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Taking this paradox of global competency and power as my starting point, I
would like to examine one unique effort to use online technology and an interdisciplinary
pedagogical approach to educate young people for global citizenship. Specifically, this
paper presents “The Global Challenge,” a three-credit hour interdisciplinary course on
global issues required since Fall 2001 of all freshmen at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
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More than 90 sections of the course are offered each year in online and blended formats,
both on campus and through a variety of partnerships including the United States
National Guard Bureau, a network of community colleges, a degree completion program
provided to Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., and, most recently, to high school teachers
through a fledgling professional development program.
Fairleigh Dickinson University is in many respects a typical American university.
However, since its founding in 1942 Fairleigh Dickinson has embraced a global mission
and, since 1945, has maintained close ties to the United Nations. Indeed, at time of
writing Fairleigh Dickinson University is one of just three universities in the United
States to earn accreditation as a nongovernmental organization (NGO) associated with
the Department of Public Information of the United Nations. The Global Challenge is
central the university’s global education program, which emphasizes distance learning
via the Internet as a means to promoting global citizenship. The course has received
many public accolades, but so far it has had only limited success in achieving the learning
outcomes needed to promote responsible and effective global citizenship. It is a
beginning that deserves to be studied and, perhaps, emulated, but it must be
acknowledged that a substantial solution to the paradox of global competency and power
remains elusive.
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Convention