International Dialogue

Generation Global Offers Free Online Forum for Students to Explore Cultural Differences

• By Richard Chang
• 09/21/16

Generation Global is relaunching in the United States, providing educators and students with a free forum to explore global cultural differences through dialogue.

An initiative of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, Generation Global offers a web and video-based platform, as well as curricula that students can examine before or after international videoconferences with other students. The program is aimed toward 12- to 17-year-olds.

Generation Global’s classroom resources fit well in courses such as history, geography and social studies, according to a news release. Resource-filled toolkits are geared toward educating students about the difficult issues facing the U.S. and the world today. They also aim to foster critical thinking, effective dialogue skills and intercultural knowledge to help students better understand and respect one another.

Teachers can group their students into structured conversations with other young people around the world, creating a safe and monitored environment that encourages open dialogue, the release said. Generation Global can provide training with diversity experts, discussion facilitators, access to 24-hour help desks and a toolset that can be used to prepare and evaluate students on their performance. 

The program is accessible on multiple devices, including mobile phones, iPads and Chromebooks. Since 2008, Generation Global’s platform has been used by more than 200,000 students in 20 countries, the release said.

“We are proud of this success so far,” said Ian Jamison, head of education and training for Generation Global, in a prepared statement. “But we recognize that as the nature of the challenge evolves, so must we.

“Unfortunately, extremism is growing around the world. It uses new ways to spread its message of hate, including using technology to enable this spread. Globalization and technological change present exciting new opportunities to educate students in schools and provide tools to teach a new generation of global citizens.”

Generation Global is an educational nonprofit based in the United Kingdom. For more information, visit generation.global.