Students take on world's challenges: "But the personal connections are what motivated it all. When they started talking with students from the other side of the globe, "all of a sudden, the world feels so big and you feel so small, and there's a humbling there.... But at the same time, it's empowering..."
The notion of global, connected learner environments is very rewarding for students. To be able to connect with another person, in another culture/country, and tackle problems (and as a result, to learn) is an affordance that internet advocates have extolled for years. Education, in a practical way, has largely given lip service to these concepts, without seeking much practical application. I'm seeing the need for skilled collaboration in distributed structures in both schools and corporations. We have the tools in place...but our vision (and to a lesser degree, our skills) is lacking.