Discussions

Hi Everyone -

Steve and I are thrilled about the 60+ proposals that have been submitted thus far for the 2011 Global Education Conference. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to participate!

This is a very inclusive conference in that we want every proposal to be accepted. We value your ideas and initiatives, and there are guidelines you need to follow in order to insure a quality experience for conference attendees.

Here are a couple of reminders about your proposals:

• Our mission is to at increase opportunities for globally-connecting education activities and initiatives. This means that the event is solely focused on presenting ideas, examples and organizations related to connecting educators and classrooms around the world. Our goals include developing multiculture awareness and global competency in students and teachers as well as bringing attention to social justice topics.
• This is not a technology conference. Proposals can highlight how technology enhances the aforementioned mission and goals, however. Effective teaching and learning never focuses on the tools themselves, but on the processes and outcomes of using such tools.  
• The event is not solely focused on general education topics or innovative learning. Your ideas should again be tied to the mission and goals. Steve Hargadon is working on a developing a Learning 2.0 online conference that will house sessions that fit this category. More details to come on this. Last year, we had a strand for Learning 2.0 sessions, but this year we are entirely focused on globally-connecting education activities and initiatives. 
• When submitting your proposal, please follow the directions provided on the call for proposals page. You must use the template provided. Attachments are only for supplementary materials that you would like to provide.
• Attendees will be determining sessions that they would like to attend by reading the decriptions in your proposals. Please make sure that your proposals are compelling and tied to the mission and goals of the conference. There should be clear language in your proposal that indicates how your topic is tied to global collaboration.The more detailed information you provide, the better.
• If you would like someone to review your proposal before you post it, or have questions, start a discussion forum post and ask for guidance. Perhaps a member will respond to your query. I also suggest that you review the current proposals to get an idea of the range of topics. 
• Make sure you are selecting the correct discussion forum category (2011 Global Education Conference) when submitting your proposals. You also must use one of the following tags: 2011Teacher, 2011Students, 2011Policy, or 2011Curricular. Your proposal will not appear in the proper place on our web site unless you do this. This is very important.
• You can edit your proposals any time up until October 15th when proposals are due. 
• We are taking suggestions for potential keynote speakers. These suggestions should be for high level, well known thought leaders whose work addresses the mission and goals of the conference. There will be featured speaker opportunities for our partners. Again, more information will be forthcoming on this. Keynotes, however, will be invite only. 
• Finally, we are looking for a volunteer coordinator for our leadership team. If you are interested in volunteering in this position, please send me an email at elemenous@gmail.com. 

I hope this clarifies questions you may have about the conference, and that these ideas will help you to refine your conference proposals. I've attached our most recent press release and I hope that you will pass it along to your colleagues and friends.

Please let me know if you have any questions! We're here to help you participate!

Thanks,

Lucy Gray

GlobalEdCon11.docx