Students’ exposure to cultures other than their own is more important than ever to foster empathy. The 21st-century workforce requires multicultural, curious, empathetic learners—what Forbes magazine calls “CQ.” Yet, immersive opportunities to exercise empathy cross-culturally are difficult to access. Travel abroad programs only serve a few. Schools need a cost-effective and safe way of delivering immersive cross-cultural engagement. Presenting expertly-curated, short global cinema, co-viewed as learning tools, Screen360.tv offers that immersive experience for 6-12th Grades and brings the world to students.

By combining the power of the Internet and AI, we are proving we can overcome the barriers of enrollment and time zones. Our design expands the model successfully demonstrated at the 46-year-old Berlin Film Festival Generation section. As at a film festival, the filmmaker and guests extend the learning through moderated discussion and activities, immediately following. Our research showed that watching such films in childhood produced vivid memories more than ten years later, with some becoming directive toward a life pursuit. Respondents learned foreign languages, geography, and history, gaining empathy and social-emotional intelligence. Screen360.tv makes travel-like learning equitable and accessible.

Our field-proven model was developed before distance learning became a pandemic-driven necessity. Our model can quickly and effectively bring essential curriculum-based material to households and classrooms. Post-pandemic, our methods will apply to classrooms. Our pilot launched with middle and high school learners in three countries. Sustainable subscription fees help build a growing global learning exchange. “Each One, Reach One, Teach One” non-profit program supports access.