5. Global Impact Diploma (part of the Global Pathways Innovations Mini-Series)

In the last of these 5 mini episodes about innovative and emerging student pathways, I chatted with Malna, Nick, and Belen from the American International School of Budapest, the American International School of Bucharest, and the American School of Lima, respectively. These are 3 of more than 100 international schools who are represented in the cohort of passionate educators and leaders who founded and co-created the Global Impact Diploma, which is a 2-year sequence of courses designed to prepare students to change the world. You can find more information about the Global Impact Diploma in the show notes. Fantastic. All right, brilliant. Well, thanks, Malna. So perhaps we could start by, if I could ask you why you chose the Global Impact Diploma.

Hello, I'm Malna. I'm from AISB, which is the American International School of Budapest. And I think the reason I chose the GID Diploma is because of the way they presented it to us. It showed a new way of thinking. So they, compared to the IB, for example, the GID had so much more possibilities and opportunities for me as a learner because it fit my needs much, much better. It was also much more flexible. Like, it still had requirements to graduate, but the classes seemed much more like free of thinking and like much more deeper than the IB. The IB to me feels superficial because of the grade requirements, honestly. And with the GID, I felt like it was a new way of thinking, first of all. And then second of all, it was just, it just felt more free, less pressure, less boundaries.

Yeah, no, good. And how did they, the teachers describe it to you in the first place? I mean, what, what did you understand about it as you were coming into it, I suppose? Like this word impact is an interesting word, right? Like, I wonder what that means to you.

So to me, when they described it with having impact, it meant that we were actually gonna make impact either on our community or like in our own lives. At first, I didn't know how much it would impact me as a person, but my general understanding of it at the beginning was that we were gonna have like projects that might help other people. Like it could be as big of a project as we wanted it to. And with the GID, I feel like it could still be taken seriously, but without the pressure on the student. So if, because it is a uni diploma, other universities could like see it as something more unique. So for me, like the pathway that I'm choosing to pursue, it would be much more beneficial because I'm gonna be doing like fine arts, so that fit my future much better.

That's great. Thanks. And then just thinking about the the detail of the course, the way it's structured. As I understand it, there's 5 core courses. And so could you just talk a little bit about those 5 and then what were the ones that you were particularly excited about?

So the 5 courses that I know of, Innovation of Science or Innovation Studio. Yeah, it's called Innovation Studio. It's basically a science credit. There is Imperfect Art of Living, which is an English class. And then there's the Leadership for Impact. And then there's the internship class. It's also a course. It's a half-term course with the leadership, and I haven't had the internship yet. And there's the Impact Project in 12th grade.

Yeah.

And so, yeah, then which one are you most excited about? So maybe you could tell me a little bit more about The Imperfect Art of Living, which I just think is a brilliant title for a course. It just already intrigues me.

So before signing up for my courses, I saw that there was an opportunity to take The Imperfect Art of Living. So at first the title did not make any sense to me. It was a little too abstract to like put it together. So I kind of assumed it was gonna be philosophy, kind of psychology. So I knew that it was gonna be like a much more free structured course. But when I did start it, I was like, oh, it shows how life is, like, in a way. So that in class we had some very interesting readings assigned and it was all like self-help books, but from the perspective of many different authors. So for me, it actually helped me self-reflect a lot on my life at the moment. Me and my classmates kind of jokingly call it the therapy class because you reflect so much on how you impact others and how you impact yourself. And honestly, the, and the learning environment in the class itself is very, very different. We are expected to kind of be vulnerable with everyone in a sense, because whenever we have a project, like a bigger project, we present it in front of the whole class. And majority of the times those projects are very vulnerable and they are either about a relationship in your life or an impact that you have on others or something like an old memory. We're kind of working on that right now, like vaguely put. So you have to be very vulnerable in front of your classmates. So the environment is much more safe. Like I feel much more closer to my classmates than I do in like AA math. And there's a much more of a community. Because nobody is kind of in their own secluded group where if we were able to like sit wherever we wanted, everybody would've had a group since the beginning of the year. But because we have assigned seats and discussions with those groups, then I feel like it's much more real. And talking more about the projects, actually, one of the first projects that we had was about making impact for someone in our life. So after reading some of those self-evaluation books, we had to choose one person in our life that we had kind of a problem with. We described the problem as anything that was wrong in the relationship. Like for example, with your mother, you didn't talk that much and you could change that with little impacts, like with little gratitude prototypes and little projects that we had like scattered out. Like a little gift that you leave for your mom in the morning before she leaves for work. And you could have chosen anyone in your life. So me, I chose my now best friend Sophie. I know her from dance. And my problem with her was kind of that we drifted apart during the summer and I had to do these tiny little contributions for her over the course of like a month. We started off with like a gratitude letter and then we had to give our person a little gift and stuff. And just record their reaction. So we had to have that evidence later for our big project that led up to this. So our big project was a video that we had to make for the person, just basically saying how we appreciate them, that they're in our life. And I honestly think I got a best friend out of that project because she realized how much she means to me and how much I appreciate her. And she was like, wow, I've never had that with anyone, like in a friendship. And I was like, yeah, no, me neither. And she basically reciprocated I did all the things I did and now we're really, really, really close.

