Discussions

Hello to all GEC Community Members!

As most US schools are back in session this month, I thought I'd take the opportunity to send a quick update about our community and upcoming virtual conference.

If you are new to the Global Education Conference Network, we are a 19,000 member strong community of educators and others interested in connecting classrooms and furthering educational opportunities for all. My conference co-chair, Steve Hargadon, and I strongly believe that educators need to connect with others globally in order to establish the foundation for collaboration; our community is designed to foster these professional relationships. Please read our mission so that you fully understand our purpose.

So what can you do here year round in the Global Education Conference Network? You can explore our resources, participate in our discussion forums, share an event, or join an affinity group. Please post resources, events, questions etc related to global education in these areas. Relevant posts will be broadcasted on our social media channels in order to promote connections. For example, if you have a project that you are running and would like other classrooms to participate, post a detailed description in our discussion forum. Then, I will post it to our Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn accounts. Hopefully, this will help you get participants for your project! 

We are now gearing up for our fifth annual free, online conference which takes place every November. The call for proposals is now open and we encourage educators and non-profit organizations to submit proposals that relate to our mission. Do this early rather than later so that you can book your presentation at your time of choice; the schedule gets rather full as we get closer to the conference. Check out our accepted proposals and our keynote speakers as well; more are going to be announced shortly. Also, we are looking foradvisory board members, partner organizations, and volunteer moderators for the conference. 

For your convenience, we've developed a few digital flyers that we hope you will post to social media and send to potentially interested colleagues:

1. 10 Ways to Connect Globally - suggestions for getting involved with our community
2. 5th Annual GlobalEdCon - a general explanation of the conference inviting people to participate
3. Call for Proposals - a flyer designed for those who might want to present 

In other news, GEC Leadership Team member Julie Lindsay is going to be coordinating our student strand of the conference. Look for more information on this in the next couple of weeks and start thinking about how you can involve your students. We also will be convening our advisory board for meetings in September; dates to be announced soon.

Many thanks to our core sponsors,iEARN and the Global Campaign for Education - US Chapter for making this community and conference possible. We also are grateful for our amazing leadership team featured on the front page of our web site. We are very appreciate of all of your support! 

Thanks and let me know if you have any questions,

Lucy Gray

Conference Co-Chair