iEARN in Action, March 9, 2005

VOICES OF iEARN

I joined IEARN way back in 1996, when Internet was not even available in Pakistan. I had a penchant for writing and used to send stories to newspapers. iEARN gave me an opportunity which was far bigger than anything I could have imagined, writing for a global magazine published in glossed paper distributed all around the world! Suddenly it made me feel important. I was commenting on global politics and debating on social issues and my views were not only given serious consideration but they were published in magazines and reports. I think the whole experience of iEARN has been instrumental in shaping my career and life. Today I write for a much elder audience however I still think that the quality of the work published by high school students for iEARN was at times much superior. The most impressive thing about the iEARN experience was that our work and contributions were taken seriously. It introduced me to new ideas, new topics, broadened 'cultural horizons' and in a way truly made me feel empowered. Instead of using computer to 'chat' randomly, courtesy of iEARN I had hundreds of people around the world with whom one could discuss various issues of significance. - Ali Farid, Pakistan, former iEARN student

ENROLL NOW IN MOVING VOICES 2005 iEARN ONLINE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSE - course to start March 14. Join a global video exchange project and online course. US teachers can take the course at a reduced course rate of $100 (from $600). Scholarships are available for between 5-10 teachers outside of the U.S. Participants will need access to a digital video camera to participate. For more about Moving Voices, see http://movingvoices.iearn.org/. To enroll in the Moving Voices Online Course see http://www.iearn.org/professional/movingvoices.html, or to learn more, contact Losira Okelo by March 10, 2005. The course is open to teachers worldwide

Join Us! iEARN Projects, Seeking Contacts, Contributions and Collaborators

TSUNAMI RELIEF EFFORTS - UPDATE. iEARN has created a special bank account to receive funds donated for Tsunami relief. See here for details. Recent updates:

**DOWNLOAD THE NEW iEARN 2004-2005 PROJECT BOOK!  See http://www.iearn.org/projects/projectbook.html (available in Arabic, English, French, and Slovenian), or for a full listing of iEARN projects, see: http://www.iearn.org/projects/

NEW FORUM - CROSSING BOUNDARIES: YOUTH IN DIALOGUE ABOUT THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD. Seeking teachers and their students to get involved in discussions about the rights of the child internationally in order to help students become more aware and involved in community issues. See here or visit our website http://www.cil-usa.org to find out more. Questions? Contact Samara Shapiro in the USA.

NEW FORUM - CARTOONS AND THEIR UTILITY. A project seeking to learn from virtues and good deeds embodied in cartoon characters. The project also hints at bad deeds of some cartoon characters to clarify that it is fairness, clarity, beauty, truthfulness, hard work, intelligence, etc. that win in the end. For more about the project click here. Started by Latifa Maanaoui in Morocco, and Mostafa Nejati and  Mehran Nejati in Iran.

NEW FOLK TALES FROM UZBEKISTAN ON THE FOLK TALE FORUM. School#32 and School #11, Nukus, and School#19 Halkabad, Karakalpakstan have recently shared their folk tales in the project. Login to the Folk Tales forum to read and give your opinions about their tales. For more about the project, click here. Facilitated by Elena Rekichinskaya and Olga Novak in Russia.

SEE SCHOOL #33, NUKUS, UZBEKISTAN'S WORK IN THE COMFORT QUILTS PROJECT. Click here and join with them and other participating schools in Japan, the USA, Taiwan, Iran, and Canada. For more about the project click here.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL CLASSES FROM BELARUS, BRAZIL, POLAND, UZBEKISTAN SEEKING PARTNERS IN THE TEDDY BEAR PROJECT. For links to the forum where you can meet them and arrange for an exchange, see here.

ARMAMENTS WILL NEVER BRING THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD REAL SECURITY. WHAT WILL? If you are an adult and wish to join a discussion on "Security: How can we all have it?" please join the Communities in Dialogue Forum sponsored by the Center of International Learning. For information, contact Peggy Ray in the USA. Visit our web site at www.cil-usa.org.

ARE THERE CULTURAL BELIEFS THAT PERPETUATE THE SPREAD OF AIDS?  Join with students and teachers in Botstwana, Trinidad and Tobago, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Uzbekistan and the USA in discussing these and related concerns. Facilitated by Kennedy Mulusa in Botswana. For more about the project see here.

