FIRST ANNUAL I*EARN TEACHERS CONFERENCE IN ARGENTINA

I*EARN chosen by Ministry of Education as nationwide telecommunications model for Argentine elementary and secondary schools.

Argentina was the setting for the first annual I*EARN (International Education and Resource Network) Teachers Conference. One hundred and twenty I*EARN teachers, coordinators, and observers from 11 different countries met in Puerto Madryn and Buenos Aires from July 6 to 15. The conference was underwritten by a grant from the Argentine Ministry of Education.

I*EARN is a global telecommunications network in use at over 400 elementary and secondary school sites in 23 countries. Beginning September 1994, I*EARN will be expanded to include schools and youth groups anywhere in the world. Through the network, students and teachers communicate via electronic­mail, on­line conferencing, video­speaker telephones, and student exchanges to implement educational projects. Students and teachers gain experience with the Internet superhighway, cross­cultural communication skills and awareness, as well as an enhanced motivation for learning about their world.

The theme of this year's I*EARN Teachers Conference was "Different and Complementary." Since most of the teachers participating on the I*EARN network live in different countries, follow different cultural traditions, and speak different languages, the conference highlighted the importance of cross­cultural classroom projects. These projects, designed by the teachers and students themselves, facilitate the learning of other cultures and encourage active group participation in improving the social and environmental conditions of the planet and its people.

As stated by Daniel Reyes, I*EARN Argentina Center Coordinator and organizer of the conference, "No one person knows so much nor so little that he cannot benefit from collaboration. Harmony can best be attained by emphasizing the group, rather than the individual." He further adds that the "challenge is to make the network beat, to be alive, to feel, to act, to have a heart at each computer terminal and to let the spirit flow along the cables as we saw it flow in the I*EARN Teachers Conference."

The first part of the conference was held in Puerto Madryn at the Patagonian National Center. Teachers and coordinators shared their successful project ideas used in classrooms around the world. Some of the presentation topics were: Transforming Traditional Education Through Telecommunications, New Teacher­Student Relationships, and Designing Interactive and Collaborative Curriculum Projects. All presentations and ensuing discussions were translated into both Spanish and English.

Participants felt that the conference was an overwhelmingly positive educational experience. Bill Coppinger, high school teacher from Australia, said "Teachers returned to their countries with the strength of knowing and understanding what it means to be a part of a global community of educators working in concert to empower the youth of the world to improve the health and welfare of the people and the planet."

The conference was an opportunity for many teachers who had communicated on­line with each other for years to meet in person for the very first time. They were able to discuss and compare results of various projects undertaken with different school populations. As a result of these discussions, several new projects were created. One new on­line conference (newsgroup) that will be ready for use by September 1, 1994 is called <iearn.latina>. Since one of the key hurdles for teachers implementing global e­mail projects is the language barrier, <iearn.latina> will explore and facilitate project work in languages that are Latin­based (Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Italian, etc.).

The conference culminated in Buenos Aires at the San Martin Cultural Center. The Argentine Ministry of Education invited teachers and coordinators to share their past experiences with telecommunications in the classroom. In October 1993, the Ministry of Education and I*EARN signed a formal Cooperative Agreement that articulated the action steps needed to promote Educational Telematics throughout the Argentine education system. As a result, the Ministry has cited the I*EARN network as an exemplary model for telecommunications projects in Argentina. Currently, plans are underway to link five hundred secondary schools to I*EARN by the end of this year. A second stage of implementation will focus on linking an additional nine hundred primary and secondary schools to I*EARN by 1996. Mr. Reyes says that "the I*EARN model in Argentine schools will focus not only on the development of the intellectual and technical capabilities of computer networking, but also and most importantly, on the emotional side. It is vitally important that students develop the capacity to feel compassion and seek understanding, without which any attempt at an educational process will fail."

The conference was also the setting for the annual I*EARN Coordinators meeting. With the assistance of Dr. Horacio Godoy, a former United Nations and World Bank official, the coordinators created an I*EARN global Constitution which mandates a 5­member Executive Board and a Board of Advisors. Nine Founding Members from 9 countries reaffirmed the original I*EARN's goal in the Preamble:

The vision and purpose of I*EARN is to enable young people to undertake projects designed to make a meaningful contribution to the health and welfare of the planet and its people.

Peter Copen is President of the Copen Family Fund ­­ the foundation which sponsored the creation of the I*EARN pilot project in 1990 and is now helping to launch the new open network. Mr. Copen states, "After three years of a very successful pilot phase, I*EARN has become an independent not­for­profit organization. This is a bold and courageous move for an educational telecommunications organization committed to human and environmental principles."

Future I*EARN Teacher Conferences and Student Meetings are in the planning stages. Russia, China and Australia have been named as possible sites. As a new open network, I*EARN anticipates that hundreds of additional teachers will be able to participate in the network and in such teacher meetings in the years ahead.