Global Perspectives - Silver
Introduction to Global Studies
Description
Introduction to Global Studies is, much as it sounds, an introduction to globalization and how the forces responsible for it affect economic, political, and social relations in the modern age. Various units include the global economy, global governance and - most notably - human security in a global context. It is this last focus that most closely relates to the my selected challenge. In a more concrete sense, the work involves presentations about units in the textbook and independent research, as well as analyses of how the topics covered are reflected in current news stories.
Commitment and Connection
I completed this experience by taking GLBL 101, the introductory global studies class, in the spring of 2018. This is a 3-credit hour class, lasting for 15 weeks. This class covers an introduction to the topics of importance across country or culture boundaries, such as the global economy and international security. It will serve as a launching point for future studies in a global environment by showing how an international perspective can be applied to these topics. Notably, it plays into the concept of securing cyberspace by introducing international security, which is becoming ever more intertwined with the different nation’s cyber-infrastructures.
This course addresses the concept of global security and how globalization will impact human security, and additionally requires making connections between the concepts covered in class and various current news stories. This shows firsthand how the current global dynamics tie into the cyber sphere, and how traditional notions of security are expanding into the cyber sphere. This highlights the aspects of my challenge that are not frequently covered, such as the roles that industry requirements and national borders play in being able to implement technological solutions to the challenge.
Reflection
The most interesting part of this course for me was a demonstration of what studies in globalization appear to focus on. From the textbook selected by the teacher to the research topics selected by the students, there was a broad range that covered almost everything alluded to in the course description except an explicit mention of security. It was implicitly alluded to, e.g. through the lens of economic disparity and how lack of access to resources could be viewed as a lack of security, but it was never a central topic. While this is anecdotal evidence, it helped me gain the perspective of what others are likely to focus on, and how much work has to go in to simply getting people to think about security; much less what must be done to try to create security, in physical space or in cyberspace.
Learning Objectives
Integrity - One of the core concepts covered in global studies is global relations, including the widespread inequality that they bring and the detachment present in transnational operations. Learning about what ways industry often fails to display integrity serves as an example of what not to do, and what to watch out for a potential employer advocating for if I wish to maintain my own integrity in the workforce.
Perspectivism - By it's very nature this course focused on events occurring in a variety of locales, with different cultures, levels of development, and other aspects of perspective. Spending the entire class looking at events in other areas like this helps to build perspective for other countries and other peoples in an obvious way.
Realistic vision - The initial divide for one of the group projects was skewed, with fewer students than expected working on what I thought was the most interesting project. Deciding whether to continue with that original project or dissolve it and join a different team was essentially a judgement of what was realistic to complete in the time allotted for the assignment.
Teamwork - The course includes multiple group presentations, covering both the textbook and independent research. Planning out the presentation and dividing the tasks for the research are a perfect example of what naturally occurs in a team environment, making a natural connection to the objective.
Persistence - This course included a group research project, the structure of which was extremely open-ended. It started with a single source, and then we were supposed to expand upon it from there; with no guidance, it took a lot of time and effort just to figure out what we were supposed to be researching. Slogging through the entire vague project required persistence in the face of hours of research accomplishing almost nothing.
Flexibility - As was highlighted before, group presentations were an extensive part of this class, with multiple different groups. Being able to meet up with a variety of different schedules across different dates to plan and practice the presentations required flexibility in a very literal sense.
Global Experiences Learning
Working with Diverse Teams
Due to the nature of a global studies curriculum, this class attracted students from a variety of cultural backgrounds with interest in how their specific backgrounds relates to global discourse. Interactions and group discussions with my classmates, then, were akin to working in a team with such a wide scope of diversity.
Global Citizenship
The content of the course centers on an introduction to cross-cultural parameters and challenges; familiarity with challenges that transcend borders and the role that individual countries have in solving them followed by association.
Cultural Awareness
As a central element of the course is the relations between different countries, identifying the different values and perspectives held by multiple global parties and cultures will automatically become a component of my studies.
Openness to Difference
This course includes an introduction to global economic and social relations, which are the defining components of a diverse group of stakeholders in any global business; learning about these defining components will help prepare me for interacting with them in my career.
Exhibit consciousness of the connectedness of the world
and the workings of the global economy
The purpose of the class is to increase such awareness and showcase how economic and political concerns across the globe are inherently interconnected in this age.
Demonstrate knowledge of the history, government,
and economic systems of several target countries
In order to demonstrate the interconnections described above it was necessary for the class to describe the governments and economies of representative countries and how they factor into the global network.