or in Germany (for example).

@Alison, John Mooney, Bryce Cahn
Currently the Kasan (Russia) project is doing well, so I'll fly to Russia Eastern 2006 (one week at Eastern) and present my ideas and the method "Learning by teaching" there. Three days ago I get an invitation to stay in Japan next fall (two weeks) and will try to set up a communication-board in Japan too. My aim will be to link a group in Japan with people in Kasan, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and of course New York City. If you were interested in being the bridge head in NYC, it would be great. In oder to support your activities, I would fligh to NYC again (a week in february 2006). What do you think about that?

My description from the project and reflections about it (in English):

Ich machs jetzt mal auf Deutsch, damit es nicht unbedingt alle verstehen.
Ich weiss nicht, was hier los ist und warum alle strings beendet zu sein scheinen. Aber okay.
Ein kleiner Tipp für die Zukunft: Ich will mich hier nicht als Kritikaster aufspielen, aber gerade auf dem Hintergrund des Anspruches, seinen Studenten die nicht nur Bedeutung des Internets und seiner Nutzung sondern die Notwendigkeit desselben nahebringen zu wollen, sei mir die Frage gestattet, ob es wirklich nötig ist, ein Bild von einer derartigen Größe (mehr als 1 MB, kasanmaedls.jpg) ins Internet zu laden?
Noch längst nicht jeder hat dsl und bei herkömmlichem 56k-Modem beträgt die durchschnittliche Ladezeit für 1 MB rd 4-5 Minuten.
Wenn in diesem Zusammenhang also bislang häufig die Rede von Kompetenz war, so gehört imho dazu auch, nicht unnötig große Bilddateien upzuloaden. Sinnvoll wäre es stattdessen, auf eine kleinere Version des Bildes zu verlinken, die dann wiederum als Link für das Laden der großen Version dienen kann (mit kb-Angabe als Entscheidungshilfe), für diejenigen, die sich das ganze im Megaformat ansehen wollen.

@Jojo
Keine schlechte Idee. Ich bin kein Techniker und habe dieses Problem nicht gesehen. Vielleicht soll ich dann eine andere page (also ohne Foto) verlinken, und nicht die von Marina. Offensichtlich kommst du über die Wikiversity zu diesen Foren: ich heisse dich hier willkommen. Wir brauchen gute Leute!

If you want to understand, what I'm doing, look here: