Inviting All Educators Worldwide to a Revolutionary Conference on Global Education Starting on Monday, Nov.15

Something super exciting and revolutionary for educators worldwide is happening next week, November 15-19. It is an easy-to-attend conference promoting global education which is critical to achieving peace and understanding in the world today, an important issue for all educators.

It is a first of its kind and it is only possible thanks to the web and video-conferencing. There are hundreds of great sessions and sixty keynotes. There are even six tracks to choose between: teacher, student, curriculum,policy, global issues, and learning.

This is an important conference that educators world wide can attend without having to fly anywhere. You can access it from your computer!! Now that is my kind of conference. You just go to this website Global Education Conference, and use the easy to use Elluminate videoconferencing platform. By the way, it is free.
The conference has 387 sessions from 62 countries in multiple languages over the five day period. Sessions are held all day and night to maximize participation in all the time zones.

Truely amazing.

They expect between 10,000 to 15,000 participants but that doesn't mean participants will have a hard time. They have a super easy participant platform which involves video conferencing. You can even ask questions and participate. All the information is available on this website.

This conference is being organized by two super people dedicated to education, Steve Hargadon, conference Co-Chair and creator of the Classroom 2.0 social network for educators and Lucy Gray, conference Co-chair and founder of the Global Education Collaborative.

Says Lucy, "In order to participate in a knowledge-based economy, students must be able to connect, communicate and collaborate, and teachers must model this for their kids." I couldn't agree more. All educators should pick some sessions they like and attend. Lots of great ideas for all educators!

 

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Comments

[Esther Wojcicki]

11:20 AM on 11/15/2010

I am a bit surprised by the negative comments regarding an education conference. The conference is an opportunity for teachers worldwide to share ideas and connect. Not sure how that negatively impacts anyone; in fact, it is helpful for all professions to have their members connect and work together whether it be doctors, lawyers, or scientists or teachers. Most people spend hours per day watching TV. They could take a couple hours out of the TV watching to be part of the conference. As for teachers who are in class at the time of a session, the sessions are being recorded for later viewing and they are running almost 24 hours around the clock so people can access them in all time periods.

[daughterusmc]

01:41 PM on 11/16/2010

really is it helpful? like the acl or camws or latinteach or bestpractices or tcs or actfl? please enlighten us with your wisdom. maybe you could find something round in shape with spokes and call it a wheel.
when i'm done watching my stories maybe i can tune into one of them thar sessions.

[musictechie]

09:18 PM on 11/14/2010

This is going to be an incredible conference and I can't wait to participate on some level. There is so much to wrap my brain around and learn from the incredible presenters.

[karlrawstrone]

03:29 PM on 11/14/2010

OMG you are all so ***. OK you teachers are all so BUSY and so IMPORTANT that you dont have the TIME or TECH to get involved with something NEW. Boo bloody hoo. You carry on taking the taxpayers hard-earned so you can take your long hols an tel the kids the outdated stuff you think you learned decades ago. FOR LIFES SAKE GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR RECTUMS AND JOIN IN THIS GREAT FREE INTERACTIVE AND GLOVAL EVENT. There are sessions in all time zones - they're recorded so you can catch up later. Even if the session which is most appealing to you is at a time you can't make - join another session - stretch your boundaies and (like we are always trying to get our students to do ) GET OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE. Who knows what you might learn.
[Full time degree lecturer, doing last stages of full time masters, father of 2]
Get over yourself, get into everyone else.
:)

[mlaiuppa]

03:18 PM on 11/14/2010

And when will these "conferences" take place? My guess is...while I'm teaching. So much for being able to use videoconferencing to ask questions or provide any kind of discussion or feedback.

I don't need to hear another expert talk to me. What I need is the ability to talk back, to provide feedback, to provide my insights and opinions and have them heard.

The problem with educational reform is that it leaves out the most important component: teachers. How to you propose to reform education when you alienate the very people you expect to implement your reforms?

[Angela Watson]

04:39 PM on 11/14/2010

The conference sessions run almost 24 hours to accommodate different time zones. Also, you have the ability to ask questions and interact through chat during and after the sessions.

[LucyGray]

08:19 PM on 11/14/2010

As another commenter noted, there are tons of sessions at all hours. Many of the presenters are practitioners themselves, and will be sharing their ideas for incorporating project-based learning into teaching. Some of the sessions are open discussions, too, where anyone can share their opinions and work. This conference is not about ed reform; it's about bringing people together to share ideas for on collaborating. My hope is that conference activities will inspire creativity in our classrooms!

Make sure you check out the conference web site before rushing to judgement:
http://globaleducationconference.com

[Oleander23]

01:38 PM on 11/14/2010

Thanks for the heads up about this online conference with so many rich offerings. I found several that come in the early evening, so I will probably check them out. Others have websites that I can visit any time. I am a veteran teacher, so I understand how much time and energy it takes to arrive at school with a plan to face the challenges of the day. Generally, if I come in excited about something I want to try, my students reap the benefits. Finding ways to engage and motivate them in both instruction and assessments is exactly how I want to spend my precious time. So thanks again.

[lthoth]

12:19 PM on 11/14/2010

There certainly is a need for improved education. You misspelled the word 'truly'.

[daughterusmc]

08:06 AM on 11/14/2010

ummm...I can't speak for all the teachers, but I know I have classes to teach on those days...because I am a teacher, and it is the middle of November, and I have papers to grade, and lesson plans to write, and all of the other incumbent tasks that are necessary to do my job...and I am not going to spend my very precious time doing this. And until I am given the time to pursue this kind of thing, it will just have to wait.
This is the basic problem with all the so-called reform...it is so far remioved from the realm of reality and what is feasible, it is just silly.

[LucyGray]

01:44 PM on 11/14/2010

This event has nothing to do with with current school reform endeavors. It is simply an event to bring people together who want to collaborate, and to show others how it's possible to do so, given today's technologies.

I do agree that schools need to give teachers more professional development time. The presenters at this conference are donating their time and expertise for the benefit of colleagues, so I am not sure they would share your sentiment. Also, there are many sessions that take place after school hours and all of them will be recorded for viewing at a more convenient time.

[zekleslikpaw]

12:02 PM on 11/13/2010

This is bad, this is very bad, World order depends on divided people, how do you keep them divided if they get common education? Impossible, so this is bad.

[karlrawstrone]

03:31 PM on 11/14/2010

"World order depends on divided people"
Whaaaat?

where are you? 1930's Germany?

[Iain2008]

11:14 AM on 11/13/2010

It's time for educators to begin "Closing the Lid on Pandora's Box": http://bit.ly/dhQkIp