At the District Assembly in May, 2019, District Governor Nominee Designate Ron Dick noted Rotary has the opportunity to name the new Global Classroom, at Durham College, in Oshawa, Ontario, the Rotary Global Classroom, for eternity. The Rotary Clubs in Durham Region and also Port Hope have worked very hard and have already donated $94,000. These Clubs are asking for YOUR help. To get the name “Rotary” forever etched into the history of this Global Classroom, we need $ 56,000 more from Rotary Clubs, just like yours, to make this possible. If you can help us , please contact Ron at ron@rrdfsi.ca or at 416-988-8077. Please Read More for the rest of the story.....
The Rotary Clubs of Durham region undertook to help Durham College raise funds for their new building , the Centre for Collaborative Education at Durham College in Oshawa, Ontario. The fundraising campaign is called Durham College’s Building Something Amazing campaign and our initiative to is secure $150,000 collectively from the Rotary Clubs in District 7070 to support the new Centre for Collaborative Education.
In recognition of this outstanding support, Durham College would be pleased to name one of the most spectacular spaces within the building (where Rotary held the World Polio Day event) the “Rotary Global Classroom.”
Over the last two years and with recent confirmation to Durham College of additional funds from the Rotary Club of Oshawa, we are now at $94,000.
To get the name “Rotary” forever etched into the history of this Global Classroom, we need $ 56,000 more from Rotary clubs in District 7070, just like yours, to make this possible.
Recently Durham College (DC) held a “Global Graduates” session with Professor Lon Appleby’s class in the Global Classroom that featured three DC alumni in New York, Ireland and South Africa. The high-speed, high-definition telecommunications equipment virtually brought these alumni right
into the classroom for conversation, much like Aseefa Bhutto Zardari and Aziz Memon from Pakistan at Rotary’s World Polio Day event in the Global Classroom last fall.
Durham College now has less than $120,000 to raise to complete the $5 million Building Something Amazing campaign to build the Centre for Collaborative Education (CFCE) on the Oshawa Campus – home to the Global Classroom. So, there is still time to secure Rotary’s name on this
amazing Classroom by collectively contributing $56,000 more to bring our Durham Region Rotary Clubs’commitment to $150,000, but we need to act now.
At the outset of the fundraising campaign, some Rotarians suggested that the Clubs’ support be considered collectively, in order to maximize Rotary’s profile within the CFCE through the naming of a prominent space. Given Rotary’s strong focus on peace, literacy, health, and security of food, water and shelter around the world, and the use of the Classroom to connect students with peers, professors and thought-leaders around the world, recognizing Rotary’s generous support for the new building by naming this high-tech space the “Rotary Global Classroom” made perfect sense.
To date, collectively, the ten Rotary clubs in Durham Region and the Rotary Club of Port Hope have committed just over $94,000 in support of this new building.
Students and staff who study, teach and work in the new building all comment on what an amazing space it is, and what a difference the
specialized space in it – like the Global Classroom – makes to their experience at Durham College.
As the end of the campaign is in sight, we are reaching out to all Rotary clubs in District 7070.
We are inviting each to consider either a first gift (if they have not yet confirmed one), or an extension of their commitment, to help bring us to the $150,000 goal.
Durham College is very grateful for the Rotary Clubs' support for Durham College, and respectful of the Clubs’ vision to support a very broad selection of community needs distributed over the cousre of a Rotary Year. We also want to ensure that your Club has the same opportunity as its sister Clubs in District 7070 to help reach the collective Rotary giving goal.
To that end, we respectfully invite the Rotary Clubs of District 7070 to consider a grant to the Building Something Amazing campaign, and to help secure Rotary’s name on the Global Classroom. Grants may be contributed outright in a lump sum, or pledged over a three year period.
The Rotary Clubs of Durham Region plus the Rotary Club of Port Hope thank you for considering our request.
To give you just one example of how Rotary can use the Global Clasroom to foster world understanding and peace, Here is a link to see what the 2018 World Polio Day in Durham Region livestreaming to the world looked like in the Global Classroom.
DGND Ron Dick invites everyone in District 7070 to come to Durham College and the Global Classroom on October 24, 2019 and be part of history as we livestream World Polio Day live from the Global Classroom of Durham College from 6 pm to 9:30 pm. The ten Rotary Clubs in Durham Region plus the Rotary Club of Port Hope, will be there as they receive proclamations to the mayors of the towns and cities in Durham Region and beyond, and also from Regional Chair ( and fellow Rotarian) John Henry. That will be followed by seeing the live Rotary International broadcast , followed by Dr Bob Scott speaking live with Rotary polio leaders from around the world. All of this will be livestreamed (from 6 pm to 9:30 pm) from the Global Classroom to Rotarians and to colleges world wide, on October 24 World Polio Day.
Background Info for YOU:
Here is a brief background on the Global Classroom and you can see how well it fits with Rotary's object to foster world understanding and peace:
Picture this scene from as early as November 2011. The Global Classroom is now a reality: The auditorium is filled with students and their laptops, the professor prepares at the front of the class, nothing unusual for a classroom at Durham College. But something quite unique is happening on the video screen – the students aren’t watching a PowerPoint presentation, they’re interacting with students from around the world.
Professor Lon Appleby’s class is joined live by similar classes from India and Korea, and documentary film maker, Adolpho Doring from New York.
These Durham College students are participating in a virtual classroom that enables them to learn from, and share with, students and experts from around the world in real-time, an opportunity that most would never have if not for the global class.
“The global class is a great idea that brings cultures from around the world together to share insight, information, and facts about each other’s culture, countries, etc. It’s a great tool for sharing views on certain topics and to broaden others’ knowledge of global issues, cultures, and world views. It’s great to participate in the global class because it allows for more than a classroom of collective learning, but a virtual global collective learning.” said student, Tyler Clark.
Appleby hopes that the global classroom will allow students to feel as if the walls of the classroom, the mountains and oceans and political boundaries that separate them disappear and the students with their diverse backgrounds and experiences can feel as if they’re together in the same room discussing the issues that unify them no matter where they live.
“Students are fascinated to hear what students in other parts of the world have to say about the same issues and concerns. Once they start to engage one another it is hard to get them to stop. We attempt to create a feeling that the students from the three countries are in one class, sitting across the table from another, having a chat,” said professor Appleby.
Appleby has set up a network with like-minded professors and hopes to build upon and enhance his students global classroom experience. To help facilitate this, Appleby will be spoke at the International Conference of the International Association for Intercultural Communication Studies in Taiwan this June, 2011. He shared his global classroom experiences and vision with others interested in learning more about the development and today, we have running, Durham College’s Global Class.
Wouldn't it be fitting to name if the Rotary Global Classroom.