Nicole Blum
Dr Nicole Blum is a Senior Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education (London, UK). Her key areas of teaching and research interest are global learning & education for sustainable development.
Location United Kingdom
Activity
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Nicole Blum replied to Laurissa Field
Glad to hear that this has been helpful.
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Hi everyone. Great to hear your thoughts and to know that the course has given you room to reflect on your practice. Looking forward to hearing more from others in the group, too.
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Thanks, Mark. That's great to hear.
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Great to see these reflections from the group. You've shared some interesting examples of your own work and also raised points about how these can be challenging. Let's keep the discussion going!
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Thanks, everyone. Yes, I love this talk - it's a great way to get learners (of any age) thinking about issues of cultural diversity, stereotyping, and our own perspectives.
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Nicole Blum replied to Laurissa Field
Thanks, Laurissa. Yes, school ethos is important as it can support work inside and outside of classrooms - so not just formal learning but also extracurricular activities or community initiatives. Achieving this can be challenging in itself. We talk more about integrating into specific subjects and disciplines in week 3.
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Nicole Blum replied to Kathryn Garnier
This is a great question, Kathryn. Does anyone else in the group have any ideas about this?
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Thanks for the posts so far. It seems as if commonalities include addressing knowledge, values and skills/ competencies, but perhaps from slightly different approaches. The UK model is obviously specific to that national context, while the others are broader in terms of the audiences they aim to reach. Are any of the models lacking anything that you think...
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Some thoughtful reflections here. Keep adding your ideas!
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Nicole Blum replied to Mark Francis
Yes, this is an interesting point. See my comment to Medhi above for a couple of references.
I think more has perhaps been written recently about skills and competencies related to sustainability and climate change - although these fields are obviously strongly related and could be transferable to a certain extent. You might like to have a look at UNESCO's...
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Hi Mehdi. He's written quite a lot on global skills, including this 2018 lecture (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2018/dec/global-learning-and-skills-global-social-change) and this 2019 article which might be of interest: Global and Development Education and Global Skills (https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10085488/1/Bourn_1143-4606-2-PB.pdf).
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Some really interesting thoughts here. Just to further note that the term 'development education' may be more familiar to those based in the UK as it has it's roots here. It is largely seen as referrring to education about international development issues (rather than child development, although Fasuan's notes were intriguing on that!) and was popular in the...
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Thanks, Penelope!
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Yes, the idea of a global community - and that we are all a part of it - is very important. We all belong and everyone should have a voice.
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Great to hear everyone's thoughts. Did anything about the results of the poll above surprise you?
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Thanks to everyone for sharing your insights here. It sounds as if you are doing some really interesting and engaging work with your students! Key themes like intercultural communication, collaboration, exploration of local and global links seem to be coming up quite a lot.
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Yes, this can be very challenging for teachers. We'll look more at these issues in later steps of the course.
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Nicole Blum replied to Soe Kyaw
That's fine. Just add your thoughts when you are able.
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Great to see new posts on the Padlet. Do keep adding them!
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Great to see more thoughts being shared here. Ideas around collaboration and considering the importance of context for global education seem to be coming up a lot in the posts. I think the two are often linked - in that collaborating with diverse people and communities can help students to develop awareness of their own context as well as how it is similar and...
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Hi Soe. We'll look at that a bit more in weeks 2 and 3.
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Hi Kelly. Yes, absolutely, it's important to connect learning in the classroom to the world outside.
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Hi everyone. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the learning so far. Global education is indeed a complex area and there are lots of terms and ideas to explore (global learning, global citizenship education, education for sustainable development, etc.) so don't worry if you're still feeling a bit confused.
We'll be looking at these things in more detail...
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Nicole Blum replied to Nazreen Dasoo
Welcome Nazreen. It sounds like you've got lots of expertise in this area, so it's great to have you here.
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Nicole Blum replied to Yu Xuan Jiang
Welcome Yu Xuan. Great that you could join us to learn more about global education. It's absolutely fine if it's all new - there is lots for all of us to learn together!
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Nicole Blum replied to Mark Francis
Hi Mark. It should be available open access. Are you not able to view it? Let me know what you see when you try to view it and I'll see what I can do.
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Some interesting results from the poll so far. Do add your thoughts!
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Great!
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Thanks for your feedback. That's really helpful to know.
