There is a global education philosophy bug infecting the virtual curriculum of Florida Virtual School. You may have observed the effects of the bug when you discovered FLVS’s Global School or the travel opportunities of our school’s International Club. The same bug that inspires international networking and awareness has marked as a target the FLVS History Club, who is sponsoring a World Hunger Day Forum on October 16, 2007.

The History Club describes the objective for the forum as the following: “to expose our students to and raise awareness regarding international poverty.” Mrs. Heather Cornett, World History teacher for FLVS, is the project leader. She explained, “This forum was inspired by our aspiration to instill in our students 21st century skills and expose them to global issue that will impact them now and certainly in the future – issues that are not consistently covered in all of our courses.”

Mrs. Cornett explained her initial struggle with teaching her students about global issues in a virtual setting, saying that despite the challenges that a virtual classroom can pose, “the webinar tool we use (Elluminate) has really opened [opportunities].”

The forum will take place in Elluminate, where three to four recognized speakers will talk to students about international poverty. Guest speaker Leah Stern of the WHY Foundation, Jennifer Parmelee from the United Nations World Food Programme, and Ai Hirashiki of NetAid will all convey their personal messages and experiences to students. Hirashiki is a teacher in New York; her students will also log onto the session to support her and learn.

As a post-forum activity, Mrs. Cornett is accepting posters on the theme of global poverty. Posters will be judged by FLVS administration and the winners of the contest will be announced at a later date, with their artwork displayed on the FLVS website. The contest in itself conveys a strong message: winners will not receive any material awards, for this would not fit well with the underlying theme of the forum.

Mrs. Cornett’s target attendance for the event is “the entire school!” If she achieves her target, the FLVS community will surely gain new global perspectives. She reasoned, “You know with these sessions – when they last multiple hours – you have a lot of coming and going.” This is a great feature of Elluminate sessions: you can peruse the material of the session and log out when appropriate. Hopefully, this freedom will attract more visitors to the forum.

The forum occurs from 4pm to 7pm, but may be extended if more speakers are added to the line- up. The objectives of and information relayed in the forum shall expose a powerful message to students of our global generation. Mrs. Cornett, an International Studies and French major, said that the “idea of global has always appealed [to her].” Indeed, for some, the idea of international connectedness is attractive.

If you would like to attend the World Hunger Day Forum, please stay tuned to your FLVS e-mail account for an Elluminate Link. The forum will take place on October 16, 2007 from 4pm-7pm.