Global Online Academy Turns Ten

Matt Wilce speaks with current and former high school students about their experiences taking courses through Global Online Academy.

In the last year online learning has become par for the course for many students around the world, but rather than logging into a Zoom call with their regular classmates and teacher, Global Online Academy (GOA) has offered ASIJ students a different type of virtual learning for the past decade.

A not-for-profit consortium of over 120 independent schools, GOA was started by a group of independent schools looking to bring the benefits of online learning to their teachers and students. Teachers create their own materials for classes and connect students to curated material gathered from a variety of sources. Just like in brick and mortar classrooms at their member schools, in GOA classrooms emphasis is on engagement, interaction, and collaboration among students and with the teacher.

ASIJ joined GOA in 2012, as the program entered its second year, with three pioneering students — attracted by classes such as Multivariable Calculus, Comparative Government and Medical Problem Solving — taking courses in the first semester and another seven in the second semester. The diverse range of subjects on offer has proved to be a key reason why students have continued to choose GOA over the years, allowing them to pursue new interests or delve deeper into a topic they’ve already studied at ASIJ.

Akira Camargo ’14 was in one of the first cohorts of GOA students at ASIJ and took the Examining the Media with a Global Perspective course in the fall of his senior year due to his interest in media in all its forms. “Looking back, the course was beneficial because the issue area was one that was not available as a course offering at ASIJ,” he says. “It also allowed me to connect with students from across the globe,

Aaron Alcodray provides students taking the GOA courses with guidance

Ella Noll ’15 during her studies in Abu Dhabi

Akira Camargo ’14 (top) and Keeli Johnson ’18 (bottom)

which was a shift from my day-to-day at ASIJ. With the pandemic and the increased presence of edtech, I think GOA courses will continue to remain a crucial part of our educational experience.” In talking to alumni like Akira, it is clear that often GOA has a lasting impact. “I was always interested in the intersection of media with politics and social issues,” Akira says, “which has definitely translated to my current profession as a PR consultant for nonprofits. Using media — the news and social — as a means to amplify our clients’ stories and issue areas is one skill set I use daily, and this GOA course was a helpful introduction in sharpening my skills.”

Students today continue to seek courses that offer them new directions or speak to a passion they have. “I chose to take the GOA course business problem solving because I wanted to take a course not offered at ASIJ that elevated my understanding of business,” says junior Shou Bernier ’22. “Although there are clubs and courses related to business at ASIJ, none of the courses are specifically about viewing societal issues through the lens of a business leader.”

Back in 2014, then senior Ella Noll ’15 felt the same way, telling us that she had always been intrigued by the ability to speak multiple foreign languages and having studied Japanese and Chinese she took the opportunity to try Arabic through GOA. Looking back now Ella says, “I’d probably characterize the GOA Arabic course as the start of a long journey that ultimately landed me where I am today. I’ll admit I initially chose to enroll with the goal of increasing my chances of getting into NYU Abu Dhabi — which worked! — but I learned so much and met so many interesting people, a few of whom ended up being my classmates at NYUAD.” While Ella ultimately didn’t continue studying Arabic, she says it ended up being very useful for her senior AP Capstone project where she developed a system of automated post-editing for Arabic-Japanese machine translation — it has also come in handy in Abu Dhabi.

Keeli Johnson ’18 took GOA’s Arabic course in 2017, initially because she had in mind the lucrative employment and research opportunities for Arabic-speakers. “I have always wanted to work in foreign policy and knowing Arabic is certainly an asset in that line of career,” she says. “Through the GOA course, I was exposed to Middle Eastern culture, the distinctions between certain types of Arabic, and a basic overview of the Levantine dialect. Overall, it gave me an introduction to the Middle East region that other ASIJ courses weren’t offering at the time.” The class sparked Keeli’s desire to continue learning about the Middle East and in her freshman year at college she received Wesleyan University’s Scott Prize in Arabic. “I am still studying Modern Standard Arabic and plan to declare a Middle Eastern Studies minor,” she says. Her aspirations from high school remain the same and she hopes to eventually become a Foreign Service Officer for the State Department. “In the meantime, I want to work for a think tank on foreign policy to gain a better understanding of the culture and politics of the Middle East,” she says.

Although Arabic has continued to be a popular choice for students, with nine students enrolling in the GOA course so far, one of the most popular areas of study for ASIJ students through GOA is psychology with 14 students taking abnormal psychology, nine taking the introduction to psychology class and 10 studying neuropsychology. “One of the reasons I think psychology in particular is very popular among ASIJ students

Shou Bernier ’22 took the business problem solving course

is due to the fact that, although psychology is offered at ASIJ, it is only a one-semester course and only available in the final years of school,” says Sophomore Calla Wilcox ’23, who took GOA’s social psychology course this year. For students like her, the opportunity to explore the subject in multiple classes can lead to the confidence to pursue the subject in college as well as help them understand their own studies more deeply. Calla notes that, “social dynamics are a large part of the high school experience and I think many others like me have been curious about how and why we think and act differently.”

