Chapter 7: Teachers, Twitter, and Global Citizenship Education: Global Discussions, National Boundaries

Contemporary discourse about global education exists in the context of migratory flows of people and ideas, facilitated by technology. In this chapter, we present findings from an analysis of ways teachers and teacher educators publicly discussed global citizenship education through the medium of Twitter. Results of our inquiry suggest that Twitter provides a space for globally-focused educators to create community and improve their practice with affirmations and personalized learning. However, these conversations are nationally-bound, as only U.S.-based educators participated in the focus chats. Educators in this study tended to focus on cultivating global perspectives among students, rather than educating students about human or civil rights as a basis for citizenship practices. Diversity and environmental concerns were the most common global issues discussed.