Weekly Updates Archive

December 15th 2014


December 9th 2014

  • OZeLive 2015. We're excited to share that our friends in Australia are gearing up for the second annual OZeLive Conference, scheduled for February 27th - March 1st. The conference will be free to attend, and the Call for Submissions is scheduled to open on December 12th. Be sure to join the Australian Educators network to be kept informed of conference news and volunteer opportunities as we get closer to the event.
  • We Need Your Vote!. Thanks to long time Global Education Conference member, Louise Morgan, we've been nominated for an Eddie! The Edublog Awards are determined by the public, and we would appreciate any votes from the GEC community at large. You need to join List.ly to vote, and we think that you'll also enjoy learning about many amazing resources and blogs that are part of this annual award. You have until December 15th to vote and details on this process are available here.
  • Games for Change Festival - Still Time to Submit!. Our friends at Games for Change shared this presentation opportunity with the members of our networks. The call for submissions closes Decemeber 15th, so be sure to check out the submission guidelines and get yours in soon! Through case studies, panels, presentations, workshops and demos, we look to highlight models for collaboration on game development and distribution, bridging the gap between compelling entertainment and issue-driven games. Our goal is to invite innovative, fresh concepts, approaches or models for advancing the field. Presentations previously made at the Games for Change Festival or similar forums are unlikely for serious consideration. The same goes for self-promotional presentations that are not focused on transparent sharing of lessons learned, failures, and meaningful takeaways for the audience. Accepted speakers will receive complimentary passes to the Games for Change Festival. There is no fee for submissions. More information at http://www.gamesforchange.org/festival/.

December 2nd 2014

  • 2015 Student Technology Conference: Call for Proposals Now Open. We are gearing up for the 2015 Student Technology Conference, an inaugural student-directed global conversation about technology in education. This open, online event will be held on Saturday, January 31st, 2015, and will feature keynote speakers and crowdsourced presentations by students. The 2015 Student Technology Conference, "connecting the world one student at a time," is committed to fostering a better understanding of how students use technology in education and to engage students, teachers and administrators in a conversation about technology, assisting teachers and administrators in understanding how students use technology both in and out of the classroom, and strengthening the relationship between students, teachers and administrators about technology in the curriculum. The Call for Proposals is now open, and they are accepting presentations immediately. The strands include Making, Design and Innovation, Student Technology Clubs, Technology in Schools – Projects and Collaborations, Educational Technology Tools, Students and Social Media, and Entrepreneurship. See a detailed description of the conference strands here. We're thrilled to be working with a great team of student organizers, and look forward to hosting this student-directed conference in January. Learn more at http://studenttechnologyconference.com/.
  • Celebrating the 5th GlobalEdCon. The fifth annual Global Education Conference was a huge success and we hope you had a chance to participate! We express our thanks to all who presented, volunteered, and attended this year. Thank you for sharing your global education stories and visions with us. We want to give a special thanks to conference co-chair, Lucy Gray, and the dedicated super-volunteers Nikki Ugalde, Julie Lindsay, Anne Mirtschin, Sue Wyatt and so many other stalwart volunteers -- we so appreciate your support! If you were unable to join us or had to miss any of the sessions, please be sure to check out the conference recordings, and see the Global Education Conference keynote speakers on our GlobalEdCon YouTube channel. The Global Education Conference network is a collaborative, inclusive, world-wide community initiative involving students, educators, and organizations at all levels. It is designed to significantly increase opportunities for connecting classrooms while supporting cultural awareness and recognition of diversity and educational access for all. This community is active year-round, and you are encouraged to get involved! You don't need to wait until next November to connect with colleagues and classrooms around the world. Check out the community's forum and social media channels to see how you can get involved.

November 11th 2014

  • We Know You Want to Take All of Next Week Off...!. But you don't have to, since the Global Education Conference is a virtual conference, so you can check out the full schedule in your own time zone, pick the sessions you want to attend, and come and join us as much as you can. Just imagine, from the comfort of your chair (and even in your pajamas!) you can actually attend the 30+ keynote sessions and many of the over 250 total sessions at our 5-day, around-the-clock, Global Education party, starting this coming Monday. This is our FIFTH anniversary year for the conference, and Lucy Gray, my co-chair, has done a PHENOMENAL job lining up great speakers (see below)--HUGE kudos to Lucy, to our devoted volunteer crew, and to all of the presenters from around the world contributing this year! We really do hope you'll join in the fun.
  • Our GlobalEdCon Keynotes. We're really excited to have this talented group of speakers participate at our fifth annual Global Education Conference. This year, we'll feature Mayus Chavez of the Jules Verne School in Mexico, Lillian Chu Hsiung, Global Issues Club Leader at Dwight School, Vicky Colbert of Escuela Nueva, Rana Dajani of Taghyeer, Liz Dawes Duraisingh, Principal Investigator with Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Gavin Dykes, Director of Education Fast Forward, John Farrelly, Superintendent of Edgecombe County Public Schools, Emily Havens of OpenIDEO, Julie Keane of VIF International Education, Kern Kelley, Educational Technologist in central Maine, Jennifer D. Klein of World Leadership School, Maureen McLaughlin, Senior Advisor to the Secretary and Director of International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Education, John Mergendoller of the Buck Institute for Education, Tonya Muro, AFS-USA’s Director of School Outreach and Educational Partnerships, Omashani Naidoo of SchoolNet South Africa, Alaine Newland of OpenIDEO, Toni Olivieri-Barton, IB Coordinator & Teacher Librarian at Woodmen-Roberts Elementary School, Lisa Parisi, elementary teacher at Herricks UFSD, Leslie Paynter, Principal at Voyager Academy Elementary, Rohit K. Pothukuchi, Founder of Verdentum, Thomas Röhlinger of Radijojo World Childrens Radio & Media Network, Donna Román, EdTech Instructional Specialist for Chicago Public Schools, Emily Roth, ES Technology Integration Specialist at the International School of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Paul Salopek, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist at National Geographic, George Saltsman, Professor at Lamar University, Kathleen Schwille of National Geographic Education, Amy Shaffer of Kidnected World, Homa Tavangar author of Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be At Home in the World, Robyn Thiessen, educator in Surrey, B.C., Canada, Christie Vilsack, Senior Advisor for International Education at USAID, Jennifer Vollmann of New Global Citizens, Rebecca Winthrop of the Brookings Institution, and Jim Wynn of Imagine Education and Education Fast Forward. See the Conference Schedule and mark your calendars for presentations by this great group of presenters.
  • WE STILL NEED GLOBAL ED VOLUNTEERS!. If you're still looking for a way to get involved in this year's conference, we could use your help as a volunteer! Join the Volunteers Group for details.
  • Announcing the 2015 Student Technology Conference. We are excited to announce the 2015 Student Technology Conference, a student-directed global conversation about technology in education. This open, online event will be held on Saturday, January 31st, 2015, and will feature keynote speakers and crowdsourced presentations by students. The 2015 Student Technology Conference provides an international forum for the presentation, discussion and sharing of educational technology in schools and other academic settings. This conference, by students and for all, is committed to fostering a better understanding of how students use technology in education and to engage students, teachers and administrators in a conversation about technology, assisting teachers and administrators in understanding how students use technology both in and out of the classroom, and strengthening the relationship between students, teachers and administrators about technology in the curriculum. The Call for Proposals will open November 15th, and we will begin accepting presentations as early as December 1st. This year's strands include Making, Design and Innovation, Student Technology Clubs, Technology in Schools – Projects and Collaborations, Educational Technology Tools, Students and Social Media, and Entrepreneurship. See a detailed description of the conference strands here. We're thrilled to be working with a great team of student organizers, and look forward to hosting this student-directed conference in January. Learn more at http://studenttechnologyconference.com/.