Check it out! Resources, Contests, Web Sites and Announcements (This includes resources that are not part of iEARN)

FIRST ANNUAL MIT MEDIA LAB IDEAS INSTITUTE (Innovative Design Experiences After School). Now accepting applications for summer 2005 (June 26- July 2, Cambridge, MA, USA). The week-long Institute is a new leadership program for after-school technology and learning professionals dedicated to helping youth learn to express themselves creatively with new technology. The Institute will bring together educators and program staff from community centers around the world who are committed to deepening the learning experiences of young people from low-income communities. Full funding will be provided to cover all expenses (food, lodging, travel) for 20 fellows selected for the program. Applications Due: March 31, 2005. For more information please visit the website: http://llk.media.mit.edu/ideas/

THE GLORIA BARRON PRIZE FOR YOUNG HEROES SEEKS NOMINATIONS FOR ITS 2005 AWARDS. The Barron Prize honors young people ages 8 to 18 who have shown leadership and courage in public service to people and our planet. Half of each year's winners are chosen for their work to protect the environment. Ten winners each receive $2,000 to support their service work or higher education. Nomination deadline is April 30, 2005. For more information and to nominate, visit http://www.barronprize.org.

CHILDNET AWARDS. In addition to participating iEARN Students in Nigeria, Iran and Uzbekistan, we congratulate 14-year-old Abraham Ferguson from Trinidad & Tobago (http://www.iearntandt.interconnection.org/abe_wins.htm) who is currently developing a website to allow young people to share personal experience of being involved in natural disasters, such as Hurricane Ivan and the Asian Tsunami. See http://www.childnetacademy.org/winners. The winner will be announced at a special celebratory event to be held on 31 March.

PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN SURINAME COME ONLINE! Knowledge of computers is a first step to development in Suriname. This was the main point in the speeches of Priest Karel Choennie and Priest Choennie to 36 5th and 6th grade students from O.S. Welgelegen (a Public school) and the St. Vincentius school (a Roman Catholic school) when they got their certificates for basic computer basic skills after 10 lessons as part of the St Clemens Parish youth program. Elizabeth Burgos, one of the parish members, is the motor behind this project, and a facilitator of iEARN in Suriname. The students are currently preparing their work for 2 projects: My Hero and Flowers. Some of the heroes the children wrote about were: Anton the Kom, My friend, My grandmother, God, Mother Teresa, Jules Wijdenbosch and also Spiderman. From the Flower project they chose about Fajalobi, Rose and Afrikaantjes.

US-JORDAN YOUTH TECHNOLOGY LEADERS PROGRAM (A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN iEARN AND MOUSE (http://www.mouse.org/) FEATURED IN TECHNOLOGY AND LEARNING MAGAZINE. Download a pdf copy of the article featuring the LINC program here.

SUBMIT ARTICLES ABOUT TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM TO T.H.E. JOURNAL. T.H.E. Journal welcomes submissions of articles from educators involved in integrating technology on their campuses and into their curricula. Articles should be under 2,500 words. To view the 2005 Editorial Calendar and for more information on submitting a feature, visit http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/cp/default.cfm

Coming Soon! Upcoming Events and Projects!

SEND GREETINGS TO NEW TEACHERS IN AUSTRALIA! Teachers working with the Asia Education Foundation will be coming online in iEARN this week with experienced iEARN teacher Judy Barr. Send greetings to the iEARN Teachers Forum

NATURAL DISASTER YOUTH SUMMIT, MARCH 25-29, IN HYOGO, JAPAN.  See NDYS 2005: here and here.  Forum: http://foro.iearn.org/iearnforums/natdisaster/

iEARN WORKSHOP FOR TEACHERS AT MOKH CONFERENCE, MARCH 28-29, 2005, IN ISRAEL. This will be the 20th year for this conference on education and computers in Israel, and will involve teachers, headmasters and those who will become teachers. Ruty Hotzen and Gladys Abu-Elezam will do a presentation about iEARN in Israeli classes from the eyes of teachers and present the YES exchange program. They will demonstrate some projects like: Flowers, Life in the Desert, Building Bridges, and collaborative projects between communities in conflict. For information, contact Ruty or Gladys.

