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"The fact that you
know more about us
makes us feel a lot
better."
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Khaled, 11th Grade Amman, Jordan |
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Programs
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Past Programs
GNG has organized dozens of international videoconferencing programs since 1998 and reached out to thousands of young adults all over the world. Here are just a few examples of the programs we have carried out to date. Project Uganda Dates: Monday, May 21 - Friday, May
25, 2007 This 10-part series involving 30 schools throughout the U.S. will explore Ugandan culture and examine the challenges youth face living in a conflict zone. This program will not only engage and educate American youth on Uganda, but also provide them with opportunities to be “Agents of Change.” Throughout the course of this program, which will include preparatory lesson plans, GNG will prepare students to support their counterparts in Uganda through donating goods and funds to leading non-governmental agencies working to support relief efforts. more CURRENTS 2007 Dates: January, February, March,
April, 2007 CURRENTS: Religions of the World is a eight-part series attached to the Semester at Sea itinerary to include three videoconferences per country. The aim of the program is for American youth participants to broaden their understanding of our world and the religions that it includes. Furthermore, the students can examine how religion plays a role in the make-up of a culture and influences national and world politics and events. Our hope is for participants to finish the program with a more critical and compassionate understanding of the fabric of our global village and be inspired to be active participants in the furthering of its prosperity. CURRENTS corresponds with the Institute for Shipboard
Education's “Semester at Sea” voyage. Read
more about Semester at Sea. The PULSE The PULSE is a program that connects youth around the United States through videoconferencing for discussions on the important world issues of our time. Through the PULSE, we aim to encourage civic engagement and to promote young people's interest and knowledge of international affairs. In addition to class-to-class discussions, The PULSE "Speaker Series" enables young people to hear from, and speak directly to, renowned experts on a variety of international issues.
Mozambique Alive Mozambique Alive was a live interactive educational program that brought the world's youth face-to-face during March and April of 2006 to discuss and learn about their respective cultures. Students in the US and Mozambique traveled on an educational journey, teaching and learning together. A series of classroom-to-classroom and remote broadcast conferences (with experts speaking from remote onsite locations) provided a collaborative global education experience. CURRENTS A partnership between Global Nomads Group and Semester at Sea, CURRENTS was an international education program uniting young Americans with their peers around the world via videoconferencing and the internet, to discuss the most pressing global issues of the time and work together to help solve them. Over the course of 3 months, we explored 9 different countries on 3 continents with real people in real-time! Students were able to experience the world like never before through videoconferencing, web logs, “webumentaries” and an interactive website. GNG founders Jonathan Giesen, Chris Plutte and Mark von Sponeck shared via videoconference their recent eye-opening journey deep into Eastern Chad’s remote border region, and their experiences living in the largest Sudanese refugee camp there. Rwanda Alive In April and May 2004, GNG brought young adults from across the United States (and the world) on a virtual adventure in Rwanda where they connected with their peers, learned about the country, visited with Mountain Gorillas in their natural habitat, discussed the HIV/AIDS crisis, and, of course, explored and attempted to learn from, the tragic Rwandan Genocide in 1994. Project Voice On March 3, 2003 -- days before a US-led invasion of Iraq -- a small group of Iraqi High School students from Baghdad College and American students from the Metropolitan Learning Center in Connecticut met via videoconference to discuss their daily lives, their respective cultures, their aspirations for the future, and of course, their views on a looming war. On Thursday, June 5th, 2003 Global Nomads Group returned to Baghdad to conduct a follow-up to Project Voice. GNG re-united participants from the last conference in a post-war climate. Both sessions were followed live by thousands of students all over the world via view-only videoconferencing and webcasting. Project Voice resulted in two, 30-minute television specials for PBS' In the Mix: · Voices from Iraq (featuring the first meeting between Iraqis and American students) · Iraq Unplugged (featuring the follow up meeting) Israeli-Palestinian conflict This ongoing GNG program, which was officially launched in October 2000, aims to expose US students to the two sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. By speaking directly with their peers in the Middle East American students see the overall picture and gain insight into some of the conflict's many complexities in ways unmatched by traditional teaching practices. In February 2002, a videoconference was held between young people from New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas and Amman, Jordan. This encounter mainly focused on working together to achieve peace in our time. Grief Relief (Oklahoma and New York City), October 4th, 2001 In partnership with the Grief Relief Network, this conference was organized between Oklahoma City (Oklahoma City's Southeast High School) and New York youth (Stuyvesant High School) and brought together students who had experienced terrorism first-hand in both cities. Indigenous Summit of the Americas (March 2001) In March 2001, GNG partnered with the World Trust Foundation (WTF) to bring the voice of the indigenous leaders to the 57th Session on Human Rights at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. During these roundtable conferences, Native American Indians demanded protective rights to preserve their dying culture and GNG was there to assist and document history in the making. 9/11 GNG brought students from all over the world to discuss their reactions to 9/11. Series of international town halls via videoconferencing engaged youths from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, New York, Oklahoma City, Boston, Dallas, Chicago, Seattle, the Philippines, Australia, and Jordan to discuss how the tragic events had impacted their lives and their respective communities. While the groups explored the possible roots of the problem and ways to solve it, several non-American participants were able to share their own experiences of terrorism at home. "United States - Jordan" In October 2000, upon the invitation of His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, GNG provided a series of videoconferences and remote satellite broadcasts from Jordanian schools (Jubilee School and Baccalaureate School in Amman) to middle and high school students in the United States (Highland Park Middle School and Highland Park High School, Texas, and Pine Crest School, Florida). These conferences provided students the ability to meet each other, live to discuss their lives, dreams and hopes for the future. Over the course of 12 conferences, students engaged in constructive and open dialogue about resolving the tension in the Middle East. The videoconferences also served as a forum to explore the lives, cultures and similarities between different peoples. Two remote satellite broadcasts were also held from Petra and the Dead Sea. Specific programming was developed and coordinated with participant schools, The Women's Museum and Oxygen Media. "Proyecto Iluminar", Honduras In the winter of 1999, Global Nomads Group carried out its very first broadcasting project. Together with the Small World Foundation, we implemented a successful two-week pilot project in Honduras. Atop the main Mayan temple complex of Copán, we produced a videoconference between local Honduran students and St. Mark's School (Dallas) and Pinecrest (Ft. Lauderdale). Set against the sweeping vista of the entire Mayan complex, the program enabled students to share details of their daily lives and describe their respective communities.
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Fall 2007: Our PULSE programs in Fall 2007 covered topics such as the future
of Amercica, landmines, the crisis in Darfur, war in Iraq, global environmental
issues, nuclear weapons and the Arab World. 