November 4th 2014

  • We really need you! Volunteer at the 5th Annual Global Education Conference. Looking for a way to get involved with the global education community and to have a ton of fun at the same time? (Really!) Consider volunteering at this year's Global Education Conference! We will provide training for volunteers over the next few weeks, and your assistance will be greatly appreciated by our conference presenters. If you're interested in volunteering, please join the Volunteer Group and follow the instructions there for booking your times. Thank you, in advance, for your contribution to this great event! (PLUS: if you're a seasoned veteran, and you'd like to be one of our elite "super volunteers," we are looking for some select few who help us to oversee larger blocks of time and organize the regular volunteers when Lucy and I are taking our breaks! Email me--steve@hargadon.com--directly!)
  • Did you miss the deadline on the GlobalEdCon call for proposals? You can still sumbit. The call for proposals is now officially closed. However, if you submit a proposal before November 15th and put this submission in the category "2014 Proposals Submitted After November 1 - Waitlist)", we will still be reviewing proposals on a case by case basis. Proposals still will have to relate to our mission and acceptances will only be given if we have room in the conference schedule. It is most likely that we will not add more slots to the conference schedule. Submit here.
  • Call for High School or University Journalism Students for Coverage of GlobalEdCon. We're so excited to be kicking off the fifth annual Global Education Conference in two weeks. Our amazing conference co-chair, Lucy Gray, has shared a great idea with the Global Education community which we'll share here for any of you who may be interested in participating. From Lucy, "One of our goals this year has been to increase student participation, and I'm happy to say that we are seeing more student/teacher teams submitting proposals. We would also like to see students be active participants in sessions. One way to accomplish this might be to have students write news articles about various sessions. There are 2 ways we can go about this: 1. Individual students can attend sessions and write articles about these sessions. They would submit these to me, and I would probably put them in a newsletter each evening (GMT-6) so that our attendees have an overview of some of the sessions that have taken place that day. 2. A high school journal team can take responsibility for writing a few articles, editing submitted conent, and publishing them using a tool of their choice. Individual students from other schools could submit articles to this team for review as well." Is this something you or your students may be interested in? Be sure to see details for getting involved here.
  • NMC Virtual Symposium on the Future of Libraries. Mark your calendar for November 12 to join the NMC and the Learning Revolution for the "NMC Virtual Symposium on the Future of Libraries." In this half-day event, library professionals, educators, and thought leaders will explore four major themes from the NMC Horizon Report > 2014 Library Edition, which was downloaded over 1 million times in the first eight days after publication! The themes are: Increasing Access and Discovery Opportunities; Emphasis on Mobile; Content Management and Technical Infrastructure; and Rethinking the Roles and Relationships of Librarians. Engage with the panels on these topics and help shape the conversation – get your burning questions answered! Wednesday, November 12, 2014 (10am-2pm ET/ 9am-1pm CT/ 7am-11am PT). We encourage you to attend with colleagues from your library or institution as each session will be interspersed with discussion questions to prompt deep thinking around actionable trends and ideas. Come curious, and leave inspired to meet the future head on. This event does have a cost. http://www.nmc.org/event-manager.

October 28th 2014

  • "Participatory, Continuous, Connected" | Top Trends from the Library 2.014 Conference. Participatory, hyperlinked library services; DIY and maker movements; emerging technology in academic and research libraries; Google Glass—our Library 2.014 conference covered a broad range of topics and these were among the most notable. Join this free Library Journal webcast covering the highlights of each one and offering key takeaways. Michael Stephens who will moderate a lively and insightful discussion with our panel of distinguished experts, starting himself by discussing participatory, hyperlinked library services in a connected world of “continuous computing.” Susan Hildreth will reflect on how the DIY and maker movements—particularly as they relate to STEM education (with badges to certify skill development)—place libraries as central learning hubs for their communities. Samantha Adams Becker taught the first online course ever to take place in Facebook. She will explore emerging technology uptake—especially digital communication formats—in various education sectors including academic and research libraries. Ayyoub Ajmi will describe experiences using Google Glass at the UMKC School of Law Library—what they did with it, what they couldn’t do, and what’s for the future. Register here.
  • NMC Virtual Symposium on the Future of Libraries. Mark your calendar for November 12 to join the NMC and the Learning Revolution for the "NMC Virtual Symposium on the Future of Libraries." In this half-day event, library professionals, educators, and thought leaders will explore four major themes from the NMC Horizon Report > 2014 Library Edition, which was downloaded over 1 million times in the first eight days after publication! The themes are: Increasing Access and Discovery Opportunities; Emphasis on Mobile; Content Management and Technical Infrastructure; and Rethinking the Roles and Relationships of Librarians. Engage with the panels on these topics and help shape the conversation – get your burning questions answered! Wednesday, November 12, 2014 (10am-2pm ET/ 9am-1pm CT/ 7am-11am PT). We encourage you to attend with colleagues from your library or institution as each session will be interspersed with discussion questions to prompt deep thinking around actionable trends and ideas. Come curious, and leave inspired to meet the future head on. This event does have a cost, but if you register by November 1 you can save $10! http://www.nmc.org/event-manager.
  • GlobalEdCon 2014 - Last Week to Submit Your Proposal. The fifth annual Global Education Conference is just a few weeks away, and we want to be sure that you have an opportunity to contribute to this year's conference as a presenter. Everyone is encouraged to submit a presentation proposal, including first-time presenters. All submissions must relate directly to the Global Education Conference mission of increasing opportunities for collaboration, developing active global citizens, and ensuring educational opportunities for all. Please see the Call for Proposals and get your submission in soon! This year we have a special Global Teacher-Librarians strand -- so be sure to include your friends from #TLChat and #Lib2014 in this great opportunity to connect globally. Share this opportunity with your colleagues! Additionally, we are hoping to have a great set of student presentations this year. Have your students participated in a global project recently? Do you co-learn with a classroom across the globe? Be sure to check out the Student Strand and consider encouraging your students to submit a presentation proposal.
  • The Amazing World View Fall Symposium at UNC Chapel Hill. Lucy Gray and I spoke at the "K-12 Global Education Symposium 2014" last week in Chapel Hill, and got to know the incredible team at World View. Lucy's post about the event, some of the great speakers, and links to our presentation are here.
  • K12 Online Conference Continues Through October 30th. You are invited to join us for this outstanding annual conference with presentations by amazing educators from around the world. This is a FREE, asynchronous, online education conference open to EVERYONE. It runs for 2 weeks (October 20-31) with video presentations uploaded daily Monday through Friday. Close to 40 presentations in four different strands: Stories for Learning, Games and Gamification, Passion-Driven Learning and STEAM. The conference is asynchronous, so you don't need to worry about time zones. View the presentations on-demand whenever it's convenient. Bookmark the schedule and as presentations are posted there will be a hyperlink to take you directly to the presentation. Follow the tweets daily for the latest presentation updates @k12online #k12online14 and contribute to the conversations! For more information visit http://k12onlineconference.org/.

October 21st 2014

October 14th 2014

  • Special Library 2.014 Keynote with Michael Stephens on "Finding Balance: Reflective Practice and the Profession" - Wednesday, October 15th at 7pm ET. Join us for a special post-conference keynote session with information superstar, Michael Stephens, tomorrow night! Reflective practice is mindfulness to the nth degree. Information professionals should be thoughtful about the decisions they make, about the projects they take on, and about how we put ourselves out there in the online world. We must always keep working to be there, to be present, to be at the edge of what’s happening, and to be very visible while focusing on people, not technology, not the collection. Those are merely tools. Join the session at https://sas.elluminate.com/d.jnlp?sid=2008350&password=LIB2014Part121. We're looking forward to seeing you there, and be sure to share this special invitation with your friends and colleagues!
  • Volunteer at the 5th Annual Global Education Conference. We had amazing support from our Library 2.014 volunteer group, and we're hoping to carry that momentum forward to the fifth annual Global Education Conference, November 17th - 21st (22nd in some time zones). If you're interested in volunteering, please join the Volunteer Group and follow the instructions there for booking your times. Thank you, in advance, for your contribution to this great event!
  • K12 Online Conference - October 13th - October 30th. K12 Online Conference 2014 begins October 13! You are invited to join us for this outstanding annual conference with presentations by amazing educators from around the world. This is a FREE, asynchronous, online education conference open to EVERYONE. The conference begins on Monday, October 13 with our Pre-conference Keynote, Wesley Fryer: "Igniting Innovation in Teaching and Learning." It runs for 2 weeks (October 20-31) with video presentations uploaded daily Monday through Friday. Close to 40 presentations in four different strands: Stories for Learning, Games and Gamification, Passion-Driven Learning and STEAM. The conference is asynchronous, so you don't need to worry about time zones. View the presentations on-demand whenever it's convenient. Bookmark the schedule and as presentations are posted there will be a hyperlink to take you directly to the presentation. Follow the tweets daily for the latest presentation updates @k12online #k12online14 and contribute to the conversations! For more information visit http://k12onlineconference.org/.
  • Digital Citizenship Week. We’re proud to be in partnership with Common Sense Education to celebrate the Second Annual Digital Citizenship WeekOctober 19th -25th. Join us to shine a spotlight on the importance of helping kids learn how to create safe, responsible digital lives. Check out these resources and learn how Common Sense Education’s whole-community approach engages everyone -- from educators and students to parents, district officials, and community leaders.
  • Library 2.014 on YouTube. Check out Library 2.014 on YouTube to catch up on the great group of keynote and distinguished speakers, and the Connected Librarian Day speakers. We'll be adding more videos to the channel over the next week, so be sure to stay tuned! For a complete list of conference recordings, check out http://www.library20.com/page/2014-recordings.

