The 2011 Flat Classroom Conference is only three weeks away! Bringing together over 200 educators and students from more than 45 schools and learning institutions across 14 countries in Beijing, this already highly diverse event will diversify even further as participants from locations around the world connect into the event virtually. TIG has partnered with the Flat Classroom conference to coordinate virtual participation so, if you can't make it to China, TIG will help to ensure you don't miss out! Information about how to participate virtually in the event can be found on the Flat CLassroom 2011 wiki.

There will also be ONE online meeting prior to the conference offered at TWO different days and times to accommodate audiences around the world focused on virtual participation details and expecations, as well as further opportunities to engage in global learning. Facilitated by the Flat Classroom 2011 conference organizers and TakingITGlobal, this meeting will be offered at the following times:

• Meeting #1:Tuesday Feb 8, 7am EST, 12 Midday GMT, 8pm China, 11pm Australia - Julie Lindsay to lead with co-facilitation by Katherine Walraven of TakingITGlobal
• Meeting #2:Sunday Feb 13 5pm EST, 10 pm GMT, Monday Feb 14 6am China, 9am Australia  - Vicki Davis to lead with co-facilitation by Michael Furdyk of TakingITGlobal

 

There areTWO levels of virtual participation for the Flat Classroom Conference 2011:

 

1)Participation as afull team member in the Leadership Workshop OR the Student Summit

• This invitation is limited to 36 students and 40 educators
• Interested participants must sign up via this online form
• Confirmation of a place will be sent out by Friday February 18
• Attendance at one of the online meetings (or listening to the recording) is expected
• Participants in the Student Summit will automatically be added to working teams - Teams accessed via the wiki http://conference2011.flatclassroomproject.org/Student+Teams
• Participants in the Leadership Workshop will be allocated a team during the first day of the conference http://conference2011.flatclassroomproject.org/Leadership+Teams
• Interaction as a team member may be in real time and/or virtual via the online spaces (eg wiki) however it is expected that for a LEVEL 1 participant some real time attendance will be possible
• We are also excited to announce that we are able to offer one credit through Buffalo State, SUNY (International Graduate Programs for Educators) for completion of the conference for both in person and virtual participants. More details on the wiki soon!

 

2) Participation via Virtual Flat Classroom online spaceshttp://flatclass.tigweb.org/

• This will take the form of watching streamed video, participating in backchannel discussion and interacting via microblogging, comments to blog posts and other shared media and Web 2.0 tools
• Interaction and involvement may be in real time or asynchronous
• Interaction with team members is encouraged but there is no expectation for full contribution or continuity
• This invitation is not limited to a set number, there is no form to fill in, and interested participants are very welcome to join our online meetings to learn more about Flat Classroom and TakingITGlobal

 

We hope to 'see' you at the Flat Classroom Conference!

Last week was an exciting one for TIG! We were in Cape Town, South Africa with some of the world's most creative and resourceful education leaders for Microsoft's sixth annual Worldwide Innovation Education Forum (WWIEF) - held for the first time on African soil!

This event drew more than 500 educators, school leaders and government officials representing over 60 countries that continue to creatively and effectively use technology in their curriculum to help improve the way students learn. This is the worldwide finale of a year’s worth of country and regional events, during which 125 finalists were selected from over 200,000 participants to present their work at WWIEF.

It was the perfect setting to launch an exciting new initiative that we've developed in partnership with Microsoft Partners in Learning and the Smithsonian Institution called Shout. This three-year environmental education and engagement program will help students and teachers connect with one another using technology, break down cultural and language barriers and drive positive social change.

The Shout program offers:

• Online events hosted by the Smithsonian Institution that feature some of the world’s leading scientists and environmental experts as well as representatives of other fields who bring diverse perspectives to the issues at hand. Sessions can be watched live in real time or in archived format in order to accommodate all time zones.

• Access to Microsoft’s Partners in Learning Network, a global community of educators who value innovative uses of information and communication technology, in order to share environmental education resources, experiences, and best practices with teachers around the world.

• Engagement of students in TakingITGlobal's online community, which provides resources, action tools, as well as the complimentary use of content-rich virtual classrooms and collaboration spaces designed to deepen environmental understanding and stewardship, enhance the development of 21st century skills, and facilitate continued communication with Smithsonian experts.

•A web portal that ties these elements together and provides access to additional tools and resources to support a range of “student challenges” – calls for deeper involvement that can range from capturing and sharing scientific data to developing youth-led initiatives for positive change.

