For many of us, November means colder weather, the beginning of a number of holidays, and a quick march toward the end of the year. Changing clocks, whether late October (Europe) or early November (North America), and the associated change in daylight hours, reminds us that the year marches on.
This month ICT Committee Member Kim House shares with us news of the upcoming ECIS ICT Subject Conference, to be held March 20-22 at the Bavarian International School. We hope that you are able to join us in what is sure to be an exciting and engaging event.
Please remember that your input is valuable to the entire ECIS ICT community. If you are interested in contributing an article, or have ideas, resources, links, or information about upcoming professional development opportunities that you would like to share, please send them to me at apreis@aischool.org a week before the first day of the month and I will be sure to highlight them in the next edition of the blog.
Alan Preis
@apreis
On behalf of the ECIS ICT Committee
ECIS ICT Subject Conference – March 2015
The Bavarian International School (BIS) is pleased to be hosting the 2015 ECIS Technology Conference. The main conference will take place on Saturday, March 21 and Sunday, March 22, 2015. An optional pre-conference will be held on Friday, March 20. BIS is located just outside Munich, Germany in the beautiful state of Bavaria. We are a school of over 1000 students offering the PYP, MYP and DP. Our school is an Apple school with a 1:1 programme from Grade 6-12 and iPads in all Primary School classes. We offer additional access to computing suites and laptop carts throughout the school. The school is well-equipped to host the conference from a technical side, but we are really looking forward to sharing ideas and successes with our many international school colleagues.
The theme for the conference is, ‘Building Engagement’. We wanted to move outside the traditional tech toolbox and look at some bigger threads in education in general. Technology is ubiquitous to education and our effective use of it should build engagement for students and teachers alike. Some of the strands we’ve been discussing are:
- feedback (immediate, meaningful, effective)
- communication / relationships student & staff
- tracking and reporting
- academic challenge
- active learning (empowerment)
- enriching education
- support
- collaborative learning
- learning communities
- authentic learning
We are also hoping to fill an implementation strand focusing on strategies for support, successful device roll-out, systems like JAMF for device management and any other workshops/discussions that could be useful for technicians, network managers, server administrators, and IT managers.
We are in the process of organising keynote speakers for the event as well as putting a call out for any interested presenters/facilitators. We’re anxious to start laying out an exciting, engaging and motivating programme for all attendees. We are working closely with the ECIS Technology Committee for ideas for the pre-conference. If you are interested in presenting a workshop or presentation at the conference, follow the link below and click to fill in the presenter application form. The deadline for presenter applications is December 1, 2014. We aim to have a programme in place before the end of December 2014.
If you are interested in attending the conference, please don’t hesitate to click the link to be informed when registrations open. We’ve started the conference website with some of the basic information for the time being, and are continually adding to the site as we finalise arrangements. Check back often!
ECIS Technology Conference 2015: Bavarian International School
We look forward to seeing you in March 2015!
Kimberly House
Frederic Nevers
Kevin Skidmore
(Conference Organising Team)
ECIS ICT Committee News
ECIS iTunesU
ECIS is looking for a consultant to help promote and raise awareness of its iTunes U page! The role would include crafting a monthly or quarterly newsletter, leading sessions at the ECIS general conference, engaging schools and teachers to help gain new participants, and finding other innovative outlets to highlight the great work found in the ECIS iTunes Courses. For more information and/or to express interest, please contact ICT Committee member and iTunes administrator Seth Hubbert (sethh@frenchamericansf.org).
Professional Development
ECIS November Conference
The ECIS November Conference returns to Nice, France on November 19-22, 2014 and will include a variety of ICT-related sessions, as well as the usual assortment of sessions relevant to all areas of international education. Full information is available on the ECIS website at http://www.ecis.org/page.cfm?p=300.
Calling all innovators! ECIS would like to give YOU the opportunity to take the stage during the Opening Plenary at the Annual Conference. We would like to give you a voice and a chance to share your thoughts on innovation or an innovative programme at your school. Please send us your video (no more than 5 min long) on the topic that you would like to present in front of an audience of over 1000 of fellow international educators and school leaders. The deadline for video submission is November 7, and more information is available on the ECIS website at http://www.ecis.org/page.cfm?p=846.
Mediterranean Center for Innovation in Education
The Mediterranean Center for Innovation in Education has open registrations for a variety of institutes and workshops in 2014 and the early part of 2015:
- The iPad Summit – We thank so many of you that attended, participated in and contributed to our recent iPad Summit in Marbella, Spain. Photos of the event are available online, as well as resources from some of the various sessions. Plans are already underfoot for the next MedCIE iPad Summit, to be held in Barcelona from October 23-24, 2015. We are in the process of forming a small advisory team to help lead the planning of this event, as well as some other smaller, iPad-related events that will happen in the region throughout the year. If you are interested in joining MedCIE’s iPad Steering Committee, please reach out to Chad Fairey at cfairey@medcie.org.
- Google Summits – Google Summits are being planned in a variety of locations across the Mediterranean Region. Early bird registration is now open for 250 euros at both the Tunis Summit (February 13-14, 2015) and the Genoa Summit (April 25-26, 2015) — we are also accepting presentation proposals for both events, so submit your ideas today!
- Google Educator Certification Workshops – Join us for one of our Google Educator Certification Workshops to master the skills, concepts and process of becoming a certified Google Educator and, if desired, a fully-fledged Google Education Trainer. Workshops are currently scheduled in Seville, Spain, December 1-3; Casablanca, Morocco, January 23-25; Barcelona, Spain, February 23-25. For additional information about these workshops, visit http://www.medcie.org/google.
- Spring Professional Learning Institutes — Early-Bird Registration for our Spring Institutes, to be held in Dubrovnik, Croatia from March 10-11, 2015, are now open. Six different two-day institutes will be offered on topics related to blended learning, social media, global citizenship, creativity, inclusivity, multi-lingualism and promotion of teacher collaboration. Additional information available at http://www.medcie.org/dubrovnik.
Flat Connections Updates
The October Newsletter is online – http://eepurl.com/6Kx7n – and shares live opportunities, global project updates and professional development opportunities for 2015. Don’t forget to spread the word about the Flat Connections Live! event in Canada, late April 2015. Facilitators include Andrew Churches, Darren Kuropatwa and Rushton Hurley.
Learn more about ‘flat learning’ via the Flat Connections blog – http://www.flatconnections.com/flat-blog. Contact Julie Lindsay for customised approached to global learning. julie@flatconnections.com
Innovate 2015
Graded School (São Paulo, Brazil) is hosting the Innovate 2015 Conference on March 4-7, 2015. The Innovate 2015 conference marks Graded School’s commitment to re-imagine the school that best serves and inspires students for tomorrow. Join innovators from across the globe to engage in dialogue designed to ignite new ideas and build the foundation for change our students deserve. For more information, visit the Innovate 2015 website at https://www.graded.br/page.cfm?p=7085.