iEARN in Action, June 11, 2004

iEARN PARTICIPATION SURVEY - SHARE YOUR FEEDBACK! Have you been involved in iEARN projects? "This is an invitation and request to take part in an iEARN-wide survey. It is a survey of how iEARN serves our needs and how all of us together can further develop the ways in which we work together, how we structure our work and how we go about the essential work of iEARN: enabling youth across the globe to collaborate in making a meaningful difference to the health and welfare of the planet. Please visit the survey site at http://www.iearn.org/survey. The results of your opinions and information will be collated, analyzed and developed into a report. The report will be available for the use of all iEARN participants." With warm regards, iEARN Executive Council - Eliane Metni, Jove Jankulovski, and Bob Carter.

iEARN-CAMEROON LEGALISED ON APRIL 29, 2004! Congratulations! For more information, see here.

MEARN (iEARN-MOROCCO) REGISTERED AS AN NGO! For more information on MEARN, see here.

iEARN-USA AND iEARN-EGYPT PRESENT "MAKING A DIFFERENCE" AWARD TO HER EXCELLENCY, MRS. SUZANNE MUBARAK, FIRST LADY OF EGYPT. The meeting was at Her Excellency's home in Heliopolis and was in honor of her work as a role model for many world leaders in fields of education, technology, health, peace and empowerment of women and youth. The meeting included Her Excellency, Dr. Hussien Kamel Bahaa El Din, Minister of Education in Egypt, Dr. Edwin Gragert, Executive, Director for iEARN USA, and Mrs. Dalia Khalil, Country Coordinator for iEARN-Egypt. This award presentation was covered in all Cairo newspapers and on TV. Earlier in the day at the Ministry of Education, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the MOE and iEARN. The MOU focuses on in-depth collaboration with the Ministry, expansion of iEARN on both the vertical and horizontal levels, integration of iEARN in the main stream and curriculum areas, collaboration with other organizations and entities and construction of further structures and strategies for implementation (including assessment and evaluation). The MOU was drafted in Arabic but soon a version in English will be ready. Photos and additional information can be found at iEARN-Egypt.

Join Us! Seeking Contacts, Contributions and Collaborators

2003-2004 iEARN PROJECT BOOK. Versions are now available in Arabic, Armenian, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. See here. For a more complete listing of iEARN projects, see here.

CRAFTS FOR EDUCATION PROJECT IN UZBEKISTAN. iEARN Uzbekistan Center and School Connectivity for Uzbekistan program announce a project aimed at organizing an online exhibition of arts and crafts made by children in order to buy educational materials for orphans in 2 Uzbekistan orphanages. The online exhibition is organized by iEARN clubs based on the School Connectivity for Uzbekistan project schools finalists. Online exhibition of arts and crafts will be held from June 10 - August 1, 2004 at http://www.iearn.uz/e-exhibition. If you are interested to buy some of the items showed at the exhibition, please send your requests to projects@iearn.uz and e-exhibition@connect.uz. All the funds received from the exhibition will be spent on purchasing educational materials such as books, pens, pencils, exercise books, school bags for orphans in two of the Uzbekistan orphanages. For more information, see http://www.iearn.uz.

JEARN (iEARN-JAPAN) PLANNING FOR "EARTHQUAKE YOUTH SUMMIT 2005." Yoshie Naya writes on the Natural Disasters Forum, "We had a kick off meeting for Earthquake Youth Summit 2005. Please visit these site and see how it was. We had a video conference with Doris and Tai in Taiwan. You can click the button 'English' then English explanation will appear." click here, here, here, or here.

MY HOMELAND PROJECT 2004-(MI LUGAR). The place where one lives is marked by a series of historical, artistic and cultural facts, which make it unique. It is our goal to describe ours and show it to other school, which, at the same time (with the same trend of work) will answer. My Homeland Project is also available in Spanish. Project's initial activities will start next week, please register here, or visit theTelar Lugar forum. For more information, please contact My Homeland coordinators.

Check it out! Resources, Web Sites and Postings (including resources that are not part of iEARN)

WORLD BANK GLOBAL PHOTO ESSAY COMPETITION. The World Bank has launched a global photo essay competition titled "Your Voice, Your World." The contest invites young people (ages 14 and 20) to zoom in on their surroundings and capture their world through images. Deadline: June 30, 2004. Website: http://youthink.worldbank.org/photocontest

iEARN CLASS AT SMYRNA MIDDLE SCHOOL IN DELAWARE, USA CREATES CHILD LABOR WEBSITE. Students participating in the Child Labour Project created a website of their work. See students' poems, posters, and power points about this major problem here.

INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S DIGITAL LIBRARY (ICDL). Diane Midness in the USA writes, "ICDL is a research project of University of Maryland, Human Computer Interaction Lab, and Internet Archive. It has 329 children's books from over 23 languages right now, and eventually it will have 10,000 books from 100 languages. And, it's free to everybody! http://www.icdlbooks.org. We are interested to know if you can use it. Would you go to the web page, find a book and let us know if you had problems? Can you use it with your students? ICDL is also interested in adding some of the iEARN project publications to their collection, or perhaps helping students produce their own books to host on ICDL. An example of a student written book can be found here. Please join in the discussion of this resource in the iEARN Teachers Forum, Discussion Thread: International Children's Digital Library (ICDL): click here or write directly to Diane Midness at dmidness@us.iearn.org.