Together, these components support a number of environmentally-themed “Shouts” to frame our understanding of our relationships and interactions with the natural world: Live, Study, Change, Sustain, Value and Celebrate. Each Shout connects students and teachers to a live event, teacher networking, and student collaborations focused around a specific theme, and presents students with challenges designed to deepen their learning and engagement. Shout is at once a program framework and a call to action. Join us and make your voice heard.

Please join us live online on October 18, 2010 at 3:00 pm EDT for a brainstorming session about a soon to be launched environmental education and engagement program, to be launched later this month. “Shout: Explore. Connect. Act” is an ongoing series of events and activities for teachers and students that relate to environmental topics.

During this live online meeting, you'll get a preview of "Shout" and help us think through the topics, events and student activities or missions we are planning for the series. With your help, we can make this initiative a powerful learning opportunity.

To register, please visit: http://www.smithsonianconference.org/shout-teachers/

Please join us live online on October 18, 2010 at 3:00 pm EDT for a brainstorming session about a soon to be launched environmental education and engagement program, to be launched later this month. “Shout: Explore. Connect. Act” is an ongoing series of events and activities for teachers and students that relate to environmental topics.

During this live online meeting, you'll get a preview of "Shout" and help us think through the topics, events and student activities or missions we are planning for the series. With your help, we can make this initiative a powerful learning opportunity.

To register, please visit: http://www.smithsonianconference.org/shout-teachers/

The Staples #Follow4aCause contest is our opportunity to raise up to $25,000 to support our work! From September 19th to 30th, each new twitter follower that Staples receives will add $1 into the prize pot and get to vote for their charity of choice. The charity with the most votes will win up to $25,000 and all runners up will receive $1,000.

This funding will go a long way in supporting our work, and participating is quick and easy! Simply visit http://bit.ly/ahciIQ to follow Staples on Twitter and vote for TakingITGlobal as your charity of choice!

Thank you so much for your support.
TakingITGlobal - Inspire. Inform. Involve.

The Staples #Follow4aCause contest is our opportunity to raise up to $25,000 to support our work! From September 19th to 30th, each new twitter follower that Staples receives will add $1 into the prize pot and get to vote for their charity of choice. The charity with the most votes will win up to $25,000 and all runners up will receive $1,000.

This funding will go a long way in supporting our work, and participating is quick and easy! Simply visit http://bit.ly/ahciIQ to follow Staples on Twitter and vote for TakingITGlobal as your charity of choice!

Thank you so much for your support.
TakingITGlobal - Inspire. Inform. Involve.

Do your students feel that they are part of a global youth culture? If so, they have an opportunity submit their writing or visual art as a part of an international contest, open to youth aged 16-32, organized by TakingITGlobal’s Youth for Change program.

Youth for Change is a youth-led program that aims to inspire, inform, and involve Arab youth as agents of change in their communities. This contest, however, is global and open to young people from all countries.

Participants can submit various types of writing (articles, poems, short and stories) in Arabic, English and French. Visual art of all forms will also be accepted. All writing and visual art must address one of the following sub-themes:

1) Global Culture and Values: Do you think that there is an emerging common set of global values and if so, how would you define them? Are we heading in a direction towards increased individualism or a shared common humanity?

2) Local Culture vs. Global Culture: Do you feel that local cultures are being threatened by a dominant global culture or is a new global culture rooted and created on the basis of diverse and converging local influences? Is your world view influenced more by your regional outlook, local community or global network?

3) Global Youth Culture and Social Media: How has the wide-spread access to digital social media influenced and shaped the world views of youth? Has interconnectivity led to greater intercultural communications and dialogue or are the gaps of understanding widening?

Top entries will also be featured online and in a publication, as well as showcased at the World Youth Congress in Istanbul, Turkey and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt. A range of great prizes, including a digital camera, iPod Shuffle, webcam, will be awarded to winners in both the writing and visual arts categories.

To learn more, visit the contest page.

Please note that the contest closes Saturday April 10th. Good luck!

Towards Universal Access: Young People in Action is an e-Course for young people who want to create lasting change in how HIV affects their communities and the world. Participants will have an opportunity to connect with young leaders from around the world and build an action plan to mobilise universal access campaigns. The course will run from March to May 2010.

If you, or someone you know, is interested in being an e-mentor, the website to check out is http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/en/Constituencies/Youth/Youth-ecourse. You can also contact Alex McClelland at mcclelland.alex@gmail.com if you would like to sign up, need more info or have questions!

Towards Universal Access: Young People in Action is an e-Course for young people who want to create lasting change in how HIV affects their communities and the world. Participants will have an opportunity to connect with young leaders from around the world and build an action plan to mobilise universal access campaigns. The course will run from March to May 2010.

