Steve Hargadon and I are ramping up for the second annual Global Education Conference, scheduled for November 14th through November 18th, 2011. Sessions will be held around the clock to accommodate time zones, and the best part is that the entire event is free!
In other conference news, our first set of keynote speakers has been announced. Keynotes will include Chris Dede and Howard Gardner of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Alan November of November Learning, Ewan McIntosh of NoTosh Limited, and Ed Gragert of iEARN-USA. We are thrilled that these distinguished speakers will share their expertise with us. More keynotes will be announced in the next week or so, so please stay tuned!
Additionally, we have a new mission statement that I think will clarify the purpose of this event. Thanks to the GEC Advisory Board Leadership Team for collaborating on this!
The Global Education Conference is a collaborative, world-wide community initiative involving students, educators, and organizations at all levels. It is designed to significantly increase opportunities for building education-related connections around the globe while supporting cultural awareness and recognition of diversity.
The conference seeks to present ideas, examples, and projects related to connecting educators and classrooms with a strong emphasis on promoting global awareness, fostering global competency, and inspiring action towards solving real–world problems. Through this event, it is our hope that attendees will challenge themselves and others to become more active citizens of the world. Let us learn, question, create, and engage in meaningful, authentic opportunities within a global context!
Here's what you need to know right now regarding conference housekeeping items:
- The Call for Proposals is still open through October 31. Please follow the outlined directions.
- If you have submitted a proposal, make sure you join the presenters group in the GEC community. This is very important if you want to receive updates.
- Session acceptances will be rolled out starting October 25. We will start chronologically with the first submissions.
- The conference schedule will not be posted until acceptances go out. Speakers will then have the opportunity to self-schedule their presentations.
- This is not an ICT conference nor a general education conference. Make sure your proposals are tied to our mission.
- The GEC leadership team will be going through proposals and leaving suggestions for improving your proposals. Please follow through on these comments or contact us if you have questions.
- Volunteers are needed to moderate sessions, so please join the volunteer group if you are interested in helping. Training will be provided if you're not familiar with the Blackboard Collaborate platform.
- Our partnership list is growing. If you are a non-profit, fill out the form to partner at no cost with us. If you're a commercial entity, email hargadon@gmail.com for information about how you can be involved.
- Badges are now available for download. Add our icon to your Twitter or Facebook profile; post a badge to your blog or web site if you are a volunteer, presenter or advisory board member.
- We need help with outreach. Please use this press release (http://goo.gl/uIg5r) and poster (http://goo.gl/7Gf1w) to let others know about the event.
- We particularly want to reach student groups and ministries of education. Increased student participation is sought, and we hope that ministries of education will have the capacity to inform a great number of educators about this conference opportunity.
- Our celebration coordinator, Pheo Martin, is looking to create slideshows of conference presenters and attendees. Read her post for more details.
Finally, a big shout out and thank you to EdSurge for mentioning our event repeatedly in their happening newsletter. If you haven't checked out this site dedicated to educational innovation, take a look.
That's all the news that fit to blast out to you right now... please let us know if you have any questions or concerns either through email or through a discussion post in the community.
Thanks for your continued help and support,
Lucy Gray
elemenous@gmail.com
Co-Chair
The 2011 Global Education Conference
Steve Hargadon
hargadon@gmail.com
Co-Chair
The 2011 Global Education Conference
