Awards

2012

2011

iEARN recognized as a Best Website for Teaching and Learning 2011 by the American Association of School Librarians. The American Association of School Librarians is a division of the American Library Association (ALA) that promotes the improvement and extension of library services in elementary and secondary schools as a means of strengthening the total education program. AASL's mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change and develop leaders in the school library field.  The Best Websites for Teaching and Learning Award honors websites, tools and resources of exceptional value to inquiry-based teaching and learning as embodied in the AASL's Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. The recognized websites foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover.

2009

Independence Charter School, an iEARN member school in Philadelphia, wins 2009 Goldman Sachs Foundation's elementary school/middle school prize for Excellence in International Education.

2008

iEARN-USA Executive Director featured in Edutopia's Daring Dozen 2008.

2007

Council of Foundations, 2007 Critical Impact Award: for Innovative and Bold Solutions to Enhance the Common Good Presented to The Copen Family Fund. The Council on Foundations writes, "The Copen Family Fund is recognized for its efforts to encourage world peace through its International Education and Resource Network (iEARN) project. Through iEARN, students and teachers in K-12 schools are connected through the Internet so they can collaborate on projects that make a meaningful difference in the health and welfare of people and the planet across national, religious, political and social borders."

2006

iEARN Educators Receive 3 of 8 21st Century Global Educators Awards: When Global SchoolNet announced its 2006 Online Shared Learning Champions, three of the eight Champions were iEARN participants: Sharon Peters (Montreal, Canada), Judy Huynh (Michigan, USA) and Jove Jankulovski (Bitola, Macedonia).

2005

Washington Association of Foreign Language Teachers (WAFLT): has selected iEARN-USA as the recipient of the Creative Innovation Certificate! This certificate is presented to a person or persons who have developed and used innovative methods of teaching in the world language classroom. This could include creative means for teaching second language conversation, inventive ideas for instructing students in culture and multi-cultural awareness, or new and effective methods for developing second language reading and writing skills. Click here for more about WAFLT.

World Affairs Council of Washington, DC Awards iEARN Teacher: Kerry Sylvia, involved in the BRIDGE Program, (an iEARN project made possible through funding from the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Global Connections Exchange Program), was acknowledged by the World Affairs Council as the International Teacher of the Year. Ms. Sylvia became involved in online collaborative projects when she was selected to participate in the first BRIDGE Regional Conference in Alexandria, Egypt. When she returned home, Ms. Sylvia coordinated a three-week exchange program for her students at Cardozo Senior High School and students from Lahore, Pakistan. In November 2004, Ms. Sylvia hosted a reception for DC teachers and Country Coordinators from thirteen BRIDGE countries. 

2004

Global Junior Challenge Awards: awards iEARN teachers and students in Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Italy, Canada and Finland.  Teachers in Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia, shared first prize in the category of youth up to 18 years of age for, "Youth Have a Say Against Terrorism."  "We the Children" of Canada won an award in the category of youth up to 15 years, and "ENO - Environment Online" in Finland was awarded as a finalist in the up to 18 years of age category in the Global Junior Challenge Award.

2004 Tech Museum Laureate:  iEARN-USA is awarded in the Education category of the Tech Museum Awards. Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, points out "the true winners of these Awards are the many people who stand to benefit from the innovations the Awards are intended to recognize." An advertisement was placed in Forbes magazine to highlight this award and accomplishment.

Peter Copen Honored: On October 10, 2004, Peter Copen, President of The Copen Family Fund and founder of iEARN was awarded the honor of being a finalist (five out of fifteen nominees) in the field of innovative educational applications of technology by The World Technology Network. The WTN awards honor the person in their field doing the work of the greatest likely long-term significance. Peter noted "This is really an award shared by all of the iEARN network. Many people have good innovative ideas, but it is the network of good people who work with tireless commitment around the globe to make these ideas real who are the ones deserving of the awards."

2003

GOLDMAN SACHS FOUNDATION PRIZE FOR EXCELLENCE IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION:  iEARN-USA announced as co-recipient (with Sesame Workshop's Global Grover) in the field of media and technology.  Award was established along with the Asia Society to identify effective and replicable models of international education that address concerns about the economic, social, and diplomatic costs of educational isolationism.
 
CONGRATULATIONS to iEARN Macedonia, recognized in the "New to the Net" category of the Cable and Wireless Childnet Awards. 

2002

iEARN MACEDONIA A FINALIST IN THE STOCKHOLM CHALLENGE: Learn more about their project, "Building Bridges over Borders by using ICT and Project Based Learning.  

