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September - November 2007
iEARN-Azerbaijan
Students in Baku, Azerbaijan and the surrounding areas celebrated International Education Week through multiple activities. Some students participated in online forums discussing the advantages of international education, many FLEX alumni met with high school students to talk about the challenges and privileges of education and also shared their experiences with different educational programs that gave them the opportunity to make connections with their peers from other countries.
Some students were eager to introduce Azeri cuisine to the world and shared the recipes of their favorite dishes online in iEARN’s Food for Thought Recipe Book project. Others wanted to know about different countries; conducting research on the internet they delivered wonderful presentations followed by images of the places. Still others decided to write about Azerbaijan and broaden the knowledge of other online partners about their part of the world.
Students from Lankaran, Kurdamir, Gabala, Kachmaz, and Salyan cities chose to celebrate International Education Week by coming together in online discussion forums to talk about the education system in Azerbaijan. An expert from the Ministry of Education answered questions posed by 6 teachers and 21 students. The participants discussed different aspects of the education system, including: national and international education projects, exams, and other related topics. The expert gave students the opportunity to post their suggestions about what changes they wish to see in the educational system in Azerbaijan. The Regional Library Information Center provided the online forum space for their discussion.
This month, iEARN-Bahrain is pleased to announce that a plan for the expansion of iEARN and the GCE program has been approved by the Secondary Education Department in the Ministry of Education.
Under this plan, eight Schools have been added in this academic year thereby increasing the total number of iEARN schools to eleven.
An orientation workshop was conducted for new participating schools’ administration staff, teachers and students to introduce iEARN and its objectives. iEARN Bahrain coordinator first gave the audience general information about the program, then three iEARN teachers talked about project based learning, their experiences with online courses, their participation in the Annual Conference and Youth Summit and iEARN-Bahrain’s achievements.
Moreover, one of the GCE program alumni who is now in University discussed the benefits she gained from her active participation in the program’s projects. She shared about her experiences in online collaborative projects as well as an exchange to New York, New York in January, 2006.
At the end of the workshop, the attendees navigated the iEARN website and showed a lot of interest in the program.
iEARN-Egypt
iEARN Egypt Alumni: A Successful GATE for Sustainability
With funding support from GCE and ECA since 1999, iEARN-Egypt Alumni have developed The GATE initiative. This is designed to transfer the knowledge, skills, and experiences from the seniors who have graduated to their peers who are still in their secondary school years.  GATE has been influential in the development of the iEARN-Egypt network both locally and globally. Recently, through GATE, the iEARN Alumni and Student Board have contributed effectively through their Project and Outreach Committees.
The Project Committee recently started visiting participating schools. Members from the committee visited two schools in Alexandria—the Middle East Experimental School (MES) and the Zahran Language School for Boys. They found that the schools have active teams working on YouthCaN Projects this year. They also learned about the projects executed in previous years such as: Bibliotheca Alexandria, Coastal Decay and Mariout Lake, Violence in Schools, Fight against Cancer (Leukemia), HIV/AIDS, Natural Disasters (YouthCaN Prevent Global Warming), and Solar Energy. Based on the students’ project experience, the alumni helped them work out a developmental plan. Students decided to:
- Develop an effective action plan
- Finalize team members and assign roles according to members’ competencies
- Report regularly on their progress
Also this month, the Outreach Committee conducted a training workshop at the iEARN office for the fifteen student members. The training was facilitated by May Moustafa, alumna and Head of the Outreach Committee, and Vice-Head, Youmna El Khatam. The training was extremely effective and was conducted in two parallel sessions:
- Effective Reporting: How to write a report and news story;
- Public Relations: logistics, teamwork, and how to organize an event.
iEARN-Indonesia
iEARN-Indonesia has established the iEARN Youth Club and iEARN Community Youth Service as part of their GCE activities. These programs were launched during the National GCE Workshop held in Jakarta on November 23-24 in which 31 teachers, 10 facilitators, and 14 students from 10 provinces participated. The programs, which mainly focus on GCE students and alumni, aim to bring about community service projects run by the youth in iEARN schools throughout Indonesia.
The workshop began with participants reflecting on their past experiences with iEARN. Valuable feedback from teachers and students was gathered on the benefits of participation as well as what problems are commonly faced.
The advantages cited ranged from increased knowledge and understanding of other cultures to learning from firsthand experiences. They found the face-to-face trainings very effective as they could establish networks with new friends of different backgrounds, which then continued online.
Another topic of discussion was students’ participation in community service projects at their schools or in their neighborhoods. The participants discussed their understanding of service learning, their views on youth service, and how they can contribute to the success of future community service projects. Many participants believed that community service should become a part of the curriculum and that teacher involvement would increase activities of this kind.