Ah, that's great. And, and I mean, this is more general, but specifically on that course, what kinds of competencies do you feel like you are developing through that? Like skills or, or different ways of being or doing that you are developing?

So I think my awareness kind of, it improved a lot, my awareness of what I do and how it might impact someone else. Like just generally speaking, for example, in a working environment, the mess I might leave for the workers. Like I was already aware of that before this course, but now I realize like all the work they put into it. And it made me realize that I don't actually show that much gratitude for things in my life. And I am very fortunate to be able to be at this school and do the GID and be in this Imperfect Art of Living. Course and like it made me realize that, well, yeah, no, I should say thank you more often and show that it has value to me and show that to them.

Nice. You said it's an English course, so is it also your English credit for your overall diploma as well?

Yes, it's an English course. And right now we're actually working on story writing. We're going to be creating our own Moth story. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but it's—

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Great.

Working on that right now. And our teacher is helping us with how to make a well-structured story and how to tell it well in front of an audience and how to perform it. And then for the gratitude video, that was our last project. He helped us edit. It was like video editing honestly. It was very interesting. It was like a film class for a second because we had to work out the climax and then how it goes on from afterwards. And then the reflection, and then the ending, and like the last message. So even in the film part of it, we had to work out the story. We don't have essays or anything like that. We do have class discussions though about the readings that we have to do. So I think that my analyzation skills are becoming like pretty strong because I can look at a big piece of text and kind of get the gist of the general idea. And talk about the main idea and share quotes. And I'm getting good at it because we have those discussions like frequently. So like, I feel like that's the more English idea.

Yeah, that's great. And then broadening it out to the rest of the courses that you take within the GID, what other kinds of competencies do you feel like you're getting in that diploma that perhaps you wouldn't be getting if you were doing IB or AP or other things?

So I think In my innovation class that counts as a science credit, I actually kind of learned like the bridge between art and science. Like I never knew how closely related the two could be. And I really love how my teachers in that course like executed that. It's difficult to explain, but we use algorithms to create a painting and to have our algorithms, we use data and then we, we got the data from making a kite and then it connected to physics and it was all just crazy, but like it made sense. So it made sense that it was that way, but we still had creative freedom. And I really loved every part of that project. And then in my other course, in my leadership course, I think what the most valuable thing I learned was different types of leadership. And I learned that a leader takes initiative. A boss just tells you what to do and a supervisor tells you what the boss told them to do. So. It was put into like a very interesting perspective for me.

And just finally, how is this helping you to clarify your path in terms of where you want to go next or what you might— I mean, you said you're creative and artistic. You're hoping to pursue the arts aspect?

So definitely, I'm going into the arts, into fine arts, and I think these courses help me build the competency to do whatever I want, honestly. Like, I feel because of these courses, I kind of realized that I can do whatever I want really, and I can make it work. Like, especially The Imperfect Art of Living made me realize that, like, opportunities are endless. I can go anywhere and anywhere and I can make it work and I can have connections and I can make, make connections and I can do anything on, I don't know. These courses kind of made me feel like, yeah, no, I'm kind of capable of anything because when you break it down, it isn't that much work. Like, Innovation Studio made me realize that, yeah, I can build a 3-foot-tall wall for, like, theater, and it would be doable because we broke it down into steps. And it was really interesting seeing the process of that. And then, like, again, with The Imperfect Art of Living, it, like, you have to have a connection to yourself and your environment to be able to put it down on page. So that for me means a lot. And art for me personally is kind of therapeutic. So it already kind of ties into the imperfect art of living. Yeah, I think it helps in a lot of ways.

