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Chapter Ten: iEARN International Conference and
Youth Summit
Introduction
Aim of Conference
Policy Decisions about iEARN International Conferences
and Youth Summits
Conference Guidelines
Conference Organization
Obtaining visas to attend the iEARN International Conference
and Youth Summit
Introduction
Each year iEARN
holds an iEARN International Conference and Youth Summit. The first
iEARN teachers' meeting was in Argentina in 1994 and the first Youth
Summit was in Spain in 1997.
The following countries
have hosted an iEARN International Conference and (after 1997) Youth
Summit:
1994 - Argentina,
1995 - Australia, 1996 - Hungary, 1997 - Spain, 1998 - U.S.A., 1999
- Puerto Rico, 2000 - China, 2001 - South Africa, 2002 - Russia, 2003
- Japan, 2004 - Slovakia, 2005 - Senegal, 2006 - Netherlands, 2007 -
Egypt and 2008 it will be in Uzbekistan.
You can look to
the websites
of these conferences
The venue for the
conference is decided 24 months in advance to allow adequate time for
preparation by the host country.
Aim
of the conference
To bring iEARN participants,
youth and educators, from across the globe together to plan and to celebrate
their work on collaborative projects.
It provides the opportunities for:
Personal Contacts:
- Relaxing together
- Eating together
- Staying together
- Planning together
- Exchange of experiences
- Sharing material
and knowledge
- Working together
and developing new projects and initiatives
- Meeting people
working in diverse situations, cultures, languages, institutions
- Feeling part
of a good, global village family with a heart connection, "Learning
with the heart"
- Having conferences
all around the world; variety in continents and cultures
- The feeling of
shared ownership: involvement, ideas, opinions, feedback, input into
conference planning
- A global vision
and understanding beyond stereotypes of what is going on in education
and educational policies
Policy
Decisions about iEARN International Conferences and Youth Summits
The iEARN International
Assembly has made the following policy decisions in relation to iEARN
International Conferences and Youth Summits:
1. Policy
for soliciting and deciding applications to host the annual iEARN International
Conference and Youth Summit.
The policy for soliciting
applications to host the Assembly will be according to the following
procedure: Announce in February 1, with a deadline of June 1, with a
decision to be made at the Assembly meeting for the Conference 24 months
prior the conference.
2. Scholarships
for Annual Conferences
- That a group
consisting of the coordinator of the Host Centre, a member of the
Secretariat and a member of the Assembly should be formed with the
following responsibilities: call for applications for funding, receive
applications for funding and make decisions about the applications.
- For any centre
which raises funds for participants from a particular country/language/project
(outside their own country), then the centre which raised the funds
should work with the coordinator of the Host Centre and the relevant
person from the particular country/language/project to distribute
the funds. The assembly should be notified of any funds raised through
this means.
- That the country
hosting each Annual iEARN Conference should provide a scholarship
for the Youth Representative to attend annual conference. Any country
hosting the annual iEARN Conference should incorporate a scholarship
to cover the costs of transportation and conference fees for the youth
representative.
Conference
Guidelines
The following conference
guidelines have be developed to assist people in deciding whether to
apply to hold an International Conference and Youth Summit.
This is meant to
become a guide line for future iEARN conference planners.
1. Why hold an annual
conference in your country?
2. What do you want to see as the outcome of an annual conference?
3. What does iEARN expect of an annual conference?
4. Application
5. Voting
6. Balance in ownership
To be considered
in planning a conference.
Accommodation standards
Visas and travelling documents
Technology
Language
Information
Certificates of attendance
Money and expenses
Travelling
Organisation of the conference
Media and PR
ICT and Internet
Fundraising
Credits
1. Why hold
an annual conference in your country?
What is the benefit
for you as organisers?
What is the benefit for iEARN International?
What are your real motivators?
What are your expectations?
2. What do you want to see as the outcome of an annual conference?
For your self as
iEARN centre
For your self as individuals
For the schools, teachers and students in your country
For the other members of iEARN, centres, representatives, coordinators,
teachers, students, ministries, PD-developers, teacher trainers and
educational portals?
3. What does
iEARN expect of an annual conference?
