A brief skim or an in-depth review of any day's current events quickly reminds us of the myriad ways we share our home planet with others who--despite our differences in culture, ethnicity, and demographics--share foundational values of stewardship, spirituality, democracy, diversity, and language. Niel Postman (1995) identifies those values as "the five inclusive human narratives" (pg 144).
Great and simple minds struggle to answer the ethical dilemmas which confront us at every angle, giving rise to questions such as those that Walter Parker, Akira Ninomya, and John Cogan (1999) framed in regard to societal equity and fairness; balancing privacy with open access to information; meeting human needs in the face of a fragile environment; coping with issues relating to the growing population, genetic engineering, and poverty; keeping local values while developing shared global values; and making ethics-based decisions on the issues?
In their Learning and Leading with Technolgoy article "Save the World with Web 2.0" Lauren Cifuentes, Zahira Merchant, and Omer Faruk Vural (November, 2010) maintain that human narratives merge well with the ethical questions to form an "activity framework for preparing students for global citizenship (pg 34)."
Sample activities include having students research the importance and impact of an issue prior to promoting their cause on social networks, blogs, wikis, global networking, and other Web 2.0 venues to raise awareness and save the world.
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