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Some really thoughtful discussions here - thank you for that! I would agree that it's often easy (especially at the moment) to get lost in the negatives, so doing exercises like this can be a great way of opening things up to more positive ideas and connections.
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Some really interesting results to the poll so far. Does anyone else have any thoughts to share?
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Great to see more thoughts coming in here. There seems to be lots of emphasis on interconnectedness and communication, which is very interesting.
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Thanks for sharing your experiences and ideas everyone - some great thoughts here. Keep the posts coming!
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Great! Glad they were helpful.
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Hi Marion. Yes, it can be a challenge to keep up-to-date as things are constantly changing! There are lots of networks and sources of information and support out there - which we'll talk about more in week 3. Also, rather than the teacher having to do all this work on his/ her own, it can also be integrated into teaching itself - for instance, by...
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Hello everyone and welcome to the course! We are really looking forward to hearing your ideas and experiences in the coming weeks.
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Glad that it is a helpful one!
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Nicole Blum replied to Peter Gooding
I would agree, Peter. Much of the practice that I'm aware of in schools and universities (as well as further and adult education, etc.) is led by passionate individual educators. Getting leadership and whole institutions involved is an important next step in making ESD part of the ethos of an institution. However, it is, as you say, challenging to do!
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Nicole Blum replied to Mette Fentz Haastrup
Hi Mette. One possibility might be to ask the students to create artwork to accompany their stories? This could be done within the English class, if that's possible, or could be done in collaboration with the school's art teacher for a cross-curricular approach?
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Hi Chinedu. Yes, as you say, these concerns are so often inter-connected - sustainability, conflict, social vulnerability and others. And it is unfortunately still the case that many of those who suffer the most from the impacts of climate change are not the ones who are most responsible for the state of the planet....
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@HananeChemlali Thanks for your thoughts. The research sounds really interesting, so do let us know what you find out!
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Nicole Blum replied to Matilda Crane
@MatildaCrane Great! Do contact Fran (or me) via dercmooc@live.ucl.ac.uk.
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Thank you so much for these reflections, everyone. It's really wonderful to know that you feel you have learned a lot from engaging in the course and also that you already have ideas about next steps for your own personal journeys and/ or for work in your institutions. Please do keep in touch with Fran and myself in the future as we're keen to keep building...
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@MatildaCrane Yes, that is a great way forward. ESD and global citizenship do work nicely together!
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Thank you for taking the time to do it.
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Nicole Blum replied to Alice Jackson
Hi Alice. Great! I'm glad the mapping tool is useful and that it might help inform wider conversations at your institution.
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Nicole Blum replied to Damaris Kariuki
@DamarisKariuki Wonderful! We know Tristan McCowan - who was involved in the Climate-U work at UCL, quite well. The project producd a number of great resources that others on the course might like to explore: https://www.climate-uni.com/
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Great to see the discussions on challenges continuing here. Several of the group have noted that generating student interest can be difficult and requires creativity and reflection from educators. This can be challenging to do with so many other requirements for our time and energy. And it's perhaps even more challenging when schools and communities are...
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Thank you. So glad that you are finding the course helpful!
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Nicole Blum made a comment
As Fran noted in a previous step, we often find that course participants feel that teaching/ facilitating ESD is both a professional and personal journey. That certainly comes through in the discussions here, too. As educators, we take huge responsibility for our learners and their futures, so it's no wonder that it is often quite an emotional journey as well.
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Thank you. So glad that you are finding the course helpful!
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@carolineAllard Thanks for these positive thoughts! I would absolutely agree that building networks of like-minded people (educators and learners) is key to effecting positive change. The links between sustainability and global citizenship are also an increasingly big part of discussions in research, policy and practice, so that's a positive shift too.
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Yes, the Earth Charter is a great resource. The initiative is also focused on recognising and valuing local and indigenous environmental knowledge and perspectives as part of the process of building a more sustainable and peaceful world. Namrata Sharma's work on peace, values and sustainability (she contributed to the video in step 2.3) is also worth looking...
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Nicole Blum replied to Michelle Black
@MichelleBlack Thanks for your thoughts on this. I especially like the idea of supporting learners to develop their own agency. This is a great way of helping them to feel positive about the future and the potential for positive change.
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Great to see some new people joining us. Great to have you on the course and looking forward to hearing your ideas!
