This guest post was written by Madeleine Northfield, a Program Manager at the Virtual Model United Nations Institute.
Back to school looked very different for students this year. One of the best parts of education is the community it provides students, not just the teacher to student learning but also the peer to peer learning that happens in these environments.
In a time when you can’t be closer than 6 feet from each other, how can we expect students to learn from one another? When we began the Best Delegate Virtual Model United Nations Institute during the school year, that was one of the primary questions we had to ask ourselves.
Model UN clubs have always been a source of education, fun, and socialization for students,and clubs traditionally thrive through peer learning. Older students who know the ins and outs of Model UN simulations and are able to share their expertise as student leaders who take on mentoring roles.
While education moves online across North America, recreating these peer learning environments was not considered a top priority by most schools as many struggled to get basic curriculum taught to students in an online, hybrid, or modified classroom environment.
VMUNI is a program that is meant to put the students back in the driver’s seat, a choose your own Model UN adventure that allows students to thrive with small classes, conferences, and peer learning, with assistance from our experienced University staff. The program engages students in 3 different ways: Weekly classes, an Online MUN Community filled with weekly events, and monthly MUN Conferences. Students get the chance to pick a course that interests them, either traditional MUN or a current events course that follows the key issues our world is facing every day and how to interact with them. These courses and the conferences empower students to continue their learning via teamwork and cooperation, even when they can’t be in the same room together.
Our Model UN community is a new concept in Model UN education. It is a way to utilize the power of the internet to let students recreate their “in- school” experience. Through the MUN Community, we run weekly events such as drop in Model UN office hours with our Model UN Mentors, Trivia about any and all subjects that interest students, Game Nights, Mini Debates, and ongoing support when students have questions. Each week, students can pick which scheduled events they want to attend and design a schedule that works for them. Students who get to know one another can coordinate which events they want to go to with their new friends, even if their new friend is 3000 miles across the country.
A highlight of this community is giving students a platform to discuss global issues, such as the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the Covid-19 pandemic, or the upcoming US election. The power of teaching students how to engage and respectfully discuss these issues recreates the casual classroom talk that we miss in online education. This gives students the opportunity to continue to learn and understand the world around them.
As our community grows, we want to continue to give students leadership experiences, to recreate the peer to peer learning that Model UN has thrived on. Students will help moderate debates, mentor younger students, host our community events, help run Model UN conferences, and grow through the ability to help teach others.
Having the opportunity to watch this platform grow, I’ve seen students who entered our community with little confidence in their ability to contribute to debate and discussion. The progress and growth in a few weeks and then a few months has consistently left me astonished and these students become mentors for the next group of students. The power of peer to peer learning is one that should be implemented across education and is at the core of our education model at the Virtual Model United Nations Institute.