Nick, if you wouldn't mind just introducing yourself and just telling us a little bit about the Global Impact Diploma.

Yes, of course. My name is Nick. Mihira, I'm grade 11 and I'm currently in the American International School of Bucharest in Romania, and I'm taking the Global Impact Diploma, and I would like to elaborate on that. In one sentence, it's thinking outside the box. The course is kind of like a good conversation that makes you think about the aspects you usually wouldn't. It's practical, it's relatable, and it doesn't just throw info at you. It really helps you figure out things and solutions to problems step by step. And it's not just about learning and then implementing. It's about learning, reflecting on yourself and about others, and making decisions based on that. That would solve any obstacle you'll have in the future. And that's basically what this diploma is focusing on, is building leaders that can critically think and reflect.

That's great. And the, the word impact seems to be quite important in all of the course materials I've seen. How do you understand that word impact?

For me, what it means is making impact on others, on the problems that will have impact on yourself as well, because you cannot have an impact on anything else outside of yourself if you're not firstly reflecting and working on yourself. So the impact is really about all of the aspects that contribute to a change. So it's about learning to be a good leader, and it's about doing an actual change, an actual impact on the world. That's how I would describe impact for me.

Thank you. And then specifically, perhaps if I could ask you firstly, Nick, about the Foundations of Leadership for Impact course, could you just, yeah, tell us a little bit about what that course has meant to you and maybe some of your personal experiences during that course?

Yes. So Leadership for Impact is a course that doesn't focus on writing essays and handing in work all the time, but rather on actually learning and then implementing what you learned. For example, in class we did a great amount of activities such as the Ikigai, which is a Japanese term. Basically, it's a model that both circles that represent your life views and your work views. Where they align, and that makes you reflect on what is actually important to you so you can make an impact on that sphere. As well as also with the Golden Circle, it explores your why to why you're doing what you're doing. It can be anything from the Global Impact Diploma itself to other sorts of activities. And also we have an, an activity about interviewing a leader. Which I think was great. However, we also had an activity that had us make an actual change, an actual impact, and that was about figuring out an issue that we can act upon, not a global issue, but something local. So I chose to impact the crowdedness in my gym, in my local gym. So what I did is to this assignment is I analyzed, came up with a solution, and then what I did as a leader to enhance the value, I contacted the managers of the gym proposing my solution and also showing my analysis. And with that, I think it was really great because it made me experience the impact that I can have instead of just doing work all the time.

That's great. And how does that— I mean, it sounds very different from what you've described, but how would you, in terms of the way you learn or the way that you interact with the teacher or the way that you're assessed, how is that different to more, let's say, regular subjects that you would have been used to in school?

Yes. In short, it's about not only learning, but also implementing what you learn. Because in a lot of subjects like math, you prepare for a test, you study, you write things down, and that's it. But for the GED specifically, the Leadership for Impact, you learn, you analyze, then you make a plan on how to do it and where and why, and then you actually do it. So you go to conferences, you go to meetings, and then you represent what you learn and propose solutions to certain problems or certain aspects. For example, I went to a conference about urban planning, which was called Time to Play. And I not only listened to the mayors of Bucharest discuss what they want to do, but I also could voice my opinion and suggest different solutions. And that's, I think that's really what this course is about, is just not only learning, but also implementing what you learn.

Fantastic. That's great. And I'm assuming that means that perhaps there are other members of your group, your peer group, your class are all doing slightly different things then, is that correct?

That's correct. Yes. We had the assignment of the impact and all of us chose a different topic. The one that interests them specifically, which is why we were doing the golden circle and so on to see what's good for us and then to explore that area and possibly impact on different problems. And yeah, we all did different things.

Yeah. Fantastic.

Thank you.