To this end, students prepared proposals for the use of GCE minigrants. These included: an environmental project aiming to save the protected area in Gunung Halimun, West Java; the planting of mangroves to protect their coastline from tidal waves and tsunamis; visiting an orphanage in South Jakarta; working with the street children; and holding a Community Workshop on Natural Disaster Education. Students will continue to flesh out their projects in the following months with hopes of presenting their projects at the iEARN Annual Conference and Youth Summit in Uzbekistan, July 2008.
iEARN-Iraq
To begin the activities of the GCE Program in Iraq, iEARN-Iraq actively recruited teachers to participate in the Fall session of the online professional development courses which began on October 15 and will end on December 22. After selecting five of the most qualified applicants, they enrolled in courses in Environment, Biology, Math, and English as a Second Language.
Two of the participating teachers are currently working on a science project on the Cholera Disease and conducting research with their students. They are also working on an environmental project, in which 18 students are participating.
The teachers are benefiting greatly from the course as they get new information about project-based learning and they build good relationships with iEARN teachers in the US and elsewhere. They are given the opportunity to exchange ideas and teaching methodologies in a structured environment.
The students are also excited to be involved in the program and are eager to make connections with students from the US as they get involved in the online project forums.
iEARN-Israel
 iEARN-Israel began the GCE program with an introductory workshop in East Jerusalem. Teachers and principals of different schools within Jerusalem attended the workshop, where they were introduced for the first time to iEARN’s projects and benefits, as well as to sample projects.
The workshop included an overview of the new iEARN Collaboration Centre and allowed participants to browse projects and better understand the iEARN website and forums.
As a result of the workshop, all the teachers have started their collaboration in iEARN projects.
One example of a very successful project is the ‘Teddy Bear’ Project, where students introduce a guest teddy bear sent by a class in another country to their city and culture. The teddy bear goes on trips home with students in the class and keeps a diary of its activities and observations.
To date there are 10 new East Jerusalem schools engaged in iEARN projects.
iEARN-Lebanon
Alumni Meeting
iEARN-Lebanon held two alumni workshop meetings this month in which youth set goals, strategies, activities, and plans for operation. Students identified the reasons they were interested in being involved as:
- To build stronger ties between students involved
- To achieve the continuity of iEARN
- To ensure this opportunity is given to new students
- To join efforts and get involved in their community through GCE program values
They identified their goals as:
- Increasing awareness about iEARN
- Establishing communication tools between iEARN-Lebanon alumni students
- Engaging in workshops and specific activities
- Expanding iEARN projects to more schools
- Supporting and developing existing iEARN projects
- Providing students with a way of sustaining their involvement in project activities
- Spreading iEARN values
Further workshops are scheduled for December.
Online Courses
Currently, three teachers are involved in the following iEARN online courses through GCE: Moving Voices, where teachers learn to teach students to create digital media concerning an important topic in their community; Math in our Lives, where teachers work with their students and those of other teachers in their class on identifying the ways in which math is used in daily activities; and Creative Arts class where teachers are bringing their students together online to create and exchange greeting cards.
Summer Camps
In August 2007, iEARN-Lebanon Alumni engaged over 100 youth in YouthCaN Med environmental activities and the United Beyond Our Diversity project. This took place in the Hajj Bahaa summer camp. Through this project, students created tiles of unity that would all be brought together for a collective display. They also held several workshops and informational sessions concerning environmental issues in their respective cities. For example, students in Nabatieh who were engaged in summer camp activities conducted health, art and environment awareness activities in their community.
iEARN-Morocco
 On November 16-17, the MEARN office in Rabat hosted a training workshop for 15 teachers from 10 schools in different regions of the country. The workshop focused on how to integrate project-based learning and community service into the classroom using the iEARN Students Unlimited Project. Ruth Petzold, the RELO for North Africa, attended the event.
The Students Unlimited Project centers around students taking action through community service projects and instills values such as citizenship, leadership, creativity, generosity, and collaboration. The students in Morocco will be collaborating online with students from all over world who are also working on community service projects. They will share their successes and challenges, as well as learn from the experiences and input of the other students as they design and carry out their community service projects.
The students will share their projects in a national conference that will take place in April 2008.
iEARN-Oman
iEARN-Oman has been working with several teachers to develop plans for implementing projects. There are currently three teachers participating in professional development through online courses through GCE program scholarships. In addition, teachers have been running workshops in their schools to increase awareness of iEARN and collaborative project-based learning among their fellow teachers. Some teachers have traveled to schools in the surrounding areas to highlight the benefits of joining iEARN for both the teachers and students.
While connectivity is still an obstacle, the situation proves promising as the government moves to equip more schools with internet capabilities.
iEARN-Pakistan
 GCE students have been engaged in a number of online collaborative social action projects. One such project has been Folktales, whereby students write and exchange their country’s folktales as a means of sharing their culture with their peers from the United States and other countries. There have been more than 40 different folktales exchanged between the students in the months of October and November, 2007.