October 7th 2014

October 1st 2014

  • Connected Librarian Day 2.014 Kicks Off Next Tuesday!. We're really excited about our special Library 2.014 preconference event for K-12 teacher librarians (and their fans), Connected Librarian Day on Tuesday October 7th from 3:30pm - 10pm US Eastern. This free, online event is sponsored by Follett and the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL) at Rutgers. Join us for special presentations by Heidi Neltner on "Your Stakeholder Connected Librarian Toolkit," Judy O'Connell on "Leadership in a connected age: change, challenge and productive chaos," Michelle Luhtala on "Flipped Learning and the Essential Tools to Get you There," Patrice Bryan & Darcy Coffta on "Schools' Vortex: Innovative Library Makerspaces," Matthew Winner & Sherry Gick on "When Sherry Met Matthew: Finding Your Educational Soulmate and Helping Kids to Rule the World," Jennifer LaGarde on "Imagining Library Spaces of the Future, Today," and special opening and closing sessions with Britten Follett, Ross Todd, Shannon Miller, and our preconference co-chair, Joyce Valenza. Check out http://connectedlibrarians.com/ for more information, and be sure to share with the librarians in your schools! You can use #cld14 to share your excitement about this event with your followers, and share or embed the Connected Librarian Day Flyer on your website or social media channels.
  • Library 2.014 Keynotes & Distinguished Speakers. We have an amazing group of Keynote & Distinguished Speakers lined up for the Library 2.014 virtual conference, October 8th + 9th. View the conference schedule in your local time and mark your calendars for keynote speakers Samantha Adams Becker on "On the Horizon: Pressing Technologies, Trends, Challenges for Libraries," Phil Bradley the UK Search Guru, Jonathan Hernández on "Internet censorship, privacy and freedom of expression: new challenges for LIS professionals," Dr. Sandra Hirsh on "Working in a Global Environment – Success Strategies for Today’s Information Professional," Helen Partridge from the University of Southern Queensland, Pam Sandlian-Smith on "Creating Experience Libraries," Dr. Daisy Selematsela of the National Research Foundation in South Africa, Joyce Valenza of Rutgers University School of Communication & Information, and Jia Yang on "Exploring the Use of Information Visualization for Library." This year's distinguished speakers include Stephen Abram on "7 Tactics to Gain Big Savings through Collaboration: Can we bravely take risks?," Christine Bruce, Hilary Hughes, and Ian Stoodley on "Information Experience: New approaches to theory and practice," Susan Hildreth on "Libraries as community learning partners - STEM, Maker and Badging!," Peter Morville on "The Architecture of Understanding," Michael Stephens on "Finding Balance: Reflective Practice and the Profession," Barbara Stripling on "Building a Learning Community Through a Library Learning Commons," Roy Tennant on "How to Be a 21st Century Librarian," and David Weinberger on "John Henry in the Library: Algorithms vs. Humans." Are you excited yet? We certainly are! Feel free to use our promotional materials to help us share about Library 2.014, and follow the conversations at #Lib2014 for conference updates and broadening your professional network. See you next week!
  • Share Your Global Education Story to Celebrate Our Fifth Anniversary. We're looking for GEC members to provide some feedback and reflections about their experiences within our year round community and during our annual online conference. Specifically, we would like to better understand the impact of the network and conference upon our members, both personally and professionally. Tell us if you've found a great project, learned more about a topic, connected to others through GlobalEdCon, etc. We want to hear from you! We will be using your input to possibly create content for multimedia projects for our 2014 conference and for workshops and presentations that we give in various locations related to global education and this event. We need our membership to provide us with recollections and anecdotes as we prepare to celebrate this community. If you have a moment, please take this survey: http://goo.gl/QrJKtp.

September 24th 2014

  • Fifth Annual Global Education Conference - November 17th - 21st, 2014. We are quickly approaching the 2014 Global Education Conference (#globaled14), which marks our fifth anniversary of this amazing, free, online event. The Global Education Conference is a collaborative, inclusive, world-wide community initiative involving students, educators, and organizations at all levels. It is designed to significantly increase opportunities for connecting classrooms while supporting cultural awareness and recognition of diversity and educational access for all. Our conference co-chair, Lucy Gray, has created some great toolkits to help you get involved in the global education community -- we encourage you to take advantage of this free opportunity to connect your classroom to the broader learning community! This year's conference will be held around the clock for five days, and will include Keynote Presentations by Simon Breakspear of Nextgen Learning, Vicky Colbert of Fundación Escuela Nueva Volvamos a la Gente, Rana Dajani of Taghyeer, Daniel Edelson of National Geographic, Kern Kelley, Educational Technologist at Regional School Unit #19 in Maine, Jennifer D. Klein, Global Educational Consultant, Maureen McLaughlin from the U.S. Department of Education, John Mergendoller of the Buck Institute for Education, Tonya Muro of AFS-USA, Toni Olivieri-Barton, IB Coordinator and Teacher Librarian at Woodmen-Roberts Elementary School, Lisa Parisi, teacher at Herricks UFSD, Leslie Paynter, Prinicipal at Voyager Academy Elementary, Thomas Röhlinger of Radijojo World Childrens Radio & Media Network, Donna Román, EdTech Instructional Specialist, Chicago Public Schools, Emily Roth, Technology Integration Specialist at the International School of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, George Saltsman from Lamar University, Homa Tavangar, author of Growing Up Global, Robyn Thiessen, educator at Surrey School District #36, Christie Vilsack of USAID, Jennifer Vollmann of New Global Citizens, and Jim Wynn of Imagine Education and Education Fast Forward (EFF). There is still time to submit a proposal, so be sure to share this opportunity with your colleagues. Check out the conference schedule to see a list of the great sessions that we've got in store for you this year. We look forward to seeing you there!
  • Broaden Your Professional Network Through Volunteering! We're having a great response to our call for volunteers for the Library 2.014 Conference, but there's still plenty of time for you to get involved with this exciting event! Please visit the Volunteer Group to get connected with a team of generous volunteers and our dedicated Volunteer Coordinator, Debbie Faires of the SJSU iSchool. Our conferences are great opportunities for you to broaden your network with professionals, graduate students, and library advocates from all over the world. We appreciate your help, and look forward to seeing you at the conference!
  • Gaming in Ed on YouTube. A big thank you to all of the presenters and volunteers who contributed to this first time event! If you missed out on any of the great Keynote and Distinguished Speaker Presentations last week, you can now view on our Gaming in Ed YouTube Channel. For a full list of presenter recordings, please visit http://gamingined.com/page/recordings-2014.
  • Challenge Success. Join Learning Revolution's friend and Stanford's own Denise Pope live or online this Friday for the Challenge Success event, "Success By Design: Is It Possible?" Held at Stanford's Memorial Auditorium, this will be an interactive discussion about the meaning of success: What are the common beliefs about success we convey to kids in our overly scheduled and competitive society? What are the assumptions parents and educators help students design their own unique and authentic paths to success? Thanks to a generous donor who loves the conference and can't attend physically, this year the Friday night component will be live-streamed for first time ever starting at 7pm US-PDT. The link is http://stanfordvideo.stanford.edu/stream/success.htm. Enjoy!

September 17th 2014

  • Gaming in Ed Online Conference. Our first-ever, free, and online "Gaming in Education" conference started this week with special keynote speakers and pre-conference sessions on Monday and Tuesday (recorded for your viewing pleasure) and continues tonight, Wednesday evening (US time). Then tomorrow, Thursday, is a great full day of more keynotes and sessions. Check our the full schedule in your own time zone here. More information and signup at http://www.GaminginEd.com
  • Connected Librarian Day 2.014. We're excited to announce a special Library 2.014 preconference event for K-12 and teacher librarians (and their fans), Connected Librarian Day on Tuesday October 7th from 3:30pm - 10pm US Eastern. This is an open, online, and free event sponsored by Follett and the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL) at Rutgers. Our schedule is shaping up, with special presentations from Judy O'Connell, Michelle Luhtala, Patrice Bryan, Darcy Coffta, Matthew Winner, Sherry Gick, Jennifer LaGarde, Britten Follett, Ross Todd, Shannon Miller, and our preconference co-chair, Joyce Valenza. Check out http://connectedlibrarians.com/ for more information, and be sure to share with the librarians in your schools!
  • Volunteer at Library 2.014. Volunteering at an online conference is a great way to get connected with other professionals around the world. We've recently announced the call for volunteers for our fourth annual Library 2.014 conference, and are looking forward to working with so many of you over the two day conference. Big thanks and a special shout out to our Library 2.0 Volunteer Coordinator, Debbie Faires from the SJSU iSchool! Please be sure to check out and join the volunteer group and sign up soon for volunteer times. Thank you, in advance, for your continued support of our free events!
  • Student Entrepreneurship. We've set up a new student entrepreneurship portal at StudentEnrepreneurship.com that provides quick access to the free HPLIFE interactive classes for students to learn business skills, and gives you a chance to sign up for information about the free online conference on student entrepreneurship we plan to hold in 2015. (Teachers, you can take the free classes as well!)
  • NMC Virtual Symposium on the Future of Museums Archived. Did you miss the NMC Virtual Symposium on the Future of Museums? We have good news to share -- the video recordings from the event are now available in a special playlist on the NMC YouTube channel! Click here to view this great series of special speakers and panels discussing the future of museums. Thanks to our friends at NMC for sharing this great resource!