Coming Soon! Upcoming Events and Projects!

NECC INTERNATIONAL RECEPTION HOSTED BY iEARN. One of the themes of this year's NECC (National Education Computing Conference) in New Orleans, LA, USA is "Learn with and from the global community." iEARN-USA will be hosting the ISTE International Reception at NECC in New Orleans. We invite you to join us for refreshments and networking from 4:00 - 5:00 pm on Sunday, June 20th in the MCC Room 238/239. This will be a time for persons from around the world to informally meet and share with each other, as well as a time for US educators to make connections for collaborative activities. iEARN will also be in the Global Gallery. Contact Mariam Habib if you are already planning to attend NECC and would like to join her in sharing your iEARN work at the global gallery exhibit. For information on NECC2004: http://www.iste.org/necc.

iEARN REGIONAL CONFERENCE, AMMAN, JORDAN, JULY 6-10, 2004. During the first week of July some 150 educators from 18 countries will convene in Amman, Jordan to promote cross-cultural education through student-centered learning projects. The International Education and Resource Network (iEARN) has announced that the Second BRIDGE Conference will be held in Amman from July 06 - July 10, 2004 under the auspices of the Jordanian Ministry of Education. The conference will be hosted by iEARN-Jordan in partnership with iEARN-USA, and in cooperation with iEARN country programs around the world. For more information, see here. Support for the conference is being provided by iEARN Jordan, iEARN-USA, the Jordanian Ministry of Education, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State, Progress Travel, al-Quds College, Apple-Malaysia, and other international and local partners.

11th ANNUAL iEARN CONFERENCE AND YOUTH SUMMIT IN KOSICE, SLOVAKIA, JULY 11-17, 2004! The 2004 iEARN Conference in Slovakia Approaches!! ...and just look at some of what's in store: over 110 registered workshops and presentations with themes on education relating to Art, Health, Environment, Video and Web production, Program Assessment, Youth Empowerment and more... and key iEARN Projects such as Teddy Bear, Learning Circles, Moving Voices, YouthCaN, My Hero, and countless others, as well as focal points on important issues for the future such as ICT in rural education and the role of iEARN in bridging the 'Digital Divide'. And the workshops are only the beginning... We also have fabulous speakers such as Jim Martin of Headstrong Foundation, iEARN Teachers and Youth from around the world, and cultural performances from Slovakia and beyond, special happenings such as the 2nd Annual Book Exchange, exhibitions of Iraninan Children's artwork, Art Miles murals, youth videos, international flags, dress, culture, and so on. But it would all be nothing save for the greatest part of any iEARN conference... the hundreds of great iEARNers from nations across the planet! (60 different countries so far!!) Look for a conference website update announcement soon, or get in touch with us at 2004@iearn.sk. Looking forward to seeing you in Slovakia SOON!! http://www.iearn2004.net/

BUS TRANSPORTATION TO AND FROM THE 2004 ANNUAL iEARN CONFERENCE. If you are arriving at or departing from the Budapest, Hungary Airport and would like to be part of a group bus trip to Kosice, iEARN is arranging a bus to shuttle passengers from the Budapest Airport to Kosice and back. The bus will depart from Budapest Airport at approximately 15:00 on July 11, 2004. It will arrive in Kosice at about 18:30. On July 17th, the bus will be leaving from Kosice about 10:00 am and will be arriving at the Budapest airport about 13:30. Please note that these times are tentative, and are subject to change. If you would like to reserve a place on the bus, please notify Dasha Kosovsky as soon as possible.
1. Would you like a round/return trip ticket or will you be taking the bus only one way? If so, please specify which day you will be taking the bus.
2. At what time is your flight arriving in Budapest Airport on July 11th and departing from Budapest Airport on the 17th or 18th?
3. Do you need a hotel room on July 17th?
Please note that if you are arriving or leaving earlier, you will need to provide your own overnight accommodations in Budapest. Since most flights are departing July 18, we will be reserving a group of rooms for the night of the 17th. As of now, a bus ticket will cost $18 USD one way and $20 for round/return trip if the bus is full (40 passengers) and more if it is not. Please respond quickly because seats are filling up quickly. Dasha Kosovsky.

SHARING OF FLAGS AT THE iEARN CONFERENCE. Tommie Hamalbu of Bostwana writes, "Do you know the power of that lies in each country's flag? Join us in Kosice, Slovakia July 11-17th. All travelling participants are requested to carry one flag of any size of their country to be displayed at the conference. One flag per country. We shall collect these flags during the roll call time of countries. Should you have any query/comment/question to make please forward them to Tommie Hamaluba in Botswana the organiser of this function or to Jason Gerber the chairperson of the 2004 steering committee. Other volunteers to help coordinate the function are Kate Kharitonova (Baku- Azerbaijan) and Chandra Malkan (Mumbai-India)."