Local Funding Supports Global Education
In October 2009, ETFO members Mali Bickley and Jim Carleton approached the Simcoe Teacher Local executive about becoming involved with the 17th annual iEARN International Conference and Youth Summit. The conference, hosted by iEARN Canada and TakingITGlobal, brought educators and students from over 40 countries to Georgian College in Barrie in July 2010.
Participants were encouraged to “Come to Canada … Catch the Dream.” Each year, iEARN conferences bring educators and young people together to share their experiences and to learn how educators the world over are internationalizing their classrooms. Their students are going beyond learning about the world to learning with their peers around the world, enhancing their learning, and building a more peaceful and just world.
Participants explained how they used technology to enhance teaching and learning and to build global understanding. The conference featured technology and curriculum presentations, cross-cultural experiences, and the development of new project partnerships.
Because the event was held in our region, the Simcoe Teacher Local was honoured to sponsor an international teacher to attend this year’s conference. It was a first for our local. We selected Rohan Perera, an IT teacher from Royal College in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to receive the Simcoe Teacher Local scholarship. The scholarship paid for conference fees, accommodation, and meals.
For the past seven years, Rohan has been the IT teacher at Royal College, the largest boys’ school in Sri Lanka. He told us that his “most encouraging event with iEarn was when Ruty Hotzen from Israel addressed Sri Lankan students in a live video conference about [a] UNESCO World Heritage Project.” Rohan Perera is currently partnering with 10 schools in Great Britain, the United States, Poland, and Canada in the Teddy Bear project. This project encourages cross-cultural understanding and acceptance by pairing schools that exchange a teddy bear or other soft toy. The bear sends home email accounts of its adventures, travels, and activities.
iEARN has programs in over 130 countries and involves over 38,000 member classes and 2 million students daily in collaborative online project work. iEARN is an award-winning, international, non-profit network; since its launch in 1998 it has enabled over 15 million students to engage with their global community in meaningful educational interactive projects. iEARN is unique in the field of educational technology. It is a global community of education innovators who share the vision that online, collaborative, project-based learning provides twenty-first-century skills that will prepare students to be effective global citizens.
Resources
To learn more about school partnerships with iEARN, see “A School Without Borders” by Jim Carleton, Voice, Winter 2006 and “The Power of Global Collaborative Learning” by Mali Bickley, Voice, February 2008. Both are available at etfovoice.ca >past issues.
More information about the conference is available at iearn2010.org.
For more about TakingITGlobal go to tigweb.org.
The iEARN website is iearn.org.