September 10th 2014

  • Student Entrepreneurship. We've set up a new student entrepreneurship portal at StudentEnrepreneurship.com that provides quick access to the free HPLIFE interactive classes for students to learn business skills, and gives you a chance to sign up for information about the free online conference on student entrepreneurship we plan to hold in 2015. (Teachers, you can take the free classes as well!)
  • Gaming in Ed Online Conference. Our first-ever, free, and online "Gaming in Education" conference starts next week with special keynote speakers and pre-conference sessions on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings (US time). Then Thursday is a great full day of more keynotes and sessions. Check our the full schedule in your own time zone here. More information and signup at http://www.GaminginEd.com
  • Google for Education Recordings Available. This past weekend we held our first-ever Online Summit Featuring Google for Education in conjunction with CUE.org and the inimitable Lucy Gray. Unlike our other events, this 60+ session summit was a for-charge event, and we're now offering access to the conference recordings for $40. A bargain! See the session and keynote titles and descriptions, as well as ordering information, at GIESummit.org.

September 3rd 2014

  • Last Week to Sign Up for the Online GOOGLE for Education Summit!. CUE and The Learning Revolution Project, the producers of the Google Teacher Academy and the Global Education Conference, are joining forces to expand globally connective opportunities for educators. This weekend, these organizations will be hosting the first ever Online Summit Featuring Google for Education, with 50+ sessions and keynotes highlighting the work of Google Certified Teachers, Google Education Trainers, Google Educators and Googlers themselves. Registration for the event includes a year of CUE membership and access to all the recordings - sign up here.
  • Gaming in Ed: September 15th - 18th. We're getting really excited about the upcoming Gaming in Ed Conference! Check out our short video about why you should attend the conference. Thursday's sessions will be delivered by teachers, librarians, game developers, and gamification fans - don't miss out! Keynote speakers will include Barbara Chamberlin of the Learning Games Lab at NMSU, Michael Levine from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Marianne Malmstrom from the Elisabeth Morrow School, Peggy Sheehy of the WoW in School Project, Peter Stidwell of the Learning Games Network, and Dan White of Filament Games. We'll also be joined by Seann Dikkers from the Patton College of Education at Ohio State University, Steve Isaacs from William Annin Middle School, Bronwyn Stuckey of the Massively Minecraft Project, and David Thomas from CU Online at UC Denver. Looking for a great way to connect with this community? Consider volunteering! You can help us promote this event by using our promotional materials and sharing with your network. Looking forward to seeing you there!
  • Support Our Free PD with Just 3 Clicks. Our Learning Revolution FREE educational conferences had 100,000 attendee log-ins last year. Hopefully, you benefited from one or more of them (or will in the future!). You can now help support this amazing free PD by signing up for the (also free) HP LIFE e-Learning Initiative - for every registration through the links on this page HP will give LearningRevolution.com $1. It's a little bit more than 3 actual clicks (name, email address, checkboxes), but you get the idea! FreePD.me. Thanks!

August 25th 2014

  • September's Volunteer Opportunity. Volunteering at professional events is a great way to make connections in your field (especially for graduate students!), and we are proud to support events that foster these types of collaborative relationships. We'd love your help for our inaugural (and free) Gaming in Ed conference, which begins the week of September 15th. We will have a full day of crowdsourced sessions on Thursday, September 18th, where we could use your help in supporting our presenters. There is a full schedule of amazing sessions on game-based learning topics, and volunteers will be able to connect with these outstanding presenters. Sign up to volunteer at Gaming in Ed!
  • Library 2.014 - October 8th + 9th. We are gearing up for another amazing year of the Library 2.014 Conference. Our founding partners at the San José State University School of Information have lined up excellent Keynote Speakers for this two-day conversation about the future of libraries. Join us on October 8th + 9th to hear from Samantha Adams Becker of New Media Consortium, Phil Bradley the "UK Search Guru", Jonathan Hernández from National Autonomous University of Mexico, Sandra Hirsh of the SJSU iSchool, Helen Partridge from the University of Southern Queensland, Dr. Daisy Selematsela of the National Research Foundation of South Africa, Pam Smith of the Anythink Library, Joyce Valenza from Rutgers University's School of Communication and Information, and Jia Yang from the Shanghai Library. Check out the Conference Schedule to see the list of sessions for this year's conference. We hope that you'll share this opportunity to participate in this free forum designed to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among information professionals worldwide. Learn more about the conference and how you can get involved at http://library20.com.

August 19th 2014

  • Did you miss the annoucement of our Online Summit Featuring Google for Education? September 6th + 7th!. We’re taking Google education summits online! The Learning Revolution Project is joining forces with CUE to expand globally connective opportunities for educators this September by hosting the first ever Online Summit Featuring Google for Education. This event will take place entirely online and all sessions will be recorded via Google Hangouts on Air. $40 registration includes access to recordings indefinitely, CUE membership and benefits for one year, and an opportunity to network with other educators interested in Google products across the United States and potentially the world. More information or register here!
  • Gaming in Ed: September 15th - 19th. Join the inaugural Gaming in Ed conference. This is a free event bringing together educators, researchers, game developers and innovators from around the world, being held Monday September 15th - Friday September 19th. Whether you're passionate about game-based learning or just getting your toes wet, Gaming in Ed celebrates the value that games offer in educational settings: a safe environment for taking on new roles, opportunities for creative problem solving and experimenting, and learning from failure. When done well, games can foster collaboration, strengthen critical and systems thinking, pose adaptive challenges, and spark inquiry. With guidance from educators, students aren't just players, but critical evaluators of games and game designers themselves. This conference will offer a variety of perspectives, from educators and game developers to researchers and administrators. Our goal is to have you walk away with practical information and inspiration for furthering game-based learning in class and beyond. The call for proposals is open until September 1st, so please share this opportunity with your colleagues. See you there!
  • We're about to announce three additional conferences for 2015: Maker Education, Reinventing Higher Ed, and Digital Citizenship. We're so excited about each--let me know at steve@hargadon.com if you want to help or be a part of the planning for these! Look for more information in the coming weeks.

August 12th 2014

  • Alt Ed Film Fest. It's a big week for the Alt Ed Film Fest director interviews. Be sure to check out the schedule below to make sure you're able to join us for some great interviews with the directors of Free to Learn, Grown Without Schooling, and Schooling the World. If you missed any of last week's interviews, be sure to check them out at https://www.youtube.com/user/vfilmfest/.

August 5th 2014

  • It's a Big Week For Us!. This week we kick off the second annual Homeschool+ Conference and the Alt Ed Film Fest! We're really excited for both of these events, and look forward to seeing many of you there! Please see the notes below to learn more about how you can get involved with these events.
  • We Need Your Help This Week. We're looking for volunteers to help us support all of the great sessions taking place this Thursday and Friday, August 7th & 8th at the second annual Homeschool+ Conference. We'll provide the training and lots of support to those of you who are able to volunteer an hour or two of your time this week. Volunteering to help moderate sessions is a great way to get to know the presenters and to get better connected with our online learning communities. Please sign up to volunteer here. Thank you in advance for all of your help!

29 July 2014

  • Call for Volunteers. The Homeschool+ Conference kicks off next week, and we're looking for volunteers to help us support all of the great sessions taking place next Thursday and Friday, August 7th & 8th. We'll provide the training and lots of support to those of you who are able to volunteer some of your time next week. Volunteering to help moderate sessions is a great way to get to know the presenters and to get better connected with our online learning communities. Please sign up to volunteer here. Thank you in advance for all of your help!
  • Alt Ed Film Fest Director Interview Schedule. Mark your calendars for the free, live director interviews associated with the Alt Ed Film Fest. Join directors German Doin of La Educación Prohibida on Tuesday, August 5th at 7pm ET, Cevin Soling of The War on Kids on Wednesday, August 6th at 8pm ET, Bhawin Suchak of Free to Learn on Tuesday, August 12th at 8pm ET, Peter Kowalke of Grown Without Schooling on Wednesday, August 13th at 8pm ET, Carol Black of Schooling the World on Thursday, August 14th at 8pm ET, and Ian Reid of Building the Machine on Tuesday, August 26th at 8pm ET. All interviews can be viewed at http://www.virtualfilmfestival.com/live-interviews.html, and will be archived on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/vfilmfest/.