I might come back to you in a moment just in relation to some of the assessment stuff, if you don't mind. But Belén, if I could just come to you, perhaps if you could talk about one of the other elements which Nick outlined, which is the Entrepreneurship for Impact course. Could you just tell us a little bit about that? And again, some of your experiences in that?

Yes. So I'm Belén. I'm a junior in high school and I'm from FDR Franklin and Roosevelt School here in Lima, Peru. And in the GID, I'm taking Entrepreneurship for Impact. And I would describe that course that's not just about creating a business, but about learning how to make a meaningful difference. In this course, we explore real-world problems and learn how to design sustainable solutions through innovations. For example, we have learned to fall in love with a problem and understand that solving it means talking to people we don't normally interact with, which can be challenging to an extent. Entrepreneurship for Impact is also a course that makes you understand that basically understanding a problem is what leads you to a meaningful solution. And this course is very hands-on and flexible. We have space to choose what to work on, how to reflect upon things, and we are allowed to make changes along the way. For example, last week we needed a lot more time to develop our IP, which we're prototyping. And the whole class was a little bit stressed. We gave feedback as a group and decided to move it to next week. And that shows the flexibility. The flexibility in this course makes the learning process feel very real and student-driven.

Amazing. Yeah, that sounds great. And in relation to some of those more real experiences in vert-commerce, are you— what kinds of skills and capabilities do you feel like you're learning by doing that?

So I feel like this course is completely different from my other subjects in school. This course, instead of memorizing or following a fixed syllabus, we apply what we learn through projects and experimentation. It's basically an active learning. We test ideas, gather feedback, and have room to improve. Lately, we've done a lot of hands-on activities and learn about tools as I mentioned before, the MVPs, which is a minimum viable product. And for example, we've seen how Airbnb started and how, like, by testing a simple idea, we can see what it has become now. And things like that are the ones that we learn in order to us apply it into the real world. And we also read a chapter from The Mom Test. I don't know if you've heard about that book, but it basically has taught us to ask neutral questions that reveal real insights. Not just what we want to hear. And basically I'm really liking this course because we've learned to fall in love with the problem, not the solution, which is basically helping us prioritize the understanding and becoming passionate about solving, not like a single solution, but what our customers need and want to have. And yeah, another big difference I would say upon this course and my other subjects is that it allows a lot of reflection and wellbeing, which are part of the process. And it's not just about the outcomes we have, it's about how we grow and collaborate along the way with our teacher and my peers in the class.

Amazing. So do you feel that that's something that could happen in other contexts, or is that, you know, is there, is it something that other students in other places could also have this course, or is there something special going on in Lima or in Bucharest that's allowing you to have this? So could you imagine it being taken in other places and what advice might you give to other schools?

I feel like this course is, I don't know why they've chosen our school and the Budapest, like a lot of these schools, but I would say connecting it to this course, to the entrepreneurship course, Lima is facing a lot of problems. It can be due to the traffic, politics, many like conflicts around this country. And I feel like it's very important. And also, I would say any school could take this course because it helps you get new insights for your future. Like, it's not like any course that you just, as Nick mentioned, do the homework, study, and that. It's a course that helps you see the insights of what can come next in life. For example, I would have never imagined me at 16 years old learning how to be an entrepreneur, right? Learning how to be a leader. So I feel like it's very important for other schools to have the opportunity and take these courses because it's something that basically allows you to get feedback on yourself. You critically analyze yourself and the rest of people, which I feel like are— let you have a lot of values that are very important for anyone's future. So it's an important course to take.

Thank you.

That's excellent. And could I ask maybe both of you, because what you've described, both of you have described something very real and there's a lot of flexibility and quite a lot of different people in your classes doing different things. So how does that fit into some kind of assessment when, because sometimes teachers worry about also how do I make sure that the young people are getting the right skills? How do I show that? How do we celebrate learning? So could you just describe a little bit about what the, how has the assessment felt in some of these experiences?

