Dear Colleagues,
Hoping you all had a chance for some downtime during the winter break and catch up on some me time. We have a big month ahead with the ECIS IT Conference which kicks off in three weeks. Gareth and his team at Frankfurt International School have set up an outstanding line up of keynote speakers and workshop presenters from the ECIS ICT Community. Hats off to Gareth. and his team who have been extremely busy juggling this huge task on top of their regular day to day work.
Video feature of the month.
An interview with Stephen Fry to discuss the web, the changes it has brought to the world, its benefits and its possible dangers. This is from a BBC Two series http://www.bbc.co.uk/virtualrevolution/
The ICT Committee and ECIS Fall Conference Update.
We currently are working with ECIS and the Fall Lisbon Portugal Conference to host a full day Pre-Conference with a specialty IT Strand. As shared at the last Open Business Meeting in Nice. The goal is to provide a mix of panel discussions, hands on workshops, seminars, and in tandem have a keynote/mentor to work with participants through out the day. This would replace the regular ECIS IT Conference, and we would take advantage of the Fall Conference logistical support to provide a dedicated day open to all with a focus on ICT topics, integration and management issues specific to International Schools. This would allow participants to take advantage of this Pre-Conference strand and then attend the main conference. We the ICT Committee members are at this time working and collaborating on the logistics of this project with ECIS. Next month we will have more details and specifics on how you might get involved and details of the keynote, workshop offerings. This ICT Pre-Conference day would be hosted/facilitated by the ICT Committee members plus a keynote and special guests. We are excited about this new format. IMPORTANT note: We will still want to continue to provide a robust selection of ICT workshops for the main conference
Call for workshops and ideas for the ECIS Fall Conference.
If you would like to submit ICT workshop ideas and topics for the main ECIS Fall Conference in Nov. 18-20, 2011 in Lisbon, please click on this link which is a wiki on iskoodle: http://moodle.ecis.org/mod/wiki/view.php?id=1306 and use the following wiki for you and our committee to generate a selection of ICT workshop proposals which then we can submit as an ICT Committee to ECIS. The deadline for us to manage these will be Monday March 21, 2011. Your support, and workshop ideas are greatly appreciated.
Special ICT Curriculum Work Group on iskoodle
From Alan (ICT Committee Member) Atlanta International School and John Simon (ES IT Specialist) International School of Prague
We have created a new forum to allow ECIS schools to collaborate on ICT curriculum, standards, and benchmarks. In this forum, we can share ideas on how to develop a comprehensive and school-wide ICT curriculum that aligns with external standards and frameworks, such as ISTE NETS Standards and the IB PYP/MYP/DP. It is our hope that this forum can help to facilitate collaboration and sharing of best practices among ECIS schools.
A first step toward this endeavor is to know your thoughts about ICT best practice: How can we use ICT to enhance student learning, both as a standalone subject and in support of other subject areas? How can ICT assist learners with the understanding of big ideas? How does ICT support inquiry? What are the best strategies to interact ICT across other subjects? How can ICT and the teaching of 21st Century Skills help prepare students for a changing world? We would like to hear your perspectives in on these questions in the forum.
http://moodle.ecis.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=1300
Thank you Alan and John Simon
Bytes for the Month
- Academic Earth video lectures from universities and offers a “Playlists” feature based around themes such as “Laws of Nature,” “Wars Throughout History,” or “You Are What You Eat.
- Teachers’ Domain offers free digital media from public TV broadcasters for educational use
- The Library of Congress’ “For Teachers” page highlights ready-to-use classroom materials and primary sources
- TeAchnology Features 42,000-plus lesson plans, 9,000 free printable worksheets, rubrics, teaching tips, web quests, and other free teacher resources.
- The National Science Digital Library Nation’s online library for education and research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
iTunes U and ECIS: looking for submissions
Dear International Colleagues,
- In conclusion, here is a related article worth a read.
- Rational and Composite Function – iPod – iPhone (example from Munich International School Math Department)
Best regards, Leah Treesh
ltreesh@mis-munich.de
IT Integration
Senior School
Munich International School
The American School of Bombay
Presents ASB Un-Plugged 2012 Transforming Teaching and Learning
February 22, 23, 24, and 25, 2012ASB Un-Plugged 2012 is being organized in collaboration with The Laptop Institute, Anytime Anywhere Learning Foundation (AALF), and Near East/South Asia Center of Overseas Schools (NESA).
Your words, your input…..
Please remember your links, your thoughts, your resources are important to this blog if you have something you wish to have featured drop into our wiki area on iSkoodle and add it there, I will make sure it is featured in our April edition.
John @ ISPrague