22 July 2014

15 July 2014

8 July 2014

  • Reform Symposium 2014 (#RSCON5) This Week - July 11th - 13th. Just a few days left before the free, online global event highlighting “wow” moments in teaching and learning kicks off. There are some great events in store for attendees, including daily keynote panels, the Tech & App Swapalooza, Your Best Lesson sharing session, musical guests, and keynote speakers Dean Shareski, Vicky Loras, Paige Woodard, Amy Burvall, Kevin Honeycutt, Nick Sousanis, Valéria Benévolo França, Mark Martin, Todd Nesloney and Tosca Killoran. Be sure to bookmark the Conference Schedule (in your local time zone), and take a look at this weekend's sessions as the schedule fills in. Follow the Twitter feed for this event at #RSCON5, like Reform Symposium on Facebook, and be sure to let your peers know about this fun event!
  • Submit Your Future of Museums Proposal. We've got some great submissions for the July 24th Future of Museums Conference. We'll continue to accept proposals through July 21st, so be sure to share the call for proposals with your peers in the museum world. Check out the conference schedule to see confirmed sessions and start planning your day with us!
  • Homeschool+ Conference Update. We're really excited about the second annual Homeschool+ Conference, August 7th + 8th, with three days of pre-conference keynote sessions. We've got a great list of keynote speakers lined up, including Carlo Ricci, Jamie McMillin, Leslie Barson, Blake Boles, Monica Cochran, Pat Farenga, Matt Hern, Paula Rothermel, Ocean Robbins and Oliver DeMille. Presentation proposals are being submitted, and it looks like we'll have a fantastic schedule again this year. Be sure to share this conference flyer with your peers who are interested in home-based learning and alternative education. We're looking forward to your participation!
  • Tweetwood Mac. Those of you who were able to join us for the HackEd After Party at ISTE will be familiar with Kevin Honeycutt and Shane Howard's band, Tweetwood Mac. If you missed out on their live performance, be sure to check them out on Facebook at facebook.com/tweetwoodmac. Kevin and Shane, we want to give you a huge thank you for making for such a fun evening in Atlanta!

1 July 2014

  • 2014 Reform Symposium (RSCON5) Kicks Off Next Week. This free, online global event highlighting “wow” moments in teaching and learning will be held Friday, July 11th - Sunday, July 13th. There are some great events in store for attendees, including daily keynote panels, the Tech & App Swapalooza, Your Best Lesson sharing session, musical guests, and keynote speakers Dean Shareski, Vicky Loras, Paige Woodard, Amy Burvall, Kevin Honeycutt, Nick Sousanis, Valéria Benévolo França, Mark Martin, and Tosca Killoran. Be sure to bookmark the Conference Schedule (in your local time zone), and take a look at next week's sessions as the schedule fills in. Follow the Twitter feed for this event at #RSCON5 and be sure to let your peers know about this fun event!
  • HackEd14 Archived. We had so much fun at this year's ISTE Unplugged events, and it was great to meet and reconnect with so many of you! If you weren't able to attend, visit http://wiki.isteunplugged.com/ to see the unconference final schedule, with notes from the sessions and the group photos, and scroll through the Twitter feed at #HackEd14 to see what we were up to - the feed includes links to tools and apps shared during the amazing tech slam/smackdown. Thanks to all of you who contributed your time, insight, and topic ideas - you really made this event happen! A special thanks to the incomparable Peggy George, whose time and patience were critical to such a successful day.
  • Global Ed Day Makes a Big Splash. Donna Román said it best, as she describes how Global Ed Day at ISTE "burst to life with a filled-to-capacity room that overflowed into the hallway with educators eager to connect, share and learn." We were thrilled with the response to Saturday's event, and apologize to those of you who weren't able to get in. We hope you continued the conversation in the hallway! The energy around this event is especially exciting as we gear up for the fifth annual Global Education Conference - can't wait to see you there!

24 June 2014

  • ISTE Unplugged Starts Friday. ISTE attendees - don't miss out! Audrey Watters of HackEducation.com will be joining us for our all-day Friday, June 27th, unconference--which used to be called EduBloggerCon and is now called, you guessed it, "Hack Education." It's free, it's at the Georgia World Congress Center, and it's a great way to spend a day with interesting people holding interesting conversations. The topics for the day are determined by the attendees, and many who come say it's the best thing they do at ISTE. After the unconference is our now-annual evening social/party, which will feature Kevin Honeycutt and the iPhone band. Saturday is our half-day Global Education gathering, and then there's the Bloggers' Cafe Sunday - Tuesday. Check it all out at ISTEunplugged.com. See you there!
  • NMC Horizon Report > 2014 K-12 Edition. Learning Revolution partners, NMC and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), with the support of HP, just released the NMC Horizon Report > 2014 K-12 Edition at a special session at the 2014 NMC Summer Conference in Portland, Oregon. This sixth K-12 edition describes annual findings from the NMC Horizon Project, an ongoing research project designed to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have an impact on teaching, learning, and creative inquiry in education. View the report.
  • National Event: Leadership Dinner at ISTE. This year's Dinner Event at ISTE will be on Sunday, June 29, 2014 at 7:30pm at the Marriott Grand Marquis Ballroom in beautiful Atlanta! At the second annual EdTechWomen ISTE Dinner Event, our community will focus on connecting aspiring and seasoned leaders – women and men – in edtech to share and incubate opportunities for women's leadership development in the education industry. Attendees will have the chance to meet educators, business people and other professionals from across the education industry while engaging in authentic discussion about leadership and career development. This intimate event, capped at 120 people, provides attendees a unique chance to connect easily and informally with a group of like-minded doers. Learn more and RSVP here.
  • Twin Events About the Future of Museums. The New Media Consortium and LearningRevolution.com announce twin events about the future of museums on July 23rd & 24th. Both events are focused on four main themes from the NMC Horizon Report > 2013 Museum Edition: Bring Your Own Device, Location-Based Services, Crowdsourcing, Makerspaces. July 23rd - The NMC Virtual Symposium on the Future of Museums is an exclusive symposium for you, the curators, creators, innovators, museum professionals, and educators. In this limited-space event, engage with panels on these topics and help shape the conversation – get your burning questions answered! July 24th - LearningRevolution.com is hosting the free, online Future of Museums Conference, a collaborative global conversation about technology, museums, and the future. This event will be held from 10am - 5pm US-Eastern Time, and will feature keynote speakers and crowdsourced presentations by your peers. Attendees can expect to learn best practices to implement in their museums, and will hear real-world examples of innovative practices in the field. Curators, creators, innovators, museum professionals, and educators are encouraged to present. We are looking forward to these fun events, and to your participation!
  • Homeschool+ Conference Special Speakers. We're excited to announce the following speakers have been confirmed for the second annual Homeschool+ Conference: Blake Boles, Pat Farenga, Ocean Robbins, Jamie McMillan, Carlo Ricci, Clark Aldrich, Elliot Washor, Yale Wishnick, Jackie Gerstein, Bernard Bull, and Scott Nine.

17 June 2014

  • 2014 Reform Symposium (RSCON5): Call for Proposals. Do you have an instructional method, project, or idea that you are passionate about and will “wow” other educators? If so, we invite you to present for the 2014 Reform Symposium E-Conference. The conference will be held online over the course of 3 days: July 11-13th. It will be free to attend, and everyone is encouraged to submit a presentation proposal, including first-time presenters. It will be free for educators worldwide to attend and in the past we had thousands of teachers attend from over 100 different countries. Please see the call for proposals for submission deadlines and details.
  • 2014 Homeschool+ Conference: Call for Proposals. We're excited to announce the second annual Homeschool+ Conference, August 7th & 8th, 2014, and to open the call for proposals. While the Homeschool+ Conference is geared toward those participating in or wanting to learn more about homeschooling, unschooling, free schools, democratic schools, and other forms of alternative education, my hope is that this conference will also be valuable for traditional educators looking to expand their scope and understanding of teaching and learning practices. Please use these promotional materials to help us spread the word about this great, free event!
  • ISTE Unplugged Kicks Off on June 27th in Atlanta. ISTE attendees - don't miss out! Audrey Watters of HackEducation.com will be joining us for our all-day Friday, June 27th, unconference--which used to be called EduBloggerCon and is now called, you guessed it, "Hack Education." It's free, it's at the Georgia World Congress Center, and it's a great way to spend a day with interesting people holding interesting conversations. The topics for the day are determined by the attendees, and many who come say it's the best thing they do at ISTE. After the unconference is our now-annual evening social/party, which will feature Kevin Honeycutt and the iPhone band. Saturday is our half-day Global Education gathering, and then there's the Bloggers' Cafe Sunday - Tuesday. Check it all out at ISTEunplugged.com.
  • The AERO Conference. If you're not attending ISTE, and you want a great experience exploring where the learning conversations are going, you should consider the AERO conference June 26 - 29 at Long Island University. This is their 25th anniversary event, and as I've mentioned before, this was my favorite conference last year. More information here.

10 June 2014

  • ISTE Unplugged. Look for our email on Thursday detailing all of the fun events coming up at ISTE Unplugged. If you can't wait, visit http://www.isteunplugged.com/.
  • Future of Museums Keynotes. We have new keynote and distinguished speakers for the conference. We're currently working on the schedule, so look for updates soon. Confirmed keynotes include Elizabeth Merritt, Barry Joseph, Lath Carlson, Jeffrey Inscho, and Holly Witchey.
  • Connect With the Learning Revolution on Social Media. The Learning Revolution, as a new project, could use some help building our social media presence and credibility. Please consider liking our Learning Revolution Facebook page. While it's not our primary method of communicating or organizing, we do think it will help bring awareness to Learning Revolution and partner activities. You can follow us on Twitter for weekly updates, conference schedules and activities.
  • Connected Librarian Day. We've just confirmed that we'll be doing a Connected Librarian Day again as a preconference event for Library 2.014, and to coincide with Connected Educator Month (which we're told will be held this year). Connected Librarian Day is tentatively scheduled for October 3rd.

