iEARN in Action, February 7, 2008

"I joined iEARN about 1 year ago. The academic and professional experiences are awesome. Professionally, I am able to integrate technology in my teaching. Presently my students are involved in the Daffodil and Tulip Project. They are having fun. iEARN has confirmed for me that learning can be fun." - Donna Powell, Jamaica, West Indies. (login to the iEARN 20th Anniversary Forum for more reflections.)

Seeking Partners: iEARN Projects!
1. Register now for the next session of iEARN Online Professional Development Courses for Teachers.
2. Online Courses and Webinars for parents and educators on the topics of bullying and cyberbullying.
3. Art Miles Project Activities -- "shoes of hope" and exchange between Canada and Japan.
4. iEARN-Spain invites participation from across Europe in the Public Art Project.
5. Join a global kite-flying event March 21-23.
6. New "Visions of Me" Self-Portrait Project.
7. Recipes from around the world - check out recipes recently posted from Azerbaijan!

Resources, Contests, Websites and Announcements!
8. Upcoming technical maintenance in iEARN forums.
9. iEARN-Suriname and iEARN-Netherlands collaborate on primary school Dutch Learning Circle.
10. International Essay Competition - Shaping the City of Your Dreams.
11. 2008 marks 20 years of global collaboration in iEARN.
12. Check out recent Adobe Youth Voices rough cuts from London.

Upcoming Events!
13. YouthCaN Environmental Conference (April 2008).
14. SirIKT Conference in Slovenia (April 2008)
15. iEARN-Trinidad and Tobago to host Natural Disaster Youth Summit (April 2008).
16. 15th Annual iEARN International Conference, Bukhara, Uzbekistan (July 2008).
17. Association for Learning Technologies Conference calls for papers. (September 2008)

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Seeking Partners: iEARN Projects and Activities
Download the 2007-2008 iEARN Project Book:
http://www.iearn.org/projects/projectbook.html for a full listing of iEARN projects, see: http://media.iearn.org/projects/.
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1. REGISTER NOW FOR THE NEXT SESSION OF iEARN ONLINE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES FOR EDUCATORS. Courses enroll participants from around the world, and run frum February 11 - April 6, 2008. Each course is designed so that by the end of nine weeks you will have outlined how you will use a standards-based iEARN project in your classroom. Courses include: Creative Arts, Language Arts/Writing, Social Studies/Contemporary Affairs/Geography, Science/Environment/Math, Teaching of Foreign and Second Langauges, Helping Students Cope With Traumatic Events, Learning Circles, Moving Voices (making digital documentaries), and PEARL (integrating journalism skills into the classroom). Read more and register now to save your spot: http://www.iearn.org/professional/online.html.

2. ONLINE COURSES AND WEBINARS FOR PARENTS AND EDUCATORS ON THE TOPICS OF BULLYING AND CYBERBULLYING. Bullying is often identified as the number one non-academic issue that many educators have to deal with and the most important education concern of parents, yet many educators have not taken a class, let alone a course about this issue. http://www.bullyingcourse.com offers online courses and Webinars for parents and educators on the topics of bullying and cyberbullying. These courses and Webinars are based upon world class research along with many practical approaches and award-winning supporting resources. One teacher who recently completed the course said, I wish I could have taken this course years ago!" Registration is open now. For additional information e-mail <help@bullying.org>.

3. ART MILES PROJECT ACTIVITIES. 1) 4,000 pairs of S. Korea's collaborative partner with Art Miles Shoes of Hope will be delivered to Ugandan displaced youth in February by National Commissions from S. Korea and Uganda! Shoes contain environmental designs and peace messages from the project that began with iEARN's OF2 project during World Environment Day and Sports for Peace at the UN in NY on June 5, 2007! 2) Also, as part of the project, classes in Canada have created a mural of a Japanese tale "Little Fingerling," while their partner class in Japan paints a famous Canadian fairy tale, "The Paper Bag Princess." For press coverage, see here and here. For more about Art Miles, see http://media.iearn.org/projects/artmiles.

