Mod 8 Comparison of Websites for Global Collaboration

For Mod 8 I compared TakingITGlobal < http://takingitglobal.org/>
and Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboaration (CILC). http://www.cilc.org/c/community/collaboration_center.aspx. I will first discuss TakingITGlobal, and then I will discuss Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CLIC).
TakingITGlobal is an online community that operates in an increasingly global and interconnected world. It is a non-profit organization with headquarters located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has 15 core staff and also a team of over 50 coordinators working in either a part-time or full-time capacity. In 2000, with a small team of volunteers, Jennifer Corriero and Michael Furdyk launched the TakingITGlobal.org online community. Using this portal allows our young people, our educators and others to find inspiration, access information and get involved and take action on a global level and also on a local level to improve our communities. It helps people to see how we can all work together toward similar goals no matter where we are located in this world. I signed up to be a member of TakingITGlobal. Three significant themes of TakingITGlobal are: Inspire, Inform and Involve, and three significant aims of TakingITGlobal are to 1) Strengthen the capacity of young people as leaders and citizens ; 2) Foster cross-cultural dialogue and understanding ; 3) Increase awareness and involvement in global issues. As a charity, TakingITGlobal works with partners that include United Nations agencies, major companies and youth-focused organizations. TakingITGlobal launched TIGed.org in 2006. TIGed.org provides a unique set of online tools designed to help educators make use of technology and bring global education into their classrooms. There is an enormous amount of information in TakingITGlobal and I realize that this short review is a very small percentage of what it offers. I believe that it will take putting it to use to realize the wealth of information and globally collaborative projects that can be accomplished. I am an advisor for Phi Theta Kappa which is an international honor society for the two year college. When I reviewed TakingITGlobal I realized that Phi Theta Kappa could use it in many ways in the fundraising efforts we put forth all academic year. I also thought about using TakingITGlobal for many of the classes that are taught here at the community college where I am a librarian. It contains blogs and discussion boards that would help students realize the global perspective instead of the narrow world that they sometimes see. I plan to share this with my colleagues.
The next review I did was for Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC). This global collaboration organization supports and advances education through videoconferencing and other collaborative technologies. It is the place for educators to meet, create a collaborative environment and share their reflections. CILC is a non-profit organization that offers professional development, and consulting services. Using CILC inspires collaboration between students, classrooms and educators. It is also rated based on educator evaluations. One librarian who uses CILC, stated, “It’s like bringing a field trip to the people and allows for a more equitable experience. This extends knowledge that can not be achieved in the traditional classroom.” It is a cost effective and borderless way for schools to incorporate creative instruction within a solid curriculum and also for educators to share their ideas and their own culture. CILC’s mission is to build integrity, innovation, stewardship, collaboration and leadership. CILC also offers professional development programs. The CILC community includes K-20 Education – educators, administrators, technology directors and others. CILC has an RSS feed that you can put on your own homepage to receive information. I can imagine using CILC for professional and collegial pursuits. I was not able to find, from the website information, when CILC actually started and who started it. Perhaps the information is there, but I could not locate it.
In comparing TakingITGlobal and Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboaration (CILC). I believe that TakingITGlobal would be a better global collaboration site to use. The two sites had many similarities though. They were both non-profit web sites and supported education and global collaboration, and each supported professional development. TakingITGlobal seemed to be more well-rounded than CILC. I liked the altruistic beginnings of TakingITGlobal and the background of how and why TakingITGlobal was founded. CILC also creates a collaborative environment, but my gut feeling and preference would be to use TakingITGlobal.