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Nicole Blum replied to Sujatha Balakrishna
@SujathaBalakrishna This is a wonderful and positive reflection, so thank you for sharing that. The idea of becoming a change agent is especially encouraging! Building networks with others who have similar aims and face similar challenges - both at your university and elsewhere - would also be a great next step in your journey.
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Thanks for sharing these ideas. It sounds like you are already doing some great work!
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Nicole Blum replied to Damaris Kariuki
Of course. Glad they are helpful!
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Nicole Blum replied to Matilda Crane
@MatildaCrane Yes, mapping what people are already doing is an important step. In my experience, there is often lots of interesting work being done by passionate individuals which may not be recognised. Finding them and building networks within the institution can be really helpful.
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Nicole Blum replied to Alice Jackson
@AliceJackson This sounds like a great approach - starting small and then scaling up can help makes modules like this one sustainable because it provides time for support to grow within the institution (as opposed to a top-down approach). It also helps to build networks with others who are doing similar things. We talk about this in week 3!
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Great to hear your thoughts on this. It seems that the head, heart and hands model is appealing to many of the group. I really appreciate it too - it reminds me to think holistically about my students (as in, they are more than just brains!). Sterling's writing on education AS sustainable development has also been inspiring to me when I think about the aims of...
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@MatildaCrane Yes, hope is very important! And in terms of incorporating more diverse perspectives, Vanessa Andreotti and Sharon Stein have done some important writing on this. Their Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures resources are also worth looking at: https://decolonialfutures.net/portfolio/global-citizenship-education-otherwise/
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@kokcuselime That's an interesting point. What do others think? Is it easier to work with some age groups than others?
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Thanks for the recent posts. It's interesting to see how you are addressing these issues at different levels of education and in different contexts. A key point, I think, is that ESD (like any educational approach) needs to start with where the learners are - what do they know already? what are they worried about? what knowledge, skills and values do they need...
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@SujathaBalakrishna Yes, I would agree that as educators we often have a lot to learn from our students!
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@JulianaDiógenes It's great that you are reflecting on these issues and the role you might have as an educator in the future. I think journalists have a potentially very important role to play in sustainability too. After all, learning doesn't only happen in formal settings like schools, but through engagement with all sorts of other things in our lives,...
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Nicole Blum replied to Kia Shackleton
@KiaShackleton Welcome to the course! It sounds like you're already doing a lot that is relevant to what we'll be talking about. Really looking forward to hearing more in the coming weeks.
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Hi Dianna. Great! Can you tell us more about your research?
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Hi @DeniseQuiroz. Always great to see fellow UCLers on the course. Your PhD research sounds really interesting!
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Hi Sujatha. Thanks - yes, I think there are some very strong links between sustainability and global citizenship. Some educators prefer one term over the other, but I'd agree that both are about understanding our place in the world and having a sense of our responsibility to it.
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It sounds as if you have experienced many of the same challenges as the educators in our video, and especially issues with a lack of support from leadership, resistance from colleagues and the demands of curricula. As Matilda says in her post, one way to counteract this is to talk about how ESD can be integrated into the...
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Hi Dana. That does sound challenging! It is certainly harder to embed learning about sustainability into education when leadership (either at the level of government or an institution) is against it. In those situations, I have found it's really useful to find networks of other like-minded people for support and collaboration.
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Some really thoughtful ideas here so far. A few things that stood out for me were the need for educators to provide space and time for reflection - both about their own roles in ESD and also for their students to consider their learning and how they might like to apply it in practice. This might be easier to do in some institutions and settings than in...
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Hi Matilda. Yes, spending time in nature is absolutely key. In the UK, it most often seems to happen for younger age groups (e.g. school gardens, Forest Schools, etc.), but is equally important for older learners. Fitting it in within crowded and demanding curricula in secondary and higher education can be a challenge, but - as you say - also very fruitful.
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Hi Peter. I really like your comment about ensuring that future generations don't just survive, but thrive. This raises some interesting questions about what 'thriving' might look like.... Is it about economic security, a more sustainable planet, well-developed emotional skills and values? Would it look the same in all parts of the world or different? Food for...
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Thanks, everyone. Interesting to hear that some of you are focusing on how to make learning more practical and experiential. I'd agree that this is a great way to make learning about sustainability more relevant for students - they can see it and notice how it applies to the world around them in a more direct way. We look at this in more detail in week 2 as...