YouthCaN 2005 ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCES IN BEIRUT, LEBANON AND NEW YORK CITY, USA APRIL 11, 2005. Every year, YouthCaN collaborates with organizations around the world to host conferences for youth to exchange their ideas, findings, and knowledge about the environment. The conferences include students from local schools, as well as video conferencing with students in other locations. To participate, contact youthcan@us.iearn.org. iEARN-USA (American Museum of Natural History, New York City) and iEARN-Lebanon (American Community School) are already planning to host gatherings. See http://www.youthcanworld.org. Students have chosen the theme for this year's conference to be "Species becoming endangered due to human abuse."

GLOBAL YOUTH SERVICE DAY (GYSD), APRIL 15-17, 2005. On Global Youth Service Day, millions of young people in countries everywhere highlight and carry out thousands of community improvement projects. iEARN-USA is on the International Coordinating Committee of GYSD. See http://www.gysd.net for more information on how to participate. Additionally, discussions are underway about in the iEARN Teachers Forum, Discussion Thread: Global Youth Service Day and in the Students Unlimited Project.

INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN THE LEARNING PROCESS FOR POSITIVE THINKING DEVELOPMENT, APRIL 18, 2005. Venue: Secondary School"Pejo Javorov", Bulgaria.  Co-organizers: Educational authorities - Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Plovdvi University, "Paisii Hilendarski", Sofia University, Department for teacher's qualification services, Address for correspondence: sou_yavorov@abv.bg. Tel /fax: + 359 32 95 18 20.

THIRD ANNUAL BRIDGE REGIONAL CONFERENCE, BEIRUT, LEBANON, JULY 8-13, 2005. iEARN-Lebanon (http://www.iearnlb.org/) will be hosting the Third Annual BRIDGE Regional Conference in Beirut. The conference will include educators from iEARN programs in Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and the United States The focus will be on professional development and curriculum building, affording participants the opportunity to exchange educational tools and resources. Train-the-Trainer seminars, project planning workshops, and community service learning projects will be among the topics of discussion.

12TH ANNUAL iEARN CONFERENCE - JULY 17-24 2005 IN DAKAR, SENEGAL. iEARN-Senegal. The conference will be held at the Ngor Hotel.  Want to present a workshop proposal at the conference? send an e-mail message to: workshopregistration@us.iearn.org and a workshop application will be sent to you automatically. Want to register to participate in the conference? Send a message to: confregistration@us.iearn.org. Watch http://www.iearn.org for more information, or login to the 2005 Senegal Conference Discussion Forum. Youth are encouraged to join in the new 2005 Youth Summit Forum to help organizers in planning the youth summit.

Looking for Less-expensive flights to Senegal in July? iEARN has arranged for lower fares to Dakar from Europe via TAP Air Portugal and from the USA via Air France. For example, the round trip fare from JFK (NYC) is about US$988, plus $215 in airport and other taxes. From Amsterdam via TAP, it will be around US$940. More information will be posted here as it is available. See you in Senegal!!!

The Senegal Minister of Education, His Excellency Moustapha Sourang, welcomes us to Dakar and writes: "I have received your letter regarding the conference you will organize in Dakar.  Enthusiastically, I want to thank you for your support of iEARN-Senegal. I am most grateful for this."

Do you have Frequent Flyer Mileage to Donate to a Student or Teacher? Many, many teachers and students around the iEARN network are eager to participate in the 2005 iEARN International Conference to share their project work. But, they cannot due the high cost of airfare from their communities and countries. You can help!  If you have frequent flyer mileage on any of the following airlines, you can donate them to be used on flights to Dakar: Delta Airlines, Alitalia, Korean Air, Continental Airlines, AeroMexico, KLM, CSA Czech Airlines, Northwest Airlines. If you would like to donate mileage, please contact dakar@us.iearn.org.

Recent Events!

STUDENTS FROM USA HOSTED IN MOROCCO THROUGH iEARN'S BRIDGE PROGRAM. On February 6th,students from George Washington High School for Law and Public Service in New York, USA arrived in Casablanca, Morocco. A highlight of the trip was the filming of a news segment for Morocco's National TV Channel http://www.2m.tv. US host families and students from GW High School will host their Moroccan friends on March 28th.