PiccleForum provides an electronic course environment for international discussions. Teachers can create a course for their students and invite other teachers to join their course to discuss readings, media content, or shared interests. Teachers can also review existing course descriptions and email the course teacher to join the course. Students receive a single password key from their teacher to participate in a course. Texts and media not available at each location, can be digitized and uploaded to the course for sharing.

The first step for Teachers and Students to participate in PiccleForum is to create an account by clicking on the words Sign-up in the menu bar above.

PICCLE stands for a “Pedagogy for InterCultural Critical Literacy Education.” PiccleForums support thinking about the ways that cultural backgrounds shape the reading/viewing of texts and media. When students share and discuss their interpretations and cultural experiences in a courseForum, they encounter different opinions and cultural viewpoints. The goal of PICCLE is to form global communities through online communication, and help global citizens develop new ideas about themselves, others, and the world. By reflecting on ideas from an intercultural perspective, PICCLE hopes to increase critical thinking about cultural meanings and values, and to support international exchanges.

Each letter in PICCLE stands for an idea than can be defined.

• PEDAGOGY is intending to communicate an idea.
• INTER-CULTURAL is exploring how different cultural perspectives shape ideas differently.
• CRITICAL is considering the values and beliefs that support multiple meanings for symbols.
• LITERACY is using symbols and language to systematically shape ideas.
• EDUCATION is negotiating values and beliefs to share meaning for an idea.