3 June 2014

  • Keynote Confirmations Coming In. As we're arranging for keynotes for upcoming conferences, we're getting lots of great confirmations. The Future of Museums Conference will feature Elizabeth Merritt and Alex Freeman. Gaming in Ed Conference has confirmed so far Barbara Chamberlin, Seann Dikkers, Steve Isaacs, Michael Levine, Marianne Malmstrom, Peggy Sheehy, Peter Stidwill, David Thomas, and Dan White. This year's Library 2.014 Conference confirmations include Susan Hildreth, Peter Morville, Helen Partridge, Michael Stephens, Barbara Stripling, Roy Tennant, Joyce Valenza, and David Weinberger. And finally, the 2014 Global Education Conference will feature Rana Dajani, Daniel Edelson, Kern Kelley, Jennifer D. Klein, Tonya Muro, Thomas Röhlinger, Homa Tavangar, and Jennifer Vollmann. Stay tuned, we're still working on lots more for each of these events.

27 May 2014

  • ISTE. If you are going to ISTE 2014, or if you live anywhere near Atlanta, GA, then you will want to come join us for a TON of fun at ISTE Unplugged. Starting with our eighth annual free all-day unconference (now called Hack Education and with special guest Audrey Watters) on Friday, June 27th; the now-traditional Friday evening party with special guest Kevin Honeycutt and the iPhone Band; our third annual Global Education Day on Saturday; the Bloggers' Cafe gathering spot during ISTE; and more to come! Check it out at ISTEunplugged.com.
  • Call for Proposals. We are already receiving some great presentation proposals for Library 2.014 and the Global Education Conference. We've got some great opportunities for presenters this year, and hope that you'll take advantage of them! Don't forget to check out the list of upcoming conference deadlines so that you can be sure to get your proposal in on time. The Future of Museums conference will be coming up soon - don't miss out!
  • The AERO Conference. If you're not attending ISTE, and you want a great experience exploring where the learning conversations are going, you should consider the AERO conference June 26 - 29 at Long Island University. This is their 25th anniversary event, and as I've mentioned before, this was my favorite conference last year. More information here and in the partner spotlight right below.

20 May 2014

  • ISTE. If you are going to ISTE 2014, or if you live anywhere near Atlanta, GA, then you will want to come join us for a TON of fun at ISTE Unplugged. Starting with our eighth annual free all-day unconference (now called Hack Education and with special guest Audrey Watters) on Friday, June 27th; the now-traditional Friday evening party with special guest Kevin Honeycutt and the iPhone Band; our third annual Global Education Day on Saturday; the Bloggers' Cafe gathering spot during ISTE; and more to come! Check it out at ISTEunplugged.com.
  • Call for Proposals. We are already receiving some great presentation proposals for Library 2.014 and the Global Education Conference. We've got some great opportunities for presenters this year, and hope that you'll take advantage of them! Don't forget to check out the list of upcoming conference deadlines so that you can be sure to get your proposal in on time. The Future of Museums conference will be coming up soon - don't miss out!
  • The AERO Conference. If you're not attending ISTE, and you want a great experience exploring where the learning conversations are going, you should consider the AERO conference June 26 - 29 at Long Island University. This is their 25th anniversary event, and as I've mentioned before, this was my favorite conference last year. More information here and in the partner spotlight right below.

13 May 2014

6 May 2014

29 April 2014

  • "Reinventing the Classroom" Starts Wednesday Evening!. Come join our free online conference this Wednesday evening and all day Thursday. Amazing keynote speakers and presenters--see details in the calendar listings below or at the website.
  • "Reinventing the Classroom" Call for Volunteers. We've got an amazing, and FULL, schedule for this week's Reinventing the Classroom event - all about how ed tech is reshaping the classroom experience. We could really use your help as a volunteer to make sure we can provide as great an experience for presenters as we do for attendees. Never used Blackboard Collaborate before? No problem! Join us for a training session and we'll show you all you need to know to be a great volunteer. Please join the Volunteer Group for more information and to sign up to help. Thank you!
  • Global Education Conference Call For Proposals Opens May 1st!. We're excited to announce that the fifth annual Global Education Conference call for proposals is now open! Choose from six conference strands, and plan to submit early! We will begin accepting proposals on June 1st, and earlybirds will have the first priority of choosing the time slot for their session. Conference co-chair, Lucy Gray, has created a few great flyers for you to use to help promote this amazing event in your own publicity channels - the Call For Proposals Flyer to encourage potential presenters, and a more general Global Education Conference Flyer to provide an overview of this event for conference attendees. Don't forget that we'll be at ISTE in Atlanta on June 28th hosting Global Education Day! We can't wait to see you there.
  • Ed Tech Month - Free Webinar Series by PowerUp WHAT WORKS. Ed Tech Month kicks off on May 1st! Have you checked out the FREE ed tech webinar series that is being presented by PowerUp WHAT WORKS? Topics include: Personalize Your Math Professional Development, Learn About Differentiated Instruction and UDL, Personalize Your ELA Professional Development, and more. PD certificates will be available through the Learning Revolution. The first webinar of the series will be held next Thursday, May 8th, from 3:30 - 4:30pm EDT on "Personalize Your Math Professional Development." Please be sure to share this opportunity with your fellow educators, we don't want you to miss out! The Learning Revolution will be providing PD certificates for those who complete the series. Show off your PD! Don't forget that you can also share local ed tech events using #edtechmonth. Visit www.edtechmonth.com for more information.
  • Reminder: MiniCon May is Sunday, May 4th 9:30am - 1pm EDT. This is our last half day free online event to prepare us for July 11-13th official online conference. We will feature guest poet Chaouki M'kaddem, keynote speaker Steve Wheeler, a technology smackdown event that anyone can sign-up for, and seven mini-presentations that give you a sneak peek at what to expect at our annual Reform Symposium Free Online Conference (RSCON5), that will take place July 11-13th, 2014 and feature 60+presentations, 2 plenaries, 10 keynotes, student presenters, and much more. More details and schedule here.

22 April 2014

15 April 2014

8 April 2014

  • Reinventing the Classroom - Correction. Some of you noticed that the announcement about our exciting ed tech event on May 1st, Reinventing the Classroom, had a broken link -- sorry about that! The conference details and call for proposals can be found at http://reinventingtheclassroom.com/. Thanks for catching this for our readers! Please read below for some more exciting news about next month.
  • More about May: Free PD Webinar Series by PowerUp WHAT WORKS. Our friends at PowerUp WHAT WORKS, an American Institutes for Research project, and the Learning Revolution are excited to announce an 8 session professional development webinar series for teachers, ed tech coordinators, and school leaders during the month of May. Topics will include how to integrate technology into English Language Arts and Math classrooms, differentiated instruction, technology implementation strategies, and more. These sessions will be delivered by top-notch researchers and practitioners who you can learn more about here. We will provide PD certificates to those who participate in the series, so please give a heads up to your colleagues and mark your calendars for Tuesday and Thursday evenings in May! More details will be coming soon.
  • Learning Revolution Events Updates. In case you missed our big email announcement with information about this year's growing list of events, please visit my blog to see what you missed. We're so excited to have such a great list of offerings for you, so please remember to share with your colleagues!

1 April 2014

  • Reinventing the Classroom. Ever since I started Classroom 2.0 I've looked forward to holding an event specifically about Ed Tech in the classroom. Thanks to Promethean (who are also sponsoring Hack Education and ISTEUnplugged.com this year!), we're pleased to announce and issue the call for proposals for Reinventing the Classroom. Please visit the new conference website at http://www.ReinventingtheClassroom.com/ and we hope that you'll consider attending and/or presenting just one month from now on May 1st!
  • Library 2.014 Call for Proposals Now Open. The call for proposals for the fourth annual Library 2.0 conference - Library 2.014 - also opens today. This two-day, free online conference is designed to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among information professionals worldwide. Please see the conference strands and the call for proposals for more information. Mark your calendars for October 8th and 9th -- we look forward to seeing you there!
  • #RSCON5 MiniCon Kicks Off Sunday. Join us this Sunday, April 6th, for a sneak peek at RSCON5 with our first Reform Symposium MiniCon! We'll get started at 9:30am EDT with the opening ceremony and a musical performance by Jason Levine, followed by keynote superstar Steven Anderson. Next up will be one hour of Inspire Presentations, and the fun and fast-paced Technology Smackdown before the closing ceremony at 1pm EDT. Look for details on the website and follow #RSCON5 to see what we're up to!
  • National Geographic Announces Geo-Educator Community. National Geographic has announced the official launch of its new community for educators, the Geo-Educator Community. The Geo-Educator Community provides a space for geo-educators to share resources, collaborate on projects, learn from each other and give support. National Geographic defines a geo-educator as an educator working to improve young people’s understanding of the world. Geo-educators can join the community through a variety of online platforms including Twitter, Facebook, and the secure educator site, Edmodo (www.geo-educatorcommunity.org). The community already hosts vibrant discussion ranging from getting students outside, involved in community service projects, and connected to classrooms around the world. Geo-educators are also engaged in serious discussion on how to implement geo-education across the country and around the world. Learn more at www.geo-education.org.

