Education Needs of the Armenian Diaspora Focused On in Visual Armenia Webinar

Recently, in response to numerous messages and inquiries, the Visual Armenia Foundation held a webinar to introduce the WorldView educational innovation platform specifically for Armenian teachers living and working in the diaspora. A total of 91 teachers from various corners of the world registered for the webinar, including participants from the Russian Federation, the USA, Georgia, India, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Argentina, Belarus, Iran, and Syria.

The participants were welcomed by the Foundation’s Executive Director and the Founder of the WorldView educational platform, Hovhannes Ghazaryan, who presented the various activities of the Foundation, as well as its mission and vision for development. He stated, “Whether in Armenia or abroad, Armenian teachers have a challenging and important mission: to educate and nurture citizens — individuals with a broad worldview who recognize, love, and wish to preserve their Armenian identity. Along this journey, we offer our compatriot teachers working in the diaspora the WorldView educational program developed and refined in Armenia.”

Haykanush Ghevondyan, an instructor and methodologist for the WorldView program, provided a detailed overview of the platform’s tools using as an example the topic of “King Tigranes II the Great of the Artaxiad Dynasty (95 – 55 BC).” During the lesson, Haykanush “traveled” through time and space, showcasing territorial changes, their affiliations with different states, highlighting pivotal events, making annotations and measurements, and composing brief messages to demonstrate the capabilities of the platform’s toolset to the webinar participants. “From my personal experience, I can say that it is impossible for any Armenian student to remain indifferent when given the opportunity to study their homeland and rich history in this dynamic, interactive manner,” noted Haykanush.

Our Diaspora educators emphasized the importance of the platform’s rich repository of content, underscoring their need for well-curated, organized, and meticulously developed materials, particularly for teaching abroad. They noted that while children primarily read in Eastern or Western Armenian, incorporating content in English, Russian, and German would greatly enhance the learning process and make the materials more accessible and effective.

Participants posed questions, suggestions, and comments to the Foundation’s team. Anna Safaryan, a teacher at the Levon and Sofi Hakobyan National School in Athens, shared, “I have to say that I am already using the platform. When I learned about it, I was very excited and registered to explore it. I’ve started incorporating it into my lessons. We don’t have a textbook or suitable materials, and this is a great tool that allows me to plan my classes. The children are very interested, and they have also registered, and we are working very well together.”

“I would like to thank you for organizing the promised wonderful seminar,” commented Mariam Grigoryan, a teacher of history and homeland studies from Perm, Russia. “We have been waiting for two years. We are very interested in the subjects ‘Our Homeland and the World’ and ‘My Homeland,’ as they are fundamental for the children of the diaspora. We would love to study with WorldView. You have created a powerful tool, and your dedication is evident everywhere.” Anush from Noginsk (Russia) added,”WorldView is an essential tool for the diaspora. It’s something extraordinary, but we need time to delve into it and study it thoroughly. We hope you will assist us.”

Tina Grigoryan from the Russian Federation, who participated in a workshop for diaspora teachers held at the Foundation in Yerevan over the summer, shared her impressions: “I returned from the summer seminar feeling amazed. You are not only doing significant and important work locally, but you also cannot imagine how crucial this is for the diaspora. We are frontline soldiers fighting for Armenian preservation.”

The webinar successfully achieved its objective of introducing new teachers working in the diaspora to the WorldView platform and receiving feedback on the primary needs of Armenian educators and their students working in foreign countries.

Such meetings will be held regularly to establish a cohesive and active community around the WorldView educational platform worldwide.