So basically in not only Entrepreneurship, but both of my GID courses, after we do either an activity or a task, we self-reflect. We have this rubric with, I think, 4 or 5 criteria, and we need to grade ourselves based on each category. And I feel like that's, first of all, important for us to know what we need to work on and what we're doing well on, but for the teacher to know, do these kids really understand what they're doing, what they need to do? And I think that there's no test, like there's no assessment that we're gonna take throughout the course. It's mostly growing as a person. And for example, my teacher, he's a person that understands a lot and has a very open mind. So I feel like with him, I don't know if Nick, this is also in your school that you have to like self-grade yourself. But I feel like it's very important because it's a way for us and the teacher to really know what we need help on and what we've gotten throughout the courses.

Fantastic. That's, that's super useful. Nick, did you want to add to that?

Yeah, I fully agree with what she said. It's the same thing for me. It's not as in we have an assignment and we're being graded based on that, based on what we know. No, it's about building a leader, not assessing a leader. So as she said, we have assignments, different projects, planning, so on. And a huge part of the reflection that we do comes from ourselves. So not just to get a feedback from the teacher as in, okay, so you did good at this and bad at this. No, we assess ourselves based on a specific criteria and then I suggest the grade to the teacher. The teacher then finally sees whether he or she agrees with the reflection I've made, and then that's how the grades are decided. So yeah, it's basically the same thing with— Yeah.

Interesting. All right, great. Belen?

Yeah, I wanted to add something to what Nick said. It's also very self-critical because this course opens a lot your mind, and I've noticed that personally, and I talked with friends also in my class. That have said the same thing. I'm a person that doesn't really like understand how to accept feedback, and I feel like I've gotten better at this because of this class. It's helped me open my mind and really get into my brain that I need to be self-critical in order to keep on growing. And I feel like these rubrics, it's hard to put a grade you don't normally want to see in yourself, but I feel like it's something that Discourse has allowed me to be able to do and be so critical.

Fantastic. Thank you. Is there any other, any final message you would, is it something you would encourage more schools to take up the Global Impact Diploma overall? Or, you know, is there just a message you would send to other students or other schools around this?

Yeah, I would say that this course is an absolute must to have to implement on young people because in the modern society we think that we cannot have any change, that we cannot impact any issues at all, and that we just accept the fact that, for example, I'm going to be extreme, but for example, oh, global warming, I can't do anything about it, so I'll just continue doing what I'm doing. And what this course is teaching you is to be the difference, be the change, and to implement change and tactics in order to achieve a certain goal. And it doesn't have to be massive, it doesn't have to be global, it can be something local on which you can act upon. And I think that's great because it doesn't push all the burden of all the problems on you, but it does teach you that being the catalyst of change is important, that you shouldn't just agree with, oh, my local, let's say, river is like polluted, I can't do anything about it. No, you can, and you can clean it by yourself, or you can gather a team, for example. You can do a lot of things, and I think that's what the course is teaching, is to adapt to change, analyze, impose ideas. And I think that's what's great about it, is that it doesn't provide, like other subjects, it doesn't provide you with like a specific formula to solving something. It provides you with a guideline to how to be the person that would do something about the issues, right? I think that's great. I think that's, it's something different and that's something that should be taught everywhere. And I do think that it would make a world a better place if all the people took it. Beautifully said.

Thank you. Belén, anything you wanted to add?

Sure. I agree with Nick 100%. And I liked how you mentioned, even though you're not taking the entrepreneurship class, I've just like connected the dots on what you're learning in leadership with what I'm doing in entrepreneurship. And yes, I feel like it's very important because the GID, I can talk about it in general, has at least helped me, and I'm pretty sure most of the people taking the course, to become more creative and aware of how actions affect others. We also learned to basically see challenges, and we live in a world that's very unpredictable and is constantly changing. Either for the good or for the bad. So this course allows you to adapt, listen, and basically create your own solutions. They can be really small or really big that matter. And I feel like that's something every young person should start experiencing, which is why schools should definitely have this class. And yes, basically learning about how to create this impact, but also how to take care of yourself and others. Along this journey of finding meaning in problems.

Beautiful. Nay, thank you so much.

Thank you for letting us have this opportunity. I really enjoyed it.

It's awesome that we get to share what we experience and to possibly encourage others to do so as well.

We hope you've enjoyed this episode. Please feel free to continue the dialogues with our guests, with us at Good Impact Labs, on our blog, or on social media, or within your own networks.