Discussions

Dear GEC Members:

We're thrilled to announce today our newest initiative, the Great Global Project Challenge Grant. Before getting to the details of this exciting opportunity, we also would like to give you an update on our upcoming conference.

CONFERENCE UPDATE

• Proposals are currently being accepted through November 1, 2016. Proposals must relate to our mission. Remember, we are not a general education conference nor an ed tech conference. Typically, we review the submitted proposals once or twice a week.
• You are encouraged to submit a proposal as soon as possible in order to have a wide variety of choices for your presentation time. Read the Call for Proposals carefully and take a look at accepted ones for inspiration.
• There is a new strand for conference proposals sponsored by VIF International Education. Take a look at details about our Dual Language strand addition and consider submitting a proposal under this category.
• Spanish materials about the conference are also now available.
• iEARN is holding their annual conference and student summit in conjunction with this year's conference. We're thrilled to have members of this long-standing global education organization showcase their work. 
• Training sessions for presenters are now on our calendar. Make time to learn our platform, Blackboard Collaborate, in order to make sure you feel confident giving your presentation. 
• Our keynotes have been announced and more are to come. We think we have a very exciting lineup!
• Please help us promote the call for proposals by sharing this flyer widely. 

Now on to the Great Global Project Challenge Grant....

THE GREAT GLOBAL PROJECT CHALLENGE AND GRANT

Overview

Educators are interested in engaging in project-based learning with other classrooms around the world. Often they embark on time consuming journeys to identify potential deep learning opportunities and project partners. And, it is sometimes difficult for educators who design projects to find active participants. The Great Global Project Challenge is an initiative designed to collate projects and connect interested collaborators.

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) recently revised its standards for students. ISTE calls for students to become empowered learners, digital citizens, knowledge constructors, innovative designers, computational thinkers, creative communicators, and most notably, global collaborators. The Great Global Project Challenge will help educators provide authentic learning opportunities for students to meet these standards.

Between now and December 1, 2016, global educators will design collaborative projects in which other students and teachers may participate during the course of the 2016-2017 school year. The objective is to create and present as many globally connective projects for students and educators as possible. Let’s see how many teachers and students we can engage in globally connected learning opportunities during the course of the next year!

Any teacher, school, nonprofit, or company can participate in this challenge and have their project listed on the Global Collaboration Day website. There will be a grant available to educators from non-profit accredited Pre-K-12 schools, thanks to sponsors VIF International Education and the Partnership for 21st Century Learning.

The Great Global Project Challenge Grant

Grants of $1,500 (US dollars) will be issued to the the top ten projects that are designed and successfully implemented between now and April 1, 2017. The project design teams for grant-eligible projects must be made up solely of educators employed by non-profit accredited schools and can come from any country.  If projects are to be conducted in a language other than English, proposals must be submitted twice. One submission needs to be in the home language; a duplicate needs to be in English. Grant details are available here: http://www.globalcollaborationday.org/the-great-global-project-challenge-grant.html

These grants must be used for professional development, classroom equipment, or other resources that will facilitate future globally connected project-based learning. Recipients will be required to submit a plan for use of the grant monies and will be required to present at the online 2017 Global Education Conference.

A committee comprised of leading global educators and organizations will serve on the evaluation team for the Great Global Project Challenge Grant. This group will design an evaluation rubric for scoring these projects.

Challenge Guidelines and Rules

Here are the rules for Great Global Project Challenge entries:

• Any student, teacher, non-profit, or company from around the world can design a project and submit it to our directory.
• Multiple project submissions are welcome although individuals can only serve on one winning team. 
• Project designers should read and take into consideration our suggestions. 
• Only educators from accredited non-profit PreK-12 schools will be eligible for the Great Global Project Challenge grant.
• 10 grants of $1500 each will be awarded. The currency of the awards will be US dollars.
• Projects can run for any length of time and can take place synchronously or asynchronously. The deadline for project evaluation for the GGPC grant is April 15, 2017.
• Projects can be hosted on any digital platform using a variety of digital tools of your choosing. Ideally, participation should not be dependent on a single type of technology device.
• Project designers should consider designing projects around commonly taught concepts and subjects.
• Projects should be open to a significant amount of participants.
• Every project must have a digital space (web page, wiki, Facebook group, Google group, etc.) where participants and potential participants can access project information.
• Digital tools used in projects ideally should be free of charge and ideally device neutral. Alternatively, various tools are presented as that have similar functionality and participants will have a choice of which tools are implemented.
• Existing and/or long running projects can be submitted to the Great Global Project Challenge Directory. Individuals and organizations do not necessarily need to reinvent the wheel by creating new projects.
• Project designers need to include an evaluation method to gather participant feedback. For example, feedback can be collected through a Google Form survey created by the project designer.
• Project designers will need to report back on their progress via an evaluation form at the completion of their project. This form will be sent to project leads and will need to be completed by April 15, 2017. Grants will not be awarded to project designers who do not follow this step.
•  There will be a final form submission  required of awardees that requests information on how grant monies are spent. This form will need to be completed by December 1, 2017.
• Grant awardees will be required to present online at the 2017 Global Education Conference next November.

Important Dates

These projects can take place anytime between now and April 1, 2017. The deadline for registering projects in a directory managed by the Global Education Conference Network is December 1, 2016. Projects will then be listed on a webpage which educators can browse. The Global Education Conference Network will publicize this directory to its members and beyond through social media. 

• December 1, 2016 - FINAL DEADLINE FOR PROJECTS TO BE LISTED ON OUR SITE.
• September 11, 2016 - April 1, 2017 - Projects must take place during this time frame.
• April 15, 2017 - Final project evaluations and reflections must be submitted in order to be eligible for the GGPC Challenge grant.
• May 1, 2017 -  Grant awardees of the Great Global Project Challenge grant will be notified.
• November 1, 2017 - Grant awardees must submit documentation on how they’ve used their grant monies.
• November 12-15, 2017 -  Grant awardees must give a presentation at the online 2017 Global Education Conference about their grant winning project.
• December 1, 2017 - Grant awardees will need to submit information 

  on the dissemination of grant monies.
  
  
  

Many, many thanks to the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21) and VIF International Education for making this happen!

About the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21): P21 recognizes that all learners need educational experiences in school and beyond, from cradle to career, to build knowledge and skills for success in a globally and digitally interconnected world. Representing over 5 million members of the global workforce and over 2 million U.S. students in K-12, P21 is a catalyst organization uniting business, government, and education leaders from the U.S. and abroad to advance evidence-based education policy and practice and to make innovative teaching and learning a reality for all. Follow P21 on Twitter @P21Learning.

About VIF International Education: VIF International Education partners with districts and schools to provide leading-edge technology, comprehensive frameworks and support services to impact student outcomes by improving teacher practice. Many of its clients are distinguished by school-wide commitments to build global competence in teachers, students and administrators as they endeavor to integrate technology, cultural literacy and other 21st century skills into everyday classroom instruction. VIF is a certified B Corp and ‘Best for the World’ honoree headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. For more information visit www.viflearn.com and follow @vifglobaled.