Year of the Snake

To all our readers and ECIS ICT community we extend our best wishes for the new year! (year of the snake)

As with any new year, come many changes, new opportunities, conversations and challenges. There is no doubt the rate of change, and how information technology and the digital devices associated continue to have an impact on our lives at multiple levels . The consumerization of digital devices, has made them in many ways seamless to our lives, and each of us at different levels have become more and more dependent on them, supporting us with a variety of functions and tasks . The Horizon Report which comes out every year, has an excellent section  on K-12 adoption of technologies,  exploring what technologies will come into play in the next 1, 3, and 5 years. This is a good report to help our own conversations about next steps in our respective schools.

The NMC Horizon Report > 2012 K-12 Edition is a collaborative research effort between the NMC, the Consortium of School Networking (CoSN), and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). This edition of the NMC Horizon Report series discusses the top emerging technologies, trends, and challenges that the advisory board believes will have a major impact on teaching, learning, and creative inquiry in pre-college education over the next five years.

Daphne Koller: What we’re learning from online education

The growing development of on-line education, both at the K-12 level and Universities brings about many issues that challenge the traditional structures of education that we currently work in. Below are a series of articles and links of interest to consider for this conversation.

On-line courses need human element to educate
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/15/opinion/rushkoff-moocs/index.html

Public Universities to Offer Free On-line Classes for Credit
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/education/public-universities-to-offer-free-online-classes-for-credit.html?_r=1&

Students anywhere are being offered free instruction on-line. What will that do to the trillion-dollar education business?
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/506351/the-most-important-education-technology-in-200-years/

6 Tips for the Successful On-line Teacher
http://thejournal.com/Articles/2012/06/18/6-must-have-skills-for-online-teachers.aspx?Page=2

Five Things Students Want Their Teachers to Know about Online Learning
http://www.techlearning.com/Default.aspx?tabid=67&EntryId=3574

Blended-Learning Model Definitions
http://www.innosightinstitute.org/media-room/publications/blended-learning/blended-learning-model-definitions/

Professional Development

DO NOT MISS!!  ACS Cobham  ECIS Tech Conference 14 to 16 March, 2013

Hosted at ACS International Schools the ECIS Tech Conference at Cobham campus, west of London, from 14 to 16 March, 2013.
‘Learning to love the iGeneration – Is education ready to embrace the irresistible IT vision of tomorrow’s classroom.’

• Conference website and information
  http://www.ecis.org/page.cfm?p=570
• Keynote Speakers
  http://www.acs-schools.com/about-acs-international-schools/ecis-tech-conference-2013/keynote-speakers.aspx
• Registration
  http://www.acs-schools.com/about-acs-international-schools/ecis-tech-conference-2013/registration.aspx
• Program
  http://www.acs-schools.com/about-acs-international-schools/ecis-tech-conference-2013/conference-programme.aspx

Prague Geo Summit at the International School of Prague
The Prague Google Geo Summit

June 1 and 2 2013 at the International School of Prague Czech Republic
The event is an intensive, two-day event where participants get hands-on experience using Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google SketchUp, including a focus on features like Ocean, Mars, Moon and Sky in Google Earth. Sessions are lead by  Google Earth Team staff and Google Certified Teachers and trainers.
For full details and registration go to : http://www.praguegeosummit.org/home