MET:IEARN
This page is authored by Crystal Lee Clark (2011)
What is iEARN?
iEARN is an acronym for “International Educational Resource Network”.
iEARN s a not for profit living educational network that includes approximately 30,000 schools across the globe. Currently about 130 countries participate in this online collaborative network initiative.Through iEARN, teachers and learners are encouraged to use the Internet and new technologies to work together locally and globally to generate understanding and positive change. iEARN empowers youth to learn with the world rather then about the world [1].
iEARN is also an apple app that can be downloaded to an iPhone, iPod, iPad, or other apple products. It is an application that tracks earnings in relation to the current market. This wikis focus is on iEARN in relation to the “International Education and Resource Network”.
Background
iEARN was founded in 1988 by Peter Copen. It began as an educational project between the United States and Russia. Two years after this curriculum based telecommunication network project was initiated, nine more countries became linked to the project which now boasts over 2,000,000 actively engaged participants including youth and educational facilitators.
“The Heart of the Matter”
The question "How will this project improve the quality of life on the planet?" is at the heart of all iEARN initiatives. (http://media.iearn.org/)
Connecting Curriculum
iEARN guides facilitators in the integration of global projects and technology into the classroom while keeping local/national educational standards in mind. Local educational standards for all subjects can be linked to iEARN projects that already exist or are waiting to be conceived.
iEARN engages in multiliteracy such as visual literacy, and new literacies (literacy 2.0) which enhances global connectivity and understandings within the context of 21st century learners.
Pedagogy
iEARN rests under the umbrella of Educational Sustainable Development (ESD) which is a new approach to learning with new content that promotes learning and values related to local and global sustainable practices. The pedagogy or ecopedagoy of iEARN applies to formal and informal education. Educators become facilitators of learning for change and sustainability[2].
iEARN educational initiatives reflect a paradigm shift in education and educational values. Rather then stifling creativity iEARN seeks alternatives to learning that enhance creativity, understandings, and collaboration. According to Ken Robinson “collaboration is the stuff of growth” (http://permaculture-media-download.blogspot.com/2010/10/ken-robinson-changing-education.html) view his lecture at "Changing Education Paradigms". which adds insight and valadation for the need to shift educational paradigms which iEARN seems to embrace.
IEARN models constructivist methods of educating which included collaboration, project based learning, experiential learning, and facilitator rather than teacher.
Projects and Learning Circles
View a student video project titiled Energy of Humanity.
iEARN projects address a variety of major topics and issues that affect the world. Participants are challenged to analyze and consider issues like climate change, globalization, world poverty, child soldiers, sustainability, causes of conflict, racial and religious diversity from several perspectives [3] To view a list of projects done to date go to https://media.iearn.org/projects.
Within iEARN Learning Circles are also designeed, created and facilitated to offer cross-classroom collaboration using telecommunications.
Youth Summit and Conferences
View Canadas 2010 iEARN youth summit closing video.
Each year a face-to-face conference occurs in a different country. These conferences welcome youth, educators, and others interested from around the world. It is an opportunity for those who attend to share, partner, communicate, share examples of success, generate inter cultural relations dialogue, develop new ideas, to seek sustainable methods and continued growth and expansion of iEARN.
The following is a list of countries that have hosted conferences: Canada (2010), Morocco (2009), Egypt (2007), Argentina (1994), the Netherlands (2006), Senegal (2005), Slovakia (2004), Japan(2003), Russia (2002), China (2000), South Africa (2001), Puerto Rico (1999), USA (1998), Spain (1997), Hungary(1996), and Australia (1995).
Global Connectivity
Click this link to check out the 2011 iEARN conference Ad.
The following is a list of countries that have iEARN coordinators which can be contacted personally via http://www.iearn.org/countries/country-coordinators:
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzogovina, Botswana, Brasil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Orillas, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Senega, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea , Spain (Pangea), Sri Lanka, Sudan ,Suriname ,Sweden, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE, Uganda, UK, Ukraine, Uruguay, USA, Uzbekistan ,Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
Language Diversity
On the website http://media.iearn.org/ a person can choose to view the site with a choice of 33 languages. All content, pictures, and formatting remain the same but the text is translated into the following languages:
English, Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Hebrew, Hindi, Malay, Maltese, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Welsh, and Yiddish.
Supporters and Partners
Throughout North America and the world the countries involved in iEARN share many supporters and partners including but not limited to the following: UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization , United States iEARN partners,] Adobe Systems, Academy for Educational Development, Amideast, EDC, Elluminate, Global Teenager Project, Intel Teach, Microsoft Partners in Learning, Open Society Institute, and other local and international governing bodies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEARN#Supporters_and_Partners)
See Also
http://www.iearn.org
http://www.iearn-canada.org/index.htm
http://media.iearn.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCO
References
Coughlin Ed, Kajder Sara, Metiri Group, and Virginia Tech (2009). The impact of online collaborative learning on educators and classroom practices. Retrieved from http://www.cisco.com/web/about/citizenship/socio-economic/docs/Metiri_Teacher_Collaboration_Research.pdf
Hesselink, Frits (December, 5, 2007). The art of positive change. Retrieved from http:/Coughlin/cepatoolkit.blogspot.com/2007/12/esd-new-pedagogy.html
iEARN. (n.d.). Retrieved from iEARN website, http://www.iearn.org.
iEARN Pakistan. (n.d) Retrieved from http://www.iearnpk.org/PD/curriculum.htm
iEEARN United Kingdom. (n.d) Retrieved from http://www.iearnuk.com/gd.htm
iEARN United States. (n.d) Retrieved from http://www.us.iearn.org/professional_development/curriculum/index.php
New London Group (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66, 60 -92. Available from: http://wwwstatic.kern.org/filer/blogWrite44ManilaWebsite/paul/articles/A_Pedagogy_of_Multiliteracies_Designing_Social_Futures.htm
Permaculture-mediablog (2010). Retrieved from http://permaculture-media-download.blogspot.com/2010/10/ken-robinson-changing-education.html
Robinson, Ken, A. (2010). RSA animate. Changing educational paradigms [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=player_embedded