25 March 2014

18 March 2014

  • School Leadership Summit Extended: March 26th - 28th. We've extended the conference! Due to the amazing number of presentations we've received, we will be featuring four more hours of sessions on the morning of Friday, March 28th. We are also excited to announce that Eric Sheninger will be delivering a special keynote on Wednesday, March 26th at 5pm PDT! See the conference schedule for all the great sessions taking place next week.
  • CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS! While the call for proposals for School Leadership Summit is now closed, we are still looking for volunteers to help moderate the sessions that we've added. Don't miss this opportunity to get involved with a great event! Please see information about volunteering here.
  • Reform Symposium (RSCON5) MiniCons. This year we are hosting 2 half-day free online events - Reform Symposium MiniCons. On April 6th, we will feature musical guest Jason Levine, keynote speaker Steven Anderson, a technology smackdown event that anyone can sign-up for, and eight Inspire Presentations that highlight RSCON4 and give you a sneak peek at what to expect at our annual Reform Symposium Free Online Conference RSCON5. RSCON5 will take place July 11th - 13th, 2014 and will feature 60+ presentations, 2 plenaries, 10 keynotes, student presenters, and much more. Learn more about our MiniCon events and how to sign up for these fun presentation opportunities here. Follow #RSCON5 for updates.

 

11 March 2014

  • Next week: CoSN Conference in Washington DC. March 19th - 22nd in Washington DC will be the annual CoSN Conference. CoSN is designed for education leaders to better understand their changing roles in creating the new face of learning, and it's a great event with terrific history and high-powered speakers. The conference starts with an opening "Town Hall Forum" with the Hon. Bob Wise and Yong Zhao, has David Pogue as closing keynote, and has special pre- and post-conference events and tours. Join us Thursday and Friday of the conference for CoSN Camp, an unconference event. Included in the fun will be "Spectacular Failures," a fast-paced sharing of risk-taking adventures that taught us something valuable (read: failures)! I'll be there helping the organizers, as well as sharing one of my own many "spectacular failure" stories. Don't miss the fun!
  • School Leadership Summit - March 27th. This is the final week to submit presentation proposals for the second annual School Leadership Summit. The session schedule is almost full, but we do place presentation proposals on a waitlist in case of cancellations. The call for volunteers will go out this week, so be on the lookout for how to get involved!
  • Learning Revolution Conference Online. The Learning Revolution Conference call for proposals is now open. This free, online event all about learning will have two days of open sessions on April 24th and 25th. The conference strands include Learning Theory, Learning Practice, Learning Science, Learning Spaces, and Technology & Learning. We encourage all to participate, so please see the submission instructions available here.
  • Register for Deep Dive Black Mountain. Come join us in Black Mountain, North Carolina for three+ days of deeper conversations about learning and for the first ever Alternative Education Film Festival. Register for this event here. See you in May!
  • AERO 25th Anniversary Conference. AERO is holding it's 25th anniversary conference June 26th - 29th on Long Island. Because this conference conflicts with the dates of ISTE, many receiving this newsletter will not be able to attend. But if you are free those days, I highly recommend attending this conference. In fact, of all the conferences I attended last year, AERO was my favorite. Their mission is "to help create an education revolution, to make learner-centered education available to everyone," and their workshops and attendees come from all kinds of alternative learning organizations. Keynotes include Zoë Neill Readhead, Jerry Mintz, and a special panel of Brooklyn Free School students and teachers. Learn more or register here.
  • Walden University researcher, Rose Arnell, is looking for survey participants: I am a doctoral student at Walden University and am conducting a study called, Teacher Beliefs on Self-Learning, Collaboration, and Participation in Virtual Communities of Practice. I am in need of 10 participants who would be willing to discuss their experiences within Classroom 2.0 through 2 interviews and through patterns found within their Ning contributions. My goal is to understand the benefits of participating in a virtual community and how this learning transformed teaching. Any communication will be independently coordinated outside of Classroom 2.0. Are you interested in participating? Please fill out this invitation to be considered for this study. Thanks for sharing, Rose! Your research interest is highly relevant for our communities!
  • Nominate your favorite keynote speakers for Library 2.014. We're excited to be gearing up for the fourth annual Library 2.014 conference on October 8th and 9th. Thanks to input from information professionals worldwide, the lineup of keynote presenters during the past Library 2.0 virtual conferences has been phenomenal. We enthusiastically invite you to nominate dynamic speakers who will lead the global conversation about the future of libraries during the Library 2.014 Worldwide Virtual Conference. This is your chance to help shape this open online conference! Fill out this form to submit your nomination by March 31st.
  • New Partners. A big welcome to our new calendar partner, New Global Citizens! You'll now see their great events listed in the main calendar at learningrevolution.com. Join @NGCitizens for #globaledchat every Thursday at 8pm ET - topics changing weekly!

 

4 March 2014

  • Educational Films Compilation. We're collecting what we're hoping will be an all-inclusive list of films about education, some of which we're going to show at our Deep Dive event at Black Mountain in May. Please check out our list and let us know if we can add any others!
  • New Events Calendars. We're building new calendars for major conferences and events in the library, education, museum, and nontraditional education arenas--you can access these calendars through the top menu of the website. Please email Amy at admin@web20labs.com if we have missed some events we should know about.
  • New Partners. We want to welcome the Mozilla Foundation to our growing list of calendar partners. You'll now see their great events listed in the main calendar at learningrevolution.com. Learn more about hosting your own Maker Party with Mozilla.
  • Learning Revolution Conference Call for Proposals Now Open. The Learning Revolution Conference call for proposals is now open. This free, online event will have two days of open sessions on April 24th and 25th. The conference strands include Learning Theory, Learning Practice, Learning Science, Learning Spaces, and Technology & Learning. We encourage all to participate, so please see the submission instructions available here.

 

25 February 2014

  • GlobalEdCon Celebration and Meetup Reminder. For those of you who missed our Thursday announcement, Lucy Gray and I will be generously hosted by the Sidwell Friends School for a GlobalEdCon Celebration and Meetup in Washington DC on Tuesday, March 18th. In 2014, we are celebrating the fifth anniversary of GlobalEdCon and we're excited to share information about our future plans with you at this face-to-face event. We also would like to thank those who have supported our previous events and introduce ourselves to others who may share our vision. Please join us for a relaxed evening of conversation and networking as we bring together individuals, schools and organizations who are interested in or are working in the global education space. Please RSVP here, as space is limited. Looking forward to seeing you there!
  • CoSN 2014 Annual Conference Reminder. March 19th - 22nd in Washington DC will be the annual CoSN Conference. CoSN is designed for education leaders to better understand their changing roles in creating the new face of learning, and it's a great event with terrific history and high-powered speakers.The conference starts with an opening "Town Hall Forum" with the Hon. Bob Wise and Yong Zhao, has David Pogue as closing keynote, and has special pre- and post-conference events and tours. Join us Thursday and Friday of the conference for CoSN Camp, an unconference event. Included in the fun will be "Spectacular Failures," a fast-paced sharing of risk-taking adventures that taught us something valuable (read: failures)! I'll be there helping the organizers, as well as sharing one of my own many "spectacular failure" stories. Don't miss the fun!
  • Look for events from these new partners at Learning Revolution. We're excited to announce this week's new event partners: Digital Wish, Know.Do.Serve.Learn., National Geographic Education, New Media Consortium, and The Steve Sinnott Foundation. Are you interested in becoming a partner of the Learning Revolution? Apply here!
  • New: Partner Announcements. We've had the opportunity to work with some great partners over the years, and want to be able to share news and projects from our partners with newsletter readers. Today we'd like to encourage our partners to submit their announcements by filling out the form available here. We will share these updates in a new Partner Announcements section in Tuesday's newsletter, and will tweet these announcements via @learnrevproject. This is our way of saying thank you for all of your support!
  • Learning Revolution Online Conference: Call for proposals now open. The call for proposals for the inaugural Learning Revolution Online Conference is now open. This event will bridge the conversations about learning that are taking place in schools, libraries, museums, work places, and home learning worlds. Mark your calendars for April 24th and 25th, and look for more information in this Thursday's special announcement.

