Participedia Partners Conference Presentation
GCDI Team members presented “Research & Practice Opportunities with the Global Classroom for Democracy Innovation (GCDI)” at the 2024 Participedia Partners Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. The conference took place at the University of the Western Cape, June 5-7, 2024. Participedia’s summary report detailing the conference proceedings and outcomes can be accessed here.
Co-presenters:
Jesi Carson, Bettina Von Lieres, Laurence Piper, Wilma Westin Lundqvist, Matthew Wingfield, Marco Adamovic and Mukisa Mujulizi
Abstract:
The Global Classroom for Democracy Innovation (GCDI) is a project that creates and studies internationally collaborative learning spaces for students in higher education institutions. In this presentation, we offer an overview of the various ways in which the GCDI has become a critical pedagogical and design space with transformative potential, and invite the audience to think along the possibilities that are still to emerge from spaces such as these.
The GCDI has run five iterations since its inception, bringing together students and activists from around the world in a collaborative online format for cross-cultural engagement and experiential learning. Our diverse team includes professors, practitioners, graduated students, and those still completing their studies. Our experimental pedagogical process is rooted in design thinking and expanded to prioritize “design justice” principles (Costanza-Chock, 2020). This approach positions students and civil society actors as experts in their own unique contexts, and promotes deep listening, collaboration and capacity building. The presentation aims to highlight the praxis of design justice undertaken in the GCDI.
The GCDI team has created a reflective feedback loop between theory and pedagogical practice that serves as a contribution to Participedia’s strategic intention to support practitioners, including educators. For example, in a study by Piper, et. al., (forthcoming) we illustrate the transformative potential of the Global Classroom through a work integrated learning (WIL) framework (2024). Wingfield, et. al., will delve into design justice pedagogies in the Participedia special issue in the Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy (2024). Carson has discussed how the Global Classroom contributes to identity transformation in ECPR’s The Loop (2023), and Von Lieres has presented our work in the context of “The Unbounded Classroom” (2021).
These and other research-based reflections have both informed and transformed our pedagogy, and this iterative process continues. We are excited to engage the Participedia community in a lively discussion, learning from the GCDI explorations to date and considering possibilities for future collaboration and funding opportunities.