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Nicole Blum made a comment
There are some fascinating images and stories being shared on the Padlet. Thank you to everyone who has done this. I found looking at them today a combination of both wonderfully positive (where people are working hard to make change) and also worrying (where the impacts of environmental and climate change are so apparent).
Keep sharing!
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Thanks for the recent posts. It's great to see discussion about the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability. This is a real change from when I started working in the field 20 years ago - back then the emphasis was almost exclusively on learning about the environment (often in the natural sciences).
Also really interesting to hear you...
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Welcome to everyone who had joined us this week. Great to have you here!
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Hi Dana. Yes, I'd agree - developing an emotional connection with the world is very important. I'd also say that the connection isn't just about other living things, but can also include non-living things - like oceans and mountains or other places and landscapes where people live. Recognising that we are embedded in natural systems can lead to deep...
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Hi Mette. This sounds like really interesting work and I'd completely agree that knowing how to integrate ESD topics and approaches into some subjects isn't always obvious. In my experience, that is what keeps many educators from engaging with it in their practice, so having resources and support to think this through is vital!
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Great to see some posts coming in here and to hear about things that you are already doing to integrate these important ideas and approaches within your practice. Looking forward to hearing more from others in the group on this too.
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Thanks, Sujatha! Glad that they are helpful.
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Nicole Blum replied to Abraham Wanyama
Thanks for joining us, Abraham. Looking forward to working with you too.
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Nicole Blum replied to Juliana Diógenes
Hi Juliana. Great to have you on the course and very excited to hear more about the work you are doing!
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Hello everyone and welcome to the course! Great to see some posts already coming in and to hear a bit about you. Really looking forward to hearing your ideas and working with you over the next few weeks.
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@DavidArmitage The course is facilitated by us during the initial three weeks of the run (this year that was in January). It is then left open for on-demand students to take it when they like, but we only check in on it every now and again to ensure that all is well. I'm sure that others on the course are learning from your thoughts, so do continue to share them.
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@jamescalder Great! In that case, do also check out our FutureLearn course on Educating for Sustainable Development in Schools and Univerisities, which might be of interest.
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@ALLISONLAMONT Thanks for your interest. We also received an email from you on DERCMOOC@live.ucl.ac.uk, but for some reason my reply was sent back as undeliverable, so glad I could find you here.
The application deadline for the MA is 30 June. You can find all of the details about the programme here:...
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Nicole Blum replied to Gary L Thomas
@GaryLThomas In terms of your last point, I think it's less about expecting teachers to 'know' everything and more about them having the skills to facilitate learning for students when new issues arise - e.g. by asking them to investigate and think critically instead of accepting things as a given (from the media, etc.). In my experience I also find that...
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Nicole Blum replied to Gary L Thomas
Hi @GaryLThomas. Not off topic at all. I think you're right that students (and adults) are often rightly concerned with things in their own nations and communities. The aim isn't to shift all their attention to 'global' things that may seem far away, but to get them to think through how what is happening locally or nationally is in fact strongly connected to...
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@RosanneBoutin Yes, finding time for professional dialogue and development is always helpful, although it's sometimes hard for busy educators to do this!
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Nicole Blum made a comment
Thanks for all the thoughtful reflections. It looks like there is a great variety of different motivations for involvement in global education (GCE, etc.) and also lots of positive ideas about how it might benefit your pupils. Many of these focus on supporting a more positive future for all - something that to me has always seemed an important part of any...
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Nicole Blum made a comment
It looks as if encouraging global citizenship is a popular choice from the group. I wonder if this is also partly because of the increasing visibility of that term in the SDGs? As some of you have noted, there are certainly connections between all of these ideas, so it can be hard to pick just one. Rather, elements of each might be infused into practice to...
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@AsukaSATOH So glad that you found the video inspirational! I'm sure the speakers would be very pleased.
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Nicole Blum made a comment
There are some great ideas and examples of practice coming up in the posts here. Lots of you are talking about things you are already doing, and also noting some new things to try. It's also interesting to note that several of you have talked about the challenges of time, language and support from leadership. We'll talk more about these later on in the course...
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@MahmoudZaghloul Thanks for your post. Please do provide a translation into English so that everyone can read your ideas.
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Nicole Blum replied to masoud borzoo
@masoudborzoo Thank you. So glad you enjoyed it.
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@GaryLThomas Yes, absolutely - it's important to make it relevant to your students and their lives, so that's a good way of thinking about it.
