PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Enthusiastic educators are the key to
the success of Global Connections. Since 1988, iEARN has trained more
than 40,000 educators in 109 countries with a unique professional
development program that achieves success through five components: 1)
national workshops; 2) online courses; 3) Master Trainer Seminars; 4)
Regional Conferences; and 5) Annual iEARN Conferences.
National Workshops
The GCE Program enables national workshops in all its participating
countries. Each three-day workshop supports at least 20 educators, who
come together to learn skills ranging from basic computer skills to
Internet research techniques to, most importantly, the facilitation of
classroom projects with youth in other countries. Workshops take place
in centralized locations and are tailored to the needs of the local
environments. iEARN trainers are experienced with all aspects of
planning, conducting and evaluating training workshop, and tailor their
English, French, and Arabic-language training materials to fit specific
local and national educational standards. Workshops cover the
technical, collaborative and organizational skills needed to
participate fully in iEARNís thematic, Internet-based collaboration.
Trainers pay particular attention to cross-cultural sensitivities while
introducing program goals and objectives. Participants are often asked
to bring existing and familiar classroom resources and curricula with
them to the workshop in order to apply these to discussions and
planning on integrating collaborative project work into the classroom
and evaluating related learning outcomes. By the end of the workshops,
participants are able to assist their classes to join Internet-based
collaborative learning projects. Additionally, iEARN conducts follow-up
visits to selected schools to conduct post-training reviews, meetings,
community outreach activities and video conferences. Training
materials, all available to download, include: a teacher handbook,
project description booklet (in Arabic, French, and/or English),
CD-ROMs, videos, an online tutorial, and a range of classroom-ready
tools designed by iEARN educators over the years.
Online Courses
Three-day, face-to-face iEARN workshop are an excellent venue to learn
about online collaboration, but to gain mastery over the materials and
build lasting partnerships with other educators, practice with the
technology, methodology and assessment of online project collaboration
is often needed. Therefore, BRIDGE supports nine-week online courses,
and is able to provide a number of scholarships to educators to work
together in the courses, which require approximately five hours per
week. These courses focus on the integration of virtual exchange into
the curriculum, civic education themes and student publishing. By the
end of the courses, participants have practical experience with online
collaboration, while reinforcing skills in integrating online projects
into their classrooms, correlating online projects to their education
standards, and managing classroom and technology resources. Course
participants also have the opportunity to build new professional and
personal relationships with educators in their own countries, in their
regions, and in the United States.
Master Trainer Seminars
As the number of iEARN schools grows, the need for educators capable of
training their peers also grows. Each year, iEARN-USA hosts selected
educators in New York City for a five-day Master Trainer Seminar, a
popular component of past CIVICS & BRIDGE programs. The seminar
gives experienced educators the opportunity to gain practical
leadership experience with an exchange and training visit to the United
States. The visit consists of a five-day seminar and several days of
practical training in New York City schools and local youth
organizations. Educators receive hands-on experience with both the
technical and pedagogical issues of delivering Internet-based
collaboration curriculum and services to schools. The Master Trainers
that ěgraduateî from the seminar are critical to future Global
Connections participants, and are asked to continue to contribute to
the iEARN forums, facilitate online courses, and participate in
selection processes, orientations, cultural activities, fundraising or
other aspect of their national programs. Staff from Teachers College at
Columbia University regularly support the seminar with material,
presentations, and training activities. 2005 Master Trainer Seminar Regional Conferences
In 2003, GCE held its first Annual Regional Conference in Alexandria, Egypt. Subsequent conferences have been held in: Amman, Jordan- 2004; Beirut, Lebanon-2005; Rabat, Moroco- 2006, and New York & Washington DC, USA- 2007. The purpose of these meetings has been: 1) to convene iEARN coordinators for program planning; 2) to give newly trained teachers the opportunity to train new participants; 3) to showcase new partnerships, new classroom tools, and the educators and students who developed these resources; and 4) to provide the hosting country with a catalyst for national program development. In addition, the conferences have also been a place for discussions between Country Coordinators concerning: fiscal responsibility, sustainability plans, and best practices for collaborating with government entities regarding education priorities. The conferences have featured visits to local schools, workshops, cultural activities, and community service-learning activities.
Annual iEARN Conferences
In 1994, iEARN teachers came together physically in Argentina to hold thefirst iEARN International Conference--which has become an annual event(Australia-1995; Hungary-1996; Spain-1997; USA-1998; Puerto Rico-1999; Beijing, China-2000; Cape Town, South Africa-2001; Moscow, Russia-2002; Japan-2003; Slovakia-2004; Dakar, Senegal-2005; Netherlands-2006; Egypt-2007) to be held in Uzbekistan in 2008 and in Morocco in 2009. Educatorsfrom 80+ countries gather each year. This conference, which is open to alleducators, is a chance to share and learn from teachers how technology is being used in their/your classroom (and to meet other teachers with whom you have been working on-line!). During the year, many other gatherings are held on the national and regional levels throughout the world.
Since 1998, iEARN has held an International Youth Summit in conjunction with the International Conference. Students from over 20 countries come together to build bonds of friendship and plan future collaborative project work.
Global Connections and Exchange program participants have often been sponsored to attend these annual meetings since 2002. Moreover, 2007-09 will mark three consecutive years of GCE countries hosting the International Conference for the iEARN network.
For a complete list of face to face meetings held each year, including Annual Conferences, please click here:
http://www.iearn.org/news/news_meetings.html
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