An inquiry among
conference participants indicated that the following points are important
for participants. They expect:
Personal Contacts
Relaxing together
Eating together
Staying together
Planning together
Exchange of experiences
Sharing material and knowledge
Working together and develop new projects and initiatives
To meet people working in diverse situations, cultures, languages, institutions
Feeling part of a good, global village family with a heart connection,
(Learning with the heart)
To have conferences all around the world; variety in continents and
cultures
The feeling of shared ownership: involvement, ideas, opinions, feedback,
input into conference planning
Global vision and understanding beyond stereotypes of what is going
on in education, policies and politics
Role of technology to allow participation in the conference for people
not attending physically
4. Application
Once you have found enough positive answers and motivation to continue
with planning an iEARN World conference in you country, you need to
fill in an application and send it to the Assembly of iEARN International,
addressed to the Executive Council. Application forms are available
online and should be sent to the Executive Council. The conference venue
is decided by the International Assembly 24 months in advance.
5. Voting
After the application
period is closed, the proposals/applications received will be sent to
the Assembly members. A voting takes place and a country/iEARN centre
is selected to host the (normally 24 months ahead) conference.
6. Balance
in ownership between local iEARN host and iEARN international
In planning a conference,
a meeting takes place at the conference in the year before, during which
the conference committee and a delegation of the Assembly discuss the
balance in ownership between local iEARN host and iEARN international.
A well organised and content wise rich conference will benefit iEARN
International as a whole. On the other hand a conference full of disasters
will not only harm the local hosts, but also affect the 'good name'
of iEARN.
Support from the
Assembly of iEARN will be offered to next year's conference planners.
The conference planning committee will invite and include a member of
the iEARN Assembly, two-monthly reports on progress will be required
by the iEARN Assembly.
To be considered
in planning a conference
Based upon over
ten years of experience… and common sense, iEARN International
expects you to take in mind (during - reports in - the planning phase
and at the actual conference) the following points:
1. Accommodation
standards
A choice in accommodation;
from hotel to student lodges and 'conference only'; single, double or
multiple rooms if available. This choice however will always be based
upon a minimum standard level of lodging includes:
Towels
Soap
Hot water
No bugs
2. A safe
place to live
Acceptable travelling time between lodging and conference venue
Be clear on what can be expected.
Be aware of arrangements to be made for the Assembly Meeting 2-3 days
in advance of the conference.
3. Visas and
travelling documents
Take in mind that
the participants might need to obtain visa; 'small' countries might
lack Embassies. More information about visas is included below.
4. Technology
Try to exploit possible
technologies to enable more participation (internet technology to give
access to participants not physically present)
Enough PCs available for participants; also available after workshop
hours to prevent skipping of workshop. A 1: 15 ratio is a good guideline
Provide (wireless) connectivity for those who bring their own laptops
5. Language
On arrival of participants
help in local language will be appreciated
Interpreters in (plenary) sessions are always welcome
Throughout the conference, volunteers who speak English are welcome
at hotel.
6. Information
Availability of
a list of names of participants before the conference would be welcome!
A clear on-line subscription
7. Program
Include at least
one full day for field trip
Don't overload the program; allow the participants to breathe.
Make it easy for participants to submit proposals fopr workshops, seminars
and poster sessions
8. Certificates
of attendance
Make provisions
for a certificate of attendance for everyone, with the signature of
the conference organizers from iEARN, regardless of where the conference
is held?
9. Money and
expenses
- An option to
choose in fee based upon variety in accommodation
- Flexible and
easy on-line payment
- Scholarships
available
- Costs of participation
of Youth Assembly member is included in total conference costs
- Clear and open
budget (for Assembly) with:
- Identifiable
difference between expenses and outsourcing of work
- Indication of
volunteer and commercial work
- A breakout of
expenses indicating any salaries, or other payments to organisers,
and or planned surplus to be used by the Centre
- A canteen or
vending machines for food and drinks during the conference will be
appreciated
- Provide a free
program on the "travel day" for people who can not afford
to pay for a trip.
- Consider home
stays either with iEARN or local country folks. This would be great
to build relationships, get to know the culture, and…reduce costs
for some folks.
10. Travelling
Cheap(er) flights
and or a discount from preferred air-line
If not included, availability of food and drinks for early arrivals
is appreciated
Conference
Organization
- Conference
Committees
Set up a broad conference committee, including members of iEARN internationally.