TEACHERS RECOGNIZED IN 2002 GSN ONLINE SHARED LEARNING AWARD:  Teachers who are working with iEARN received a number of honors. Karen Eini, Israel, received the highest award for her Friends and Flags Project. Sylvia Li, Taiwan (and former iEARN-Taiwan Coordinator) and Barry Kramer, USA, were among the 10 finalists. Visit GNS Awards.

SOLAR COOKING PROJECT WINS EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING" AWARD FROM CURRICULUM ASSOCIATES
 
iEARN TEACHER IN RUSSIA, NINA KOPTYUG, WINS GIGGLEPOTZ INTERNET EDUCATOR OF THE MONTH AWARD: February, 2002.

2001

STOCKHOLM CHALLENGE AWARDS:  Finalists included three iEARN projects - Colouring our Cultures, Labs Alive (Jo Tate, Australia), and Stop Bullying (Bill Belsey, Canada). Lab's Alive won a Stockholm Challenge Award, with panelists commenting:

"The world of the future will be built by the children of today. So we have the duty to enrich our children with the awareness of the environment and the tools to protect and nurture it. Lab's Alive is certainly at the frontier of efforts to fulfill this noble goal. It has motivated a classroom in Australia to reached across oceans to South America and Africa to involve students in hands-on scientific and environmental activities that make a difference in their communities. Whether the school projects involve protection of endangered species or pest and pollution control, alternative power sources or recycling efforts, the children learn critical thinking, collaboration, and experimentation. The emphasis on sharing of ideas, publication of results, and the search for environmental solutions is a most valuable gift the project is giving to the students across all communities."

iEARN PROJECTS RECOGNIZED AT CABLE AND WIRELESS INTERNATIONAL CHILDNET AWARDS: The ChildNet awards go to projects that make the Internet a better place for children. iEARN CANADA was recognized for The Bullying Project, and The Smile Train - USA was recognized for the Cleft Buddy Project both in the charity/not for profit section, Bela 3rd Grammar School was recognized in the school category, and Maria Monica Dumitru-Nistor in the individual category.

2000

iEARN RECEIVES AWARD GLOBAL YOUTH CHALLENGE: iEARN submitted to the Global Junior Challenge in Rome, Italy.  The judges wrote, "This project effectively fosters the concept that individuals can make a difference, regardless of age or location. Schools in 88 countries participate in 29 languages. It is a wonderful example of how technology can be used to make a positive impact on the lives of students."

iEARN TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS ARE FINALISTS IN WIRELESS CHILDNET 2000 AWARDS: In the "schools" section, Petru Dimitru and Duiliu Zamfirescu School in Romania are finalists for the Children's Folk Games Project, and Jo Tate in Australia received a special "individual" award for her work in the school and with iEARN. In addition, Judy Barr's Kindred Project at St. Pauls Anglican School in Australia is a "Commended Project."

HIGHLIGHTS BY PBS TELEVISION NETWORK: The classroom work of iEARN teacher Kristi Rennenbohm Franz was highlighted by the PBS Television network as an example of how a rural community can use the iEARN global network to bridge the digital divide and enhance teaching and learning.

1999

FIRST PEOPLES PROJECT WINS GLOBAL BANGEMANN CHALLENGE AWARD IN EDUCATION: The King of Sweden handed out the Challenge trophies in all categories in the Nobel Hall in Stockholm on June 9th, 1999. The participating projects demonstrate how technology can be applied in the best interest of people and society all over the world. For more information on the Challenge, click here.

CABLE AND WIRELESS CHILDNET: C&W gave special awards to the Bairnsdale Secondary College for its work in developing the Fight Against Child Labour and Exploitation and the First Peoples projects. Childnet writes, "Both of these initiatives are supported by the iEARN organization and have empowered young people to work collaboratively with students in other parts of the world. The students' writing and artwork is outstanding and The First Peoples' project is in two languages."

THE HISTORY CHANNEL AWARD FOR "RECOMMENDED SITE": The History Channel writes, "We salute your efforts to provide high-quality, in-depth historical content, and we wish you continued success in the future." The History Channel has a link to iEARN on its WWW page.

1998

iEARN AWARDED THE EDNET HERO AWARD: The EdNET HERO awards are given to the organizations having made the most significant positive impact on education through educational technology and telecommunications. The award was announced at the annual EdNET '98 Awards banquet on Thursday, September 24 at the Sheraton Centre Toronto in Toronto, Canada.

GLOBAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE AWARDS iEARN WWW SITE: iEARN was entered in the Children Category, congratulations to all around the iEARN global network who have helped us win this award by creating local WWW sites to which we are linked!

1995

ISTE SIGTEL AWARD: iEARN Founder, Peter Copen, was awarded the 1995 SIGTel Educational Telecomputing Outstanding Achievement Award for "pioneering contributions and extraordinary service in connecting the educational community and promoting lifelong learning across the planet."