Discussions

Your Name and Title: Kevin Simpson

School or Organization Name: World Class Education News

Co-Presenter Name(s): Chi Pham

Area of the World from Which You Will Present: USA, EST. Michigan or Washington, D.C.

Language in Which You Will Present: English

Target Audience(s): Educators, administrators, policy-makers, and fellow organizations

Short Session Description: Connecting Education Practitioners Across the Globe

Full Session Description:

What is World Class Education News? It is a new Internet start-up that aims to provide a single point solution on world-class education news and resources and networking opportunities for educators across the globe.

Progress in technological innovation is bridging the global divides in knowledge and allowing educators to instantly access articles, journals, blogs and even books.  Yet today, educators are more overwhelmed than ever with the burgeoning amount of information available to them, and consequently neglect to implement the countless practices they read about due to decision fatigue.  Educators must often make choices with their valuable time such as, “Which professional journals should I follow?  What should I read if I only have 20 minutes a day?  What are some trends in early mathematics education that have been successful in raising student achievement?  What other schools and districts have encountered the issues I’m trying to solve in my own schools?”

It is the mission of World Class Education News to become a place for educators and those passionate about education to stay informed about world-class educational models, issues, and practices, and to network with one another for sharing ideas and discussing solutions. By acting as an intermediary between educators and educational information, our group aims to collect and disseminate effective educational practices across the globe and connect educators to these innovative solutions.  Our organization also aims to provide a platform for educators to network, share practices, and improve their careers.

In this session, we will discuss our methods of bridging the global educational divide and showcase methods by which educators can close the gap between knowing educational practices and doing within different cultural contexts. Our discussion will look at the technical utility of global collaboration and opportunities for partnership between multiple entities across the world in order to highlight pressing educational issues.

We are a small group of researchers and educators who have lived and worked in multiple countries throughout the Middle East, North America, Africa, and Asia.  Currently, we are testing our online resources and would like to invite fellow educators to become global ambassadors for our cause. Our plans in the near-future are to increase our network of collegial educational organizations and to share our bi-weekly news into Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, and French. 

Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session: www.worldclassednews.com