Third Annual Global Education Conference Streaming Live Online in partnership with Eighteenth Annual iEARN International Conference

and Youth Summit November 12 - 16, 2012

Weeklong, worldwide virtual event featuring sessions and keynote addresses focused on collaborative initiatives for students, teachers, and organizations. June 13, 2012 The eighteenth annual iEARN International Conference and Youth Summit will be held Monday, November 12 through Friday, November 16, 2012. It will be held in conjunction with the third annual Global Education Conference, creating an historic free weeklong online event bringing together educators and innovators from around the world. The entire conference will be held online using the Blackboard Collaborate platform (formerly known as Elluminate/Wimba). The collaboration between the iEARN conference and the Global Education Conference will provide an inclusive and worldwide community initiative involving students, educators, and organizations at all levels. It is designed to significantly increase opportunities for building education-related connections around the globe while supporting cultural awareness and recognition of diversity. The Global Education Conference seeks to present ideas, examples, and collaborative projects related to connecting educators, classrooms and organizations with a strong emphasis on promoting global awareness, fostering global competency, and inspiring action towards solving realworld problems. Through this event, attendees will challenge themselves and others to become more active citizens of the world. Participants are encouraged to learn, question, create, and engage in meaningful, authentic opportunities within a global context! Last years Global Education Conference featured 340 general sessions and 18 keynote addresses from all over the world with over 10,000 participant logins. Sessions were held in multiple time zones and multiple languages over the five days, and are currently archived as a standing educational resource at http://globaleducation.ning.com/page/2011-conference. 2010 conference sessions are also available here: http://globaledcon.weebly.com/. Starting in 1994, the annual iEARN Conference has been traditionally a physical event, held in a different country every year. Through this innovative partnership, participation in the combined

conference will potentially enable tens of thousands of educators and youth to engage in interaction and sharing on an unprecedented level. The Call for Proposals for the 2012 event is now open through October 12. Presenters can submit proposals for general sessions focused on one or more of the following tracks: Teacher Track; Student Track; Curricular Track; and Policy and Leadership Track. Proposals should focus on ideas, projects, and initiatives that promote global understanding and collaboration. While the final deadline for submissions is October 15, 2012, presenters will be notified of acceptance on a rolling basis starting June 30, 2012. Keynote presentations are by invitation only; suggestions can be submitted online or sent to Lucy Gray at lucy@lucygrayconsulting.com also to 2012iearnconference@iearn.org. Session proposals are to be non-commercial. Interest in commercial sponsorship or presentations should be directed to Steve Hargadon at steve@hargadon.com. About iEARN Since launching as a pilot project between New York State and Moscow in 1988, iEARN (International Education and Resource Network) has grown to a global network of over 50,000 educators and 2 million students across 130 countries working collaboratively on projects that enhance learning and make a difference in the world. For more about iEARN, see http://www.iearn.org. 2012 will be the first time that iEARN is hosting its Annual Conference and Youth Summit virtually. Next year iEARN's 19th Annual Conference and Youth Summit will be hosted in July 2013 by iEARN-Qatar in Doha. Each iEARN Annual Conference is a unique opportunity for educators, students, administrators, Ministry officials, non-profit, and corporate partners, to meet and discuss how they are using technology to build global understanding and enhance teaching and learning. All are welcome to attend! Stay tuned to http://www.iearn.org for additional info about the 2012 iEARN (virtual) Conference and Youth Summit.