Students have also been active in the MDG (Millennium Development Goals) With your Voice project. This iEARN project aims to raise awareness about poverty. In October 2007, a large number of GCE students took part in the activities under the theme “Stand Up Against Poverty.” Students from Karachi decided to visit Hatyaar Village on October 7, 2007. Early in the morning, six volunteers loaded a bus with food, clothes, shoes, and other items for kids.
As they approached the village, volunteers unloaded all the goods from the bus and transferred items to people who are living below the poverty line.
Students witnessed that many people in this community did not have basic necessities for survival or access to education. Volunteers not only distributed goods, but engaged with community members and shared stories with one another.
“Stand Up Against Poverty” activities received media attention and were covered by the largest circulating English daily newspaper in Pakistan, The Dawn.
iEARN-Syria
Samah Al-Jundi, iEARN-Syria GCE Coordinator, attended the GCE Program meeting in New York City and the State Departments’ workshop “Speaking the Same Language: Youth Diplomats Online Together” in Washington, DC from November 11-17.
This was her first visit to the United States, and she wholeheartedly participated in the conference, both sharing her own experiences and learning from others about building a successful organization.
Particularly valuable to her was the chance to live in an American home during the conference in Washington, DC. She not only increased her understanding of American culture, but forged friendships that will continue long after she returns to Syria.
iEARN-Uzbekistan
 Through a GCE alumni minigrant, School #40 in Ferghana celebrated International Education Week by hosting a National Dish Fair to raise funds for a Resource Center in the urban boarding school for disabled children.
This event was largely organized by a GCE alumni teacher/student pair: Violetta, who took part in the iEARN 11th annual Youth Summit in Egypt, and her teacher Svetlana Kolotushkina, who received a scholarship for an online course through GCE. They hope the center will be used for learning and sharing information about international education through participation in online collaborative projects. A DVD player, TV, and a number of CDs were donated to allow children with physical disabilities to continue their school education.
“The event, was conducted to help children with disabilities, and to show the community how a small number of people can have a big impact and help children receive a feeling of comfort in their life”, says Violetta to a local newspaper. She was also interviewed by another GCE student Yaroslav, who is a PEARL International Youth Reporter.
To show the impact of the event, iEARN teachers in Ferghana posted quotes of students online at: http://foro.iearn.org/webx/.1e66b16a/15.
GCE Program Country Coordinators Attend Conference in New York City and Washington, DC
On November 11, the Global Connections & Exchange Program (GCE) Coordinators from Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel (Arab Community), Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Syria, and Uzbekistan arrived in New York City for the GCE Program Country Coordinators Meeting.
The Coordinators participated in workshops held at the iEARN-USA office on November 12 & 13. These meetings topics included: the goals and expected outcomes of GCE, financial reporting requirements, narrative reporting best practices, how to create hands-on development materials and effectively use the iEARN Professional Development CD, reviewing the upgraded features in the iEARN Collaboration Centre, and furndraising strategies. The Coordinators also used this time to update each other on the status of GCE in their respective countries. Several experienced Coordinators led a workshop in which they shared their successes and best practices with their colleagues to encourage sustainability of programs supported by GCE.
 Once in Washington, DC, the Coordinators met with Congressman Charles Rangel, who gave an uplifting speech in support of using ICT to foster international collaboration in education. Smaller groups of Coordinators met with Congressman Berman, a foreign policy aide to Senator Boxer, and an educational and foreign policy aide to Senator Feinstein to promote GCE. The Coordinators then attended an information session and tour at the Library of Congress, where they learned of the online educational resources available that could be used in their respective countries.
On the evening of November 13, iEARN-USA hosted an International Education Week event at AED headquarters that was attended by over 150 people, including the representatives of several embassies. Guests were able to learn about each of the countries cultures as well as hear about the work that GCE does to bring American youth together with their peers from other countries to work collaboratively online.
The remaining days were spent in a workshop hosted by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs entitled: “Speaking the Same Language: Youth Diplomats Online Together”. Speakers to address toe group included: Betsi Davis, Chief of the Youth Programs Division; Evan Feigenbaum, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs; representatives from the Regional Bureaus for South and Central Asia, the Near and Middle East, East Asia and the Pacific, and Europe and Eurasia; Maria Snarski, Materials Branch Chief for the English Language Department of the ECA; Steven Culbertson, CEO of Youth Service America; Peter Benda of the State Department presenting on the “Greetings from America” program; David Simpson of the USDA Graduate School; and Kevin Baker, ECA presented on the YES and FLEX exchange programs.
In addition, Country Coordinators from iEARN, IREX, and Relief International made presentations about GCE in their countries. They discussed activities taking place, successes achieved, and plans for the coming year.
The workshop proved extremely useful in creating a sense of pan-GCE Program cohesion and participants pledged to follow up on project plans established during the week.
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