Global

An important component of the K20 Center is working with colleagues throughout the world who are engaged in educational and community renewal. Led by President David L. Boren, who had a distinguished 16-year tenure as a U.S. Senator, the University of Oklahoma is moving to become one of the most internationally oriented universities in the country. OU has more than 1,400 international students from 95 countries and sponsors 150 reciprocal exchange programs with universities worldwide. OU underlined its commitment to international studies and to internationalizing its curriculum by establishing the International Programs Center, which is directed by Dr. Edward J. Perkins, former Ambassador to South Africa as well as the United Nations. Ambassador Perkins is a senior advisor to the K20 Center.The K20 Center promotes and facilitates "learning globally and acting locally" through the International Networks for Democratic Education (INDE).

Charter members include school-university-community partnerships from Australia, China, Finland, Greece, Kuwait, Mexico, Spain, South Africa, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.  INDE meets formally once a year at the American Educational Research Association’s annual meeting and informally throughout the year as networks schedule individual visits to other networks.  A 2005 Open University Press book edited by Wiel Veugeler and Mary John O’Hair and titled Network Learning for Educational Change describes activities and strategies of these network partnerships. The types of network activities to accelerate growth include: 

• cross-network meetings for sharing and critique (university faculty and students, teachers, principals, community leaders and others from networks)
• meetings of network directors and staff for sharing and critique;
• sharing and critique of best practices across networks via technology;
• cross-network visitation for purposes of sharing, critique, and learning; and
• being external evaluators (i.e. critical friends) for other networks.

Outcomes sought include:

• sharing and critique of best practices internationally;
• establishment of international trust and cooperation;
• development of a common knowledge base and language for successful school and community improvements around the world;
• providing an avenue for international students and faculty to learn from each other and to return to their countries with additional tools for educational and community improvements;
• development of a sense of collective responsibility for all students around the globe, resulting in seeing students from different countries as "our" students rather than "their" students;
• development of ways of influencing educational policy within countries and across international lines; and
• examination and development of action plans for addressing national and international equity issues.

For additional information about becoming a member, contact Charlotte Jones at jonesc@ou.edu.

South Africa Master’s Cohort, 2002