See What People Have Said About GlobalEdCon: From 2010: I think this is the future of professional development! I learned a lot and am really enthusiastic about trying some new things with my class after this conference. It was amazing to be able to conference live with a worldwide community of teachers. Thank you for this. It was a big deal to me, I learned a lot and my students and I had the opportunity to share our work with a bigger community. Priceless. Thank you. It was such a powerful experience - I'll be glad to help next year if you've got a job for me! I am convinced that Global connections are the future. This was a great leap forward. I want to personally thank you for the effort and time your team put in on the Global Conference. I was able to attend sessions 2 days, thanks to my Chair. I am amazed at the Global connectivity and the willingness for people to get involved. I work at a college where I been pulling teeth for 5 years to get people involved in what I would call...meaningful teaching and learning. I just witnessed what I truly believe in...Thank you. I cannot say thank you enough for all the fabulous content and learning opportunities you have put together through this conference. I tapped only a small percent due to my other responsibilities but I know this is a GOLD MINE. I have spent my morning listening again to Charles Fadel's presentation and shared the link with our Board and our leadership team. The other presentations add up to an amazing 21st Century learning, global perspective on where education needs to be. I wish I had the time to absorb each and every bit of knowledge and hone my own skills to align with the needs of our students. I have truly enjoyed this experience. I've been able to get the benefits of a conferencecollaboration, brainstorming, samples of work amidst the regular workday. And there is something to be said about sitting with a cup of tea from your own kitchen while listening to new ideas.

From 2011: I like to feel connected to so many people from all over the world and sharing common objectives! The Global Education Collaborative and its mission are to be highly commended. The Global Education Conference is on the cutting edge of professional development for educators to connect globally. State and national webinars are great, but where else would we find so many world-class presenters all in one place for one week? Now that I have had my first taste of it, I can confidently and eagerly invite all my colleagues to participate in next year's GEC! Congratulations, Lucy, Steve, your great team, and everyone in our big global family! Together we have created a global source of inspiration and support for everyone who cares about the future of our planet, and helped everyone to "outspread our wings" for outspreading this inspiration around the globe. I believe this conference is the new beginning, which will grow into a powerful leverage for making a huge difference in our world. This event is the historical landmark of the new century! New era of the history of our civilization begins here! I thought it was fantastic. It was a very positive experience for everyone who participated and put their energy into the conference. I love the idea of global education being introduced early in education, so that they can begin their learning with an appreciation and understanding of other cultures. This conference is an amazing event - I can't thank you enough for your outstanding work in planning and presenting this invaluable experience. I thoroughly enjoyed each and every session I was able to attend. I was unable to participate the first few days as I was attending one of my state tech conferences, but I plan to spend a great deal of time going through the many I had to miss! Thank you for providing the most wonderful week of learning and global caring. It was so much fun to see lots of people in person. This is as authentic as it gets. I'm anxious to continue this journey. A lot of enthusiasm, a lot of support and connected content. Keep sharing the stories and the world will be educated. Living in pursuit of being able to share in all ways with all people is a vision worth living. This conference keeps leading me back again and again to the idea that we've got to empower young people to take back their education. This is the first online conference I've attended and I LOVED it. I hope to participate again and will encourage our teachers to do the same.

A Sampling of Sessions
Recordings will open in Blackboard Collaborate. You may need to download a file to play these recordings. Click here for help and to see if your computer is ready to play a Blackboard Collaborate recording. For all 2010 and 2011 recordings, visit the 2010 and 2011 archives.

From the 2010 conference: Homa Tavangar Growing Up Global Tony Jackson Asia Societys Partnership for Global Learning Michael Furdyck Taking It Global Julie Lindsay Flat Classroom Summit Brian Mannix Pay It Forward Across the Globe Anne Mirtschin Global Education is not an Option!

From the 2011 conference: Pam Allyn LitWorld Howard Gardner Harvard University Tara Abrahams 10x10: Educate Girls, Educate the World Cable Green Creative Commons Sasha Martin Hungry for Peace Betsy Corcoran, Tony Wan EdSurge Gayle Cole, Sherry Bard Shoah Foundation Institute

Important Dates May 1, 2012 Call for Partners, Sponsors, and Advisory Board Begins May 15, 2012 for Proposals Begins June 30, 2012 Rolling Acceptances Start September - October, 2012 Training Sessions Begin October 20, 2012 Proposal Deadline November 12 -16, 2012 Conference