4. PUBLIC ART PROJECT SEEKS PARTICIPANTS FROM ACROSS EUROPE. This project is designed to promote the respect for the urban environement and to encourage relationships between students in Europe countries. It is a didactic proposal that applies the use of ICT in several curricular areas and promotes the attainment of several basic competences. Ages: 10-18 years. Languages: every country language as well as English. Schedule: February 4- April 30, 2008. For more information, see http://www.iearn.cat/publicart.

5. JOIN A GLOBAL KITE-FLYING EVENT ON MARCH 21-23, 2008. Students make kites to fly as a massive tribute dedicated to advancing cultural and social dialog, bridging the gap and understanding the "other." The project allows students to learning about Janusz Korczak by collecting and sharing information, learning about the Declaration of Children's Rights, and constructing and flying kites, which have a quotation from Korczak on them. "And what about kites? Just as the sea gives a child a toy - a boat, so the wind has to give him a kite." Korczak, The Religion of the Child. For more information, see http://media.iearn.org/projects/kites.

6. NEW "VISION OF ME," SELF PORTRAIT PROJECT. Students in different parts of the world design a self portrait using digital photography, and manipulate the image(s) using a software such as Adobe Photoshop, or using available materials to create their self-portrait. Facilitated by Dianne Shanian in the USA. Interested? See here.

7. RECIPES FROM AROUND THE WORLD! Read and respond to recent recipes and photos posted by students in Azerbaijan here. For more about the Food for Thought: Cultural Recipes Project, see here.

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Check it Out! Resources, Contests, Websites, Announcements.
(This includes resources that are not part of iEARN)
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8. UPCOMING TECHNICAL MAINTENANCE. As part of iEARN's efforts to provide our members with the best online collaborative experience possible, the forums will be undergoing some maintenance. This work should take about 20 hours to preform and is scheduled to begin on the evening of Friday February 7, 8:00 PM EST (GMT -5). During this procedure the forums will continue to be usable, however users should be prepared for the speed of the forums to decrease until the maintenance is finished. The technical team at iEARN thanks you in advance for your understanding. As always, we welcome your feedback on our efforts by submitting comments and suggestions at http://techsupport.iearn.org/index.php?a=add

9. iEARN SURINAME AND iEARN-NETHERLANDS COLLABORATE ON PRIMARY SCHOOL DUTCH LEARNING CIRCLE. The project started in Nov 2007 and will continue until March 14.  It is between 5 schools from Spijkenisse, Netherlands and 5 schools in Paramaribo, Suriname, and is being facilitated by Bob Hofman, Kees Nelisse and Betty Burgos. Teachers from the Netherlands visited Suriname from January 19-26.  The theme for this Learning Circle is “De Toekomst…….. onze zorg”! meaning “Future …… our care”!  See pictures of the trip here, and read more about the collaboration here. In addition, iEARN-Netherlands Coordinator, Bob Hofman, visisted Suriname from January 12-19 for a Learning Circle project for Special schools with disabled children. See here, and here.

10. SHAPING THE CITY OF YOUR DREAMS. The International Essay Competition is open to all young people, students and non-students alike, between the ages of 18 and 25 (born between 1983 - 1990). Essays should be submitted by individuals.

11. CHECK OUT RECENT ADOBE YOUTH VOICES ROUGH CUTS FROM LONDON. iEARN participants are encouraged to login to the AYV Collaboration Center and give feedback on recent student films dealing with topics ranging from Youth Crime to Racism in the Police. See Youth Crime Racism in the Police and Gun Crime Post your reactions in the forum at: http://foro.iearn.org/.1e76b08d

12. 2008 MARKS 20 YEARS OF GLOBAL COLLABORATION IN iEARN! Congratulations to all teachers, students, and alumni of iEARN! Join us in celebrating 20 years of global collaboration by sharing your stories, photos and videos in the Anniversary Forum and Album in the Collaboration Center: http://www.iearn.org/anniversary.