Start sub-committees early enough and to include iEARN teachers/youth;
- Assign one (peer)
group that keeps the overview
- Set-up a Conference
Committee and a Program Committee; define the tasks and responsibilities
- Connect organisers
of past conferences with those of the next/future conferences.
- Have a clear
on-line subscription procedure
The success
of a conference is in team work and dedicated volunteers. Please evaluate
your conference and make the outcome available for future conference
organisers
An issue to be faced
is what the role of the Assembly is in the ultimate decision/role of
the conference. This requires clear communication with the Assembly
and EC and a follow up on progress report's deadlines
Media and PR
Generate visibility
(local and global media exposure) for iEARN about the unique event and
program that we have.
Organising the conference
can raise the profile of iEARN in host and neighbouring countries.
ICT and Internet
The conference URL
should become uniform: www.iearnyear.xx
Conference URLs should be kept to prevent use for commercial reasons
As soon as the iEARN international web site/server is on-line, previous
conference sites could remain hosted.
Fundraising
Start with a source
document that describes the goals and outcome of your conference
Add a realistic budget that shows the income that is already available
and highlight the 'gap'.
What do you need
to turn the conference into a success?
Think from the perspective of possible sponsors: the 'What's in it for
me' question.
Think about having one 'main sponsor' and smaller sponsors
What does the main sponsor get, what the other sub-sponsors lack?
A successful fundraising should be seen as a year-long process, not
one that happens immediately before a conference.
Threats
The following threats
were identified:
1. Outward (those
outside of iEARN)
- natural disasters
- visa problems
- see section below
- financial and
non-monetary resources
2. Inward (balance
of content relevant to both national/international interests)
- basic standards
of cleanliness
- low degree of
organisation
- cultural sensitivity
- lack of timely
information, mismanagement of volunteers
3. Timing
Timing of the conference is a threat for some teachers; when a conference
falls when schools are in session, this is a major threat to the involvement
of public school teachers. Yet in the middle of a (summer) holiday might
prevent local teachers from participation
Opportunities:
The following opportunities
were identified for consideration:
- Development of
a tool kit for future conferences
- Sharing and document
strategies
- Document sample
letters for fundraising and acknowledgement for funds that are contributed.
- Instead of asking
if the host country is open to negotiations with airlines, make this
a guideline and place expectation on all countries, not just the host
country
- Standardise the
program format so that participants are able to more easily identify
- Sessions/workshops
that are appropriate to target levels (ages, experience in iEARN)
and stakeholders (teachers, administrators, students, etc)
- Program committee
can look at workshop proposals and solicit workshop ideas if some
stakeholder areas are missing
- In order to see
if objectives of conference are met, at the conclusion of each conference
there could be an assessment to see how the benefits/conclusions could
be identified immediately and passed along to the next conference
organisers
- Engage in community
service during the week in order to "walk the talk." The
conference is an opportunity to connect iEARN to the community
Obtaining visas to attend the iEARN International
Conference and Youth Summit
It can be very difficult
for some people to get visas to attend the conference. The country organizing
the conference needs to plan how they will deal with this.
Some suggestions
are:
- Start early
- Have detailed
invitation letters from conference hosts and transportation documentation
- Make a strong
case through letters of support that the person will return to his/her
home country, including letters from local officials, parents at the
person's school
- Elicit the support
of the conference host country's embassy in the process-in part by
having the host country's Foreign Ministry send a notice to embassies
in iEARN countries that they may receive an application to attend
a legitimate conference
- Recognize that
students may be treated differently from teachers and may need even
more documentation to demonstrate a likelihood to return to their
home country.
An example of what
a letter from the hosting country could contain:
- Name of the iEARN
person that is coming to your country (FULL name as written in passport).
- Passport number
- Purpose of visit
- Duration of visit
- Who is paying
- Some basic information
about iEARN and how this event (meeting, conference, is important
to the host country and the people coming
For students you
may also need:
- School's principal
and the ministry authorizations.
- Permission from
parents to travel
Some countries require evidence that the person will return to his/her
home country and so letters for adults are most effective when they
indicate that:
- a person has
a job to return to
- a person is married
and has a family in the home country
- a person has
a home or owns real estate
Some countries may
require the following:
- bank accounts
- letters from
your organization listing your job and salary
- invitation letter
from hosting country
- copy of the program
- flight reservations
- proof of medical
insurance
Each country has different requirements and it is essential that
you start early and find out what the specific requirement are for each
country.
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