The growth of GOA’s consortium of schools has contributed immensely to the development of its programs and offerings throughout its first ten years. As new schools join, there are more students who want to learn with GOA and more educators who want to design courses and teach, which helps to create the diverse course offering that students find so appealing. “In all of this growth, the guiding principles and concepts GOA was founded on 10 years ago have incredible relevance today — our focus continues to be on impacting students,” says Michael Nachbar, GOA’s Executive Director.

In addition to their regular classes, GOA has recently developed shorter, non-credit bearing courses to provide students with an opportunity to join a global conversation on relevant, real-world topics. Known as Flex Courses, these 1–2 week courses are scheduled in advance and run at specific times during the academic year, allowing for peers around the world to join the collaborative, engaging conversations at the same time. A further change is the introduction of the Learners for Life series of modular, topic-based offerings, which are focused on life skills and learning strategies for students in grades 7–9. Distinctive from the Flex Course model, these courses are designed by GOA with on-campus teachers playing an active role in supporting students’ engagement with the modules in the classroom. “As we began our year in hybrid learning mode, it was important to us that our middle schoolers were prepared for their off campus days. The GOA Learning to Learn Online course prepared students by building their digital learning tool kit,” says Pip Curtis, Middle School Principal. “Advisors on campus guided students using the GOA resources so that they were well prepared for the year ahead. Teachers appreciated the resources and structure of the course while students enjoyed the freedom to work at their own pace and apply the learning to their personal situation at home.”

Back at the start of the 2016–17 school year, ASIJ opened courses to grade 10 for the first time and a total of 26 students took part in GOA courses that year. The number of students choosing GOA has continued to grow, hitting a high of 55 enrollments in this school year. “With online learning becoming a norm for everyone over the last year, I think more students became comfortable with the idea of taking a virtual class and decided to choose GOA as these courses were always intended to be taught remotely,” says Aaron Alcodray, ASIJ’s GOA coordinator.

Having someone in the high school who can guide students through their online learning experience has proved valuable to students. “A factor that determined whether I would have taken a GOA or not was whether I would have help with the classes, or if I was completely alone in the process,” notes Calla. “Luckily for other students like me, we had Mr Alcodray

Calla Wilcox ’23 took GOA’s social psychology course

GOA's psychology courses have proved to be consistently popular with ASIJ students

who not only did check-ins to make sure we were doing well, but also was there to help with any other GOA related difficulties we may have had, like questions about how to use the website,” she says. “Having that kind of support from teachers at ASIJ played a huge part in the reason why I felt comfortable enough to take the class.”

ASIJ’s involvement with GOA has not only impacted student learning but also faculty professional development. The program provides teachers with access to leading research and expert facilitators, innovative and immersive programs, and a global network of colleagues that can help transform their teaching. ASIJ’s teachers have taken part in 64 professional learning opportunities through GOA over the last two years and have benefited from units on designing for equity and designing for online learning.

GOA classes are teacher-paced, meaning students are assigned work throughout the week rather than given assignments to complete over a large block of time. All classes contain both synchronous and asynchronous components, giving students the opportunity to connect in real time but also providing them with the flexibility to work when and how they would like. One of the biggest takeaways students say they get from taking GOA courses is learning how to collaborate and communicate better. “I learned the importance of constant communication because I was working with people in different timezones who I met once a week,” says Shou. “My groups in GOA were more diverse than at ASIJ, so I learned how to work with people who have different perspectives or experiences,” he adds. “At first, trying to start a conversation with the other students in the class was very difficult because I didn’t know what to talk about. However, as I got to know the others, I realized that we had more in common than we thought, and we also had mutual acquaintances,” he says. “Lastly, collaborating with people from other schools allowed me to gain a better understanding of how people from different countries approach a problem.”

GOA also offers students the opportunity to take increased ownership of their learning and develop new skills. “Some of the things I have gotten out of GOA are opportunities and freedoms that I wouldn't usually have with in person school,” says Calla. “For example designing my own schedule and planning get-togethers with fellow classmates in the other parts of the world.” Shou agrees saying, “because the GOA courses are largely self-driven, students will be better equipped to work independently in the future.” Calla seconds that opinion saying, “If students love variety in their subjects or just want to have a little more choice in projects and time management, GOA is the way to go. GOA opened my eyes to new ideas and opinions and it also gave me a deeper understanding and appreciation for aspects in life that I already really enjoyed!”

The work of four ASIJ students was selected for the GOA Catalyst Conference this spring.

Their presentations on the theme of sparking change in our communities are available here:

https://2020.goaconference.org/ school/The-American-School-in-Japan/