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Upcoming Events
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13. YOUTHCAN 2008, APRIL 7, 2008. Event scheduled for April 7, 2008 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, USA. See http://www.youthcanworld.org for details of this and other YouthCaN events happening around the world. YouthCaN is a year-round network within iEARN of students using telecommunications for environmental project work. Join the YouthCaN forum.

14. SirIKT CONFERENCE IN SLOVENIA, APRIL 14-19, 2008. SirIKT conference is the opportunity for the exchange of the experiences between all teaching personnel, pupils and students who use the modern tools of the digital era at their work, and other users of ARNES network at all levels and scopes of education and research. It connects the following sessions: Innovative teaching and learning; Management of the informatized school; Pupils and students present themselves; ARNES and eTwinnig conference. http://www.arnes.si/sirikt/english/

15. NATURAL DISASTER YOUTH SUMMIT 2008. This year's theme: Global Warming and Disaster Reduction. NDYS 2008 International Conference will be held in Trinidad and Tobago in April 2008. For more about the project, see http://ndys.jearn.jp/ and to join discussions, http://media.iearn.org/projects/ndys.

16. JOIN iEARN-UZBEKISTAN JULY 12-18 IN BUKHARA FOR THE 15TH ANNUAL iEARN CONFERENCE. Check out the conference website, developed by youth, with help of iEARN-Uzbekistan team! iEARN-Uzbekistan Country Coordinator, Anatoly Kochnev announces pre-conference activities schedule where people will be able to learn more about conference hosting country, things to bring, activities during the conference, visa issues, travel opportunities and other.

Online chat schedule:
March: Date: Tuesday, March 11: Time: 4PM (GMT +5). Theme: Engaging technologies to serve communities youth project presentations at the conference. Date: Friday, March 28: Time: 4PM (GMT +5). Theme: Country presentations at the conference.

April: Date: Tuesday, April 15. Time: 4PM (GMT +5). Theme: What to bring for International Cultural Activities. Date: Friday, April 28. Time: 4PM (GMT +5). Theme: Accommodations, trips, pre and after conference activities.

May: Date: Monday, May 12. Time: 4PM (GMT +5). Theme: Two months to go: are we ready? Date: Tuesday, May 27. Time: 4PM (GMT +5). Theme: Last call for proposals for workshops.

June: Date: Thursday, June 19: Time: 4PM (GMT +5). Theme: Getting ready to travel to Uzbekistan: what to take with you.

Connect in the 2008 Conference forum or see here. If you have any questions or inquires about participation in iEARN Annual 15th International Conference and 12th Youth Summit, please contact us at info@iearn2008.u.

17. ASSOCIATION FOR LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES CALLING FOR PAPERS AND ABSTRACTS FOR UPCOMING CONFERENCE, LEEDS, UK, SEPTEMBER 9-11, 2008. The "LT-C 2008: Rethinking the digital divide" conference seeks to explore how under-served groups can make more effective use of technology. iEARN projects provide excellent examples of how to link global and local interests, share experiences across different parts of the globe, they enable access to global learning opportunities and promote learning 'by' the learner rather than just 'for' the learner. Deadline for submissions is 29 February, 2008. For more information, see here.

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TO SUBMIT AN ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE NEWSFLASH: Send your announcement (2-3 lines) to newsflash@us.iearn.org.
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iEARN (International Education and Resource Network) is a global non-profit network that empowers teachers and students to undertake projects designed to make a meaningful contribution to the health and welfare of the planet and its people. Started in 1988, iEARN is currently active in over 120 countries, with 1,000,000 students participating as part of their education. iEARN-International: http://www.iearn.org

Download the 2007-2008 iEARN Project Book: http://www.iearn.org/projects/projectbook.html (available in Arabic, English, French, and Japanese) or for a full listing of iEARN projects, see: http://www.iearn.org/projects/
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