Centennial’s Signature Learning Experience – Journal of Global Citizenship & Equity Education

I look at my learning to teach journey through the lens of my passion, combining Public Relations and teaching.

You all have an idea what teaching is, but let me give you an idea about PR:

Public relations is the strategic management of relationships between an organization and its diverse publics, through the use of communication, to achieve Mutual understanding, realize organizational goals and serve the public interest. (Flynn, Gregory & Valin, 2008)

I want to talk about part of this definition, “public interest”. This means that we serve and look after the welfare of the general public in which the whole society has a stake.

I believe when you serve the public interest you can’t help but embrace or serve in the capacity of a global citizen. Global citizenship means to possess the values, ethics, identity, social justice perspective, intercultural skills, and sense of responsibility to act with a global mindset.

So where am I going with this?

I tell my public relations students they are consumers and producers of research. Peer reviewed journals are at the top of the food chain when it comes to quality produced research and citation.

The Journal of Global Citizenship & Equity Education is our own. The vision is to create a leading edge academic journal on the topics of global citizenship and equity. The goal is to provide a place for academics and researchers to share their findings.
Students can benefit from this…..

As Ann Buller the President of Centennial College says “We want our students to: Better appreciate the role they can play in addressing challenges in the world today. Be equipped with the critical thinking skills necessary to work together in today’s multicultural and multinational business environment. Learn about the global issues of our time. Show compassion for people in our community and other communities. Take action to improve our lives, our community and the global community.”

These are issues that are relevant to public relations and fit with our mandate, our purpose to serve the public interest as a global citizen.

As a teacher in the Public Relations Program I stand to benefit. I am facilitating a learning experience for my students. As a manager of people and as an instructor it is not about me any longer. It is about developing your subordinates, your students and setting them up for success. The by-product of this unselfish act feeds my need. It validates me and rewards me by helping me to realize my own self-actualisation, personal growth and fulfillment. (Maslow, 1940)

One way I can connect this to the public relations program is…as a teaching tool. For instance the writing and citation style used in social science research is APA. (American Psychological Association) This becomes a great teaching tool. It is a potential outlet for our students writing, for their research and their reviews. To have this quality of journal in our midst can bestow prestige, credibility and build capacity in our students.

The Journal of Global Citizenship & Equity Education is an aspect of Centennial’s Signature Learning Experience that instructors need to visit. Once you have I hope you feel compelled to subscribe and become a registered user. I have and I took the next step with the intent to submit items to the journal.

References
Brigham, M. (2011). Creating a Global Citizen and Assessing Outcomes. Journal Of Global Citizenship & Equity Education, 1(1). Retrieved March 13, 2013,
from http://journals.sfu.ca/jgcee/index.php/jgcee/article/view/27/10