 

18 February 2014

  • Kicking off OZeLive 2014 - Ed Tech Down Under. Reminder that this weekend is the inaugural OZeLive -- an Australia / New Zealand timezone friendly Ed Tech conference. I will be giving the opening keynote. I'll be talking about the Learning Revolution -- both the historical importance of this moment in time, and what I think we've learned about building learning communities.
  • School Leadership Summit. Don't forget that School Leadership Summit is coming up on March 27th. We're still accepting presentation proposals, so be sure to get yours in before March 15th. Click here for details.
  • Learning Revolution Events. Next week we'll be announcing twin Learning Revolution conferences -- one online, and one in Black Mountain. These events will bridge the conversations about learning that are taking place in schools, libraries, museums, work places, and home learning worlds. Join us for conversations about learning at the online event April 24th and 25th, and come to the physical conference for deeper conversations about learning May 12th - 14th in Black Mountain, North Carolina.
  • New conference dates to add to your calendar. We've got a lot in store for this year! Spend April 10th online with search specialists, instructors, and librarians discussing the importance of search and learning how to incorporate search skills into your curriculum at Search Matters. Join us virtually for a one-day event called Reinventing the Classroom on May 1st. Get ready for the fifth annual Reform Symposium July 11th - July 13th. And finally, Homeschool Conference II will be held online on August 7th and 8th. Stay tuned for details.
  • New calendar partners. This week we've added two new partners to the Learning Revolution. You'll now see Invent To Learn and Natural Math events in our calendar. Interested in becoming a calendar partner? Contact Amy at admin@web20labs.com.

 

11 February 2014

  • ISTE Virtual Conference. ISTE members, don't miss out on 3 hours of amazing webinars coming up Thursday. Join us online for new content focused on the hottest topics from ISTE 2013 and a sneak peek at what’s in store for ISTE 2014 — plus live interaction and discussion with ISTE 2013 keynoter Adam Bellow. I'm very excited to be moderating this event, and looking forward to seeing you there!
  • Speaking of ISTE... Don't miss the unconferencey fun that we have scheduled at ISTE 2014. More information at ISTE Unplugged.
  • OZeLive Update. The presentation deadline for OZeLive is this Saturday. Great sessions are already booked, but you can still present! Don't forget to mark your calendar for the actual event, February 22nd and 23rd in Australia Eastern Standard Time. Visit ozelive.com for more information, and use #OZeLive to share your excitement about this event!
  • Looking for Film Festival Entries. The Learning Revolution will be holding both virtual and physical conferences in the spring. We are looking for film recommendations for an educational film festival that will be part of our physical event. Please email Rochelle with your recommendations at rochelle.hudson@gmail.com.
  • New Partner Announcment. Giving a shout out to our new Learning Revolution calendar partners: BrainPOP, Common Sense Media, CoSN, iEARN, and Taking IT Global. See their events in our main calendar at learningrevolution.com. More to come. Be sure to contact Amy at admin@web20labs.com if you'd like to see your organization's events included.

 

4 February 2014

  • OZeLive: Ed Tech Down Under - February 22nd and 23rd. OZeLive, the Australian time-zone friendly education conference, is now accepting presentation proposals. While this conference is designed for presentations and participation from that part of the world, all are welcome. (North Americans, be prepared for 4pm to 8am EST!) Be sure to consider participating if those times are convenient for you. Join the network and get involved here.
  • New Media Consortium > Social Networks. I'll be the moderator for a New Media Consortium webinar tomorrow on Social Networking. This is a free event, and will be broadcast live on YouTube at 1pm EST. Register here to participate!
  • ISTE Virtual Conference 2014. I'll also be acting as moderator for a special three hour set of ISTE webinars on Thursday 2/13. This event will be a sneak peek of what's to come at ISTE 2014 in Atlanta. Please note that this event requires ISTE membership to attend. To learn more about this event (and find out about ISTE membership), visit http://www.iste.org/learn/resources/virtual-conference?id=2992.
  • School Leadership Summit - March 27th. The second annual School Leadership Summit (online) is still accepting presentation proposals. Find out more about the submission process here. We look forward to "seeing" you there!
  • Host Your Own Webinar Update Kim Caise inaugurated our Host Your Own Webinar program with her online event yesterday. Remember, if you're a non-profit or non-commercial organization you can host your own public education webinar using Blackboard Collaborate through the Learning Revolution. See details here.
  • New Calendar Partners. We have two new partners, whose events are highlighted in our main calendar: New Media Consortium and Internet2. For information on being a Learning Revolution partner, please email admin@web20labs.com.

28 January 2014

  • Announcing OZeLive - Ed Tech Down Under on February 22nd and 23rd. On a very fast schedule, we're announcing OZeLive -- our free, Australia time-zone friendly educational technology virtual conference. The team from Australia e-Series in collaboration with The Learning Revolution, are very excited about our first conference in 2014. Call for proposals now open! We invite you to join our network and consider presenting and/or attending any of the strands for this event. Backchannelling and promotions will appear in Twitter under #ozelive.
  • Save the Date: March 6 + 7 - Exploring the Learning Process. Our second conference under the Homeschool banner will be a broad learning event, inviting and including participation from the school, library, museum, and homeschool communities. We're looking to bridge these worlds into a larger conversation on when, how, and where learning takes place and can be facilitated.
  • Student Liberation Handbook: Volume I. The Student Liberation Handbook Volume I is almost here! Chapter contributions in this volume come from Blake Boles, David Loertscher, Marc Crompton, Ann Michaelsen, Lisa Nielsen, Mattias Davidsson, and Jackie Gerstein. Look for an announcement in coming weeks.

21 January 2014

 

14 January 2014

  • Host Your Own Webinar Returns. The HYOW program is back! This terrific program was unfortunately shuttered when the LearnCentral network was closed, but now it's back. Anyone can hold an educational and free webinar that also gets posted in our events calendar. More information here.
  • Mark your calendars for Library 2.014. October 8th and 9th are confirmed for Library 2.014. This is an amazing annual event. Click here to go to the YouTube channel for past keynotes, or here for all recorded sessions.
  • Classroom 2.0. We've been asked to start a Classroom 2.0 group for job seeking and opportunity listings. Check it out here and let us know what you think.
  • Teaser: We've tentatively set April 24th as the date for a free online conference which we'll call "Reinventing the Classroom." More information to come.
  • Announcing the 2014 Homeschool Conference. We're pleased to announce our second free online Homeschool Conference, which will be March 6th and 7th. Look for updates soon. Traditional educators: there's a lot to be learned from the homeschooling world about personal education and the pursuit of passionate interests--you might consider attending!

 

7 January 2014

  • Learning Revolution Partner Events. We've added events from our new partners this week: TL Chat, TICAL, ISTE, EdTechTalk, and Personalize Learning. To partner with the Learning Revolution, please contact Amy at admin@web20labs.com.
  • Learning 2.0 on YouTube. The recordings from last year's incredible Learning 2.0 Conference are now up on YouTube. Don't miss keynotes from Marc Prensky, Michelle Pacansky-Brock, Lucy Gray, Lee Rainie, Esther Wojcicki, Julie Evans, Gina Bianchini, Yong Zhao, Gwyneth Jones, David Loertscher, Michelle Luhtala, Shannon Miller, Joyce Valenza, Gordon Dryden, Angela Maiers, Audrey Watters, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Sugata Mitra, and Heidi Hayes Jacobs. Find them here.

 

17 December 2013

 

10 December 2013

  • School Leadership Summit 2014. The 2nd annual School Leadership Summit is being announced this week. This free event will be held online on March 27th, 2014, thanks to TICAL, our founding sponsor. Our first keynote speaker has been confirmed: the terrific Scott McLeod! Sign up at admin20.org to make sure you get the announcement and call for proposals this week.
  • ISTE Unplugged 2014 is in the works. Astute ISTE observers will note that the conference starts on Saturday this year, so our Hack Education all-day unconference will be on Friday, June 27th in the conference center in Atlanta. This event is always free and, for many, is the event at ISTE. Our Global Education Day event will move to Saturday afternoon.
  • Conference Keynotes on YouTube. We are excited to announce that the keynote sessions from the following conferences can now be watched on YouTube: School Leadership Summit 2013, Homeschool Conference 2013, STEMxCon 2013, Library 2.012 and 2.013, and the Global Education Conference 2012 and 2013. Visit each of the conference sites to see all of the session recordings.
  • Tentative dates for Library 2.014. We have tentative dates for Library 2.014, Wednesday October 8 and Thursday October 9, 2014. These dates are tentative, but we are committed to holding the conference midweek. If those dates hold, Connected Librarians Day would be Monday, October 6th, 2014.
  • Global Education Conference 2014. Our 2014 Global Education Conference also has tentative dates; November 17 - 21, 2014.
  • Host Your Own Webinar. For those of you who remember the LearnCentral Host Your Own Webinar program, it's coming back! We'll be providing the ability for you to schedule and host your own non-commercial webinars which we will add to our calendar and help to advertise. Be thinking about some educational ideas and practices that you want to share.