International Collaboration in Organizations Promoting Geography Education: Exploring Success and Acknowledging Limitations

Abstract

Effective teaching about many of the geographical issues now confronting Earth and humanity requires collective approaches and shared solutions. It follows, therefore, that there is a need to better understand the basis of and process for sustaining successful international collaboration among geography educators. This paper first examines some of the underpinnings to, and characteristics of, successful network building. Then, in order to explore more fully the nature of international collaboration and to understand better the basis of its varied conceptualizations, a case study approach to a series of examples of geographical networks and communities is used to illustrate how and why successful collaboration between geography educators can occur. A discussion of how the greatest challenges to international collaboration are related to communication illustrates how some common limitations and barriers can be broken down.