Exchange 2.0 Coalition & a Case Study in Kansas City

In recent years, unprecedented technological advancements and increased connectivity have created an urgent need to reimagine the current educational system and develop avenues to incorporate constructive cross-cultural communication into the curricula.  However, despite the fact that cross-cultural exchange is critical to prepare young people for the increasingly interdependent and technologically advanced world in which they live, international educational exchange experiences are only available to a small percentage of students.  Our session will outline how the Exchange 2.0 Coalition, defined as an alliance of service providers offering technology-enabled, facilitated, curricula-based programs, is leading the campaign to make it the norm for young people to have a profound online cross-cultural experience as part of their education.  The session will explore how one school district—all public schools in the city of Kansas City, Missouri—is adopting exchange 2.0 tools and international project-based learning to reform education.

Nora Byrnes,  Development and Executive Assistant, SOLIYA

Edwin Gragert,  Director Emeritus, iEARN-USA

Technology in Education Amidst the Arab Spring

With the dramatic occurrences of 2011 in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, and elsewhere in the MENA region, educators are re-imagining the implications for education and education technology policies.  Social networking technologies played and are playing a key role in mobilizing people to call for and bring about change.  What does this mean for the role these and other forms of technology will play in education in their changing societies?  Educators from Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen will share their experiences and thoughts about what is happening in their countries and the region.

Edwin Gragert,  Director Emeritus, iEARN-USA, with educators from Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen.

The recording for this session can be seen at http://bit.ly/cosnarspr

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