If you, or someone you know, is interested in being an e-mentor, the website to check out is http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/en/Constituencies/Youth/Youth-ecourse. You can also contact Alex McClelland at mcclelland.alex@gmail.com if you would like to sign up, need more info or have questions!

The Sharing the Dream student-led webcast series brings the excitement of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to classrooms across Canada and the world. Each webcast explores youth issues related to culture, sustainability, sports & healthy living, Olympism, Paralympism and global citizenship.

The next webcast, "Promoting Peace One School at a Time", takes place Thursday February 4th from 8:30 to 9:30 am PST. It features Greg Mortenson, co-founder of the Central Asia Institute, founder of Pennies For Peace, co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Three Cups of Tea, and author of the bestseller Stones into Schools. In 2009, Mortenson received Pakistan’s highest civil award, Sitara-e-Pakistan (“Star of Pakistan”) for his dedicated humanitarian effort to promote education and literacy in rural areas for fifteen years.

To access and register for the live webcast on February 4, click here.

The (US) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Teacher at Sea program is now accepting applications for its 2010 field season.

The program seeks to give teachers a clearer insight into our ocean planet, a greater understanding of maritime work and studies, and to increase their level of environmental literacy by fostering an interdisciplinary research experience. It provides a unique environment for learning and teaching by sending kindergarten through college-level teachers to sea aboard NOAA research and survey ships to work under the tutelage of scientists and crew. Then, armed with new understanding and experience, teachers bring this knowledge back to their classrooms.

All costs are covered by the program. To learn more, or to apply, please visit http://teacheratsea.noaa.gov/.

The (US) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Teacher at Sea program is now accepting applications for its 2010 field season.

The program seeks to give teachers a clearer insight into our ocean planet, a greater understanding of maritime work and studies, and to increase their level of environmental literacy by fostering an interdisciplinary research experience. It provides a unique environment for learning and teaching by sending kindergarten through college-level teachers to sea aboard NOAA research and survey ships to work under the tutelage of scientists and crew. Then, armed with new understanding and experience, teachers bring this knowledge back to their classrooms.

All costs are covered by the program. To learn more, or to apply, please visit http://teacheratsea.noaa.gov/.

SOS: Students Offering Support is a sustainable charitable social venture that develops and supports SOS chapters residing within post-secondary schools across the Canada. Each University SOS chapter raises money to raise roofs through raising marks during their ‘Exam-AID’ group review sessions, taught and coordinated by student volunteers for university and high school students. Each year, the money raised is spent creating sustainable education projects in developing nations on annual outreach trips.

SOS was created by Greg Overholt, where it began as a local student organization at Wilfred Laurier University. It was launched in September 2008 as a successful national organization, with 11 participating universities. Since its creation in 2005, over 400 SOS volunteers have tutored over 4,000 students and raised over $240,000 for numerous communities in Africa and Latin America. Greg Overholt was recently nominated as one of four finalists for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, recognizing the successes of SOS.

To get involved, set up an ‘Exam-AID’ session, or to inquire about student volunteering visit SOS on TIG or click here to visit their website.

A time capsule containing 100 love letters to the future, to be opened 100 years from now, is about to be closed ... AND you have the opportunity to vote on which letters should be included.

www.loveletterstothefuture.com has been collecting video, image, and text format messages that people around the world would like to share with future generations, providing a creative, personal way to express feelings, fears and hopes with respect to climate change.

You are invited to browse through the collection of powerful clips, gripping images, and moving messages to vote for your favourites. The 100 most popular letters will be shared with the ultimate stakeholders in the fight to address climate change: our children's children and their children.

The time capsule will be sealed at a free party that is being held in Copenhagen on December 13th. All are invited to the event, which features Danish actor Thure Lindhart reading a selection of letters projected on to a giant screen.

To learn more, and to vote, visit: www.loveletterstothefuture.com

From now until December 3rd, your students have the opportunity to exercise their creativity to reflect on humanity’s current ecological footprint and/or what it should look like in order to guarantee a sustainable common future! The Imprints art contest is on!

Submissions may include digitized drawings, paintings, collages, sculptures, and photography, as well as video, flash animation, and more.

People of all ages, worldwide, are invited to participate, and youth aged 13-30 are eligible to win one of several amazing prizes.

Contributors will have their work included in a special collection of TakingITGlobal’s online global gallery, and select submissions will be displayed at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen in December 2009.

To learn more, please visit www.treadlightly.me or the art contest homepage.