Uniservity

UniServity has developed a ground-breaking partnership with the Chinese Government, the Ministry of Education in the Province of Anhui and the leading Chinese educational publisher, Anhui Publishing Group (APG) to provide the UniServity Learning Platform to Chinese Schools.

In the past few weeks, teachers from leading Hefei High Schools have been introduced to the ‘Around the World in 80 Days' Project and trained on using the UniServity cLc (connected Learning communities) Learning Platform. The first phase of the Learning Platform roll-out involves over 3,000 Chinese students.

This week all the Chinese students have actively joined a unique UniServity online Collaborative Project ‘Around the World in 80 Days', allowing students to create and share knowledge with their peers around the globe in a safe and secure learning environment. An additional 7,000 students in the UK and USA have joined the project, with learners from Singapore and Australia set to join the project shortly.

‘Around the World in 80 Days' Project is part of the hugely successful UniServity  Key Stage 1 - 4 literacy project ‘A Million Words', developed in partnership with several Local Authority literacy teams. The project supports the development of 21st Century literacies within the context of Citizenship, Literacy and Geography in line with the requirements of the National Curriculum.  The activities focus on a variety of different genre including writing non - chronological and chronological reports, journalistic writing and a fictional account of their travels will be developed in their individual travel journals.

The centrepiece of the project requires the students to select a project school in another part of the world. Their chosen school will become the final destination on a virtual global learning journey. At each stop on their journey they are required to research key features that make each city unique, sharing their findings in a collective Wiki, forums and blogs; collaborating locally, nationally and internationally on a variety of curriculum and student relevant themes.

Phil Stubbs, Director of Education, UniServity, commented  " This project is a world first and something we are extremely proud of. Having the support of the Anhui provincial Government has meant that we are now able to present this unique learning opportunity to students in the UK and USA.  Using this cultural exchange as a mechanism to develop new 21^st century literacies in students across continents presents phenomenal opportunities to all students and creates an authentic landscape for deep thinking through the exploration of global themes and perspectives."

Mr. Bao, Vice President of the Anhui Education and Science Institute, added "I think the cLc Learning Platform has changed the process of learning. Learners and teachers can share their opinions and knowledge and learn more about different cultures. All our teachers are motivated and very interested in participating in the UniServity ‘Around the World in 80 Days' Project and collaborating with learners in both the UK and USA.

Dr. Mike Mattingly, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, and Staff Development in Denton, Texas, USA, shared "It is truly a rare opportunity for students to collaborate and learn from each other on such a grand scale. This learning event should amount to an experience that not only brings a deeper understanding of global cultures and 21st century themes, but it has the capacity to build "learning bridges" across classrooms all across the world in a very short period of time. In my opinion the impact of this project will remain with our Texas students long after its conclusion. I am so honoured that UniServity has allowed our students to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime event."