What are the goals and principles of iEARN?

 

1. To develop friendly relations among young of all nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of people

2. To encourage youth from all countries to learn and work co-operatively and collaboratively using telecommunications and other technology, to strengthen universal world peace, to identify and take active part in resolving global problems facing the world;

3. To promote and encourage respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, culture or religion;

4. To facilitate identification and sharing the different but complementary experiences of educational, academic and other national organizations with enduring educational infrastructures, and traditions throughout the world;

5. To share high-quality educational and other resources available in individual Membercenters;

6. To provide a global infrastructure for a conceptual and action-based educational network that is open to all;

7. To share/transfer telecommunications technology, teaching methods and other resources with youth organizations, schools, or individuals wishing to achieve the iEARN purpose and goals;

8. To assist in establishing training and support programs in each global Center;

9. To expand the network of financially and operationally sustainable iEARN Centers throughout the globe;

10. To work with umbrella organizations, academic bodies, universities, non-government organizations, and governments to establish a global community of concerned organizations and citizens with the express purpose of supporting the youth of the world in developing and implementing educational and humanitarian projects, especially projects of change and healing for the health and welfare of the planet;

11. To develop and maintain high-quality educational innovation.

 

Technology to support project work

How is e-mail used in iEARN?

 

E-mail is primarily sent from one computer to another computer, with possibly one or more copies going to other computers. It is viewed only by the sender and recipients of the e-mail message. E-mail is an extremely valuable and personal way of connecting people around the world. When finding iEARN projects to join, you will always find e-mail contact information for the project's facilitator(s), who will be fellow teachers or students in the network. You can write to these people to find out more about their project, and guidance on where the project is taking place.

What kind ot technologies involved in iEARN?

There are four types of technologies involved in iEARN:

1. E-mail - one computer to another computer, with possibilities of multiple copies.

2. Online conferences - one computer to a discussion room/forum ("newsgroups") into which people "walk" and interact with whomever is in the room and which is accessible by thousands of computers.

3. WWW - depository of files with text and graphics in a "gallery" which visitors can admire, download, and perhaps meet others.

4. Video-conferencing taking advantage of both video and audio capabilities of the internet.

 

What do I need to do to set up my e-mail account to use iEARN?

 

Since everyone will use a different e-mail system, we cannot provide guidance for all of them. Information on how to configure e-mail settings on an Internet browser such as Netscape and Internet Explorer, must be obtained from the Internet service provider offering the e-mailbox. Generally, the only e-mail setting that must be set in order to post messages to iEARN project "conferences," is for the user's Internet browser "mail" settings to be completed (to avoid anonymous posting of messages). In many instances, this will be done by the school itself. To configure the e-mail portion of your browser, you will need to know your "smtp" or mail server. It often contains the letters "smtp" or "mail" before your Internet provider's domain name, such as in the following formats:

• smtp.igc.apc.org

• mail.school.udc.k12.ca.us

• mail.aol.com

You will also need to direct your news server to where the iEARN newsgroups are "hosted." The next section, "newsgroups" covers this set-up.

Online Conference (Newsgroups)

It's our experience that "conferences" or discussion rooms are the most effective way to undertake educational projects on-line because:

• messages don't fill mailboxes like listservs

• they are not real-time, so they are easy to arrange in the classroom schedule and in a global network

• they allow for a "public" way of interaction (in contrast to e-mail which is private) so participants can

• see the interaction and know that a discussion is underway

• participants can enter late and still not miss any of the discussion

• "threads" or topics can be used to focus discussions on specific questions or issues

• there is a record of the discussions/actions, making it easier to produce the final product

• people with access only to e-mail can participate by being subscribed to them, rather than be excluded or marginalized

How do I configure my web browser to participate in iEARN’s online conferences/newsgroups?

Participants in iEARN use a variety of different web browsers, e-mail systems, and computer platforms. The technical set-up is generally best done individually with the technical person at the school, though iEARN will work individually with the technical person, if necessary.

Configuring your web browser to access iEARN conferences/newsgroups, is usually a very simple task. The only specific setting you will need to change or add to use iEARN newsgroups is to point the browser to the following news server: under "Preferences" or "Options." The first time that you access this news server, you may need to "Subscribe" to all of the "iearn" newsgroups so that they appear each time you open your message/news center. At some point in this process (depending on which browser you are using) you will be asked for your iEARN User Name and Password before being allowed to click on and read the postings to the various "iearn" conferences. Contact iEARNUS at iearn@us.iearn.org if you have lost your User Name and Password. iEARN Provides On-line Tutorials - for both Netscape Communicator and Internet Explorer. Look online at http://www.iearn.org/wwwguides.html.

 

Points to emphasize about writing for newsgroups:

 

1. Preparation and transmission. Preparation and transmission should be seen as two separate tasks. Preparing the transmissions, researching and creating material to be transmitted, is a very important part of the process.

2. Student feedback. Students will be writing with real purpose for a very real audience. The presence of this audience provides an incentive for students to produce the most effective communication possible. You may want to incorporate a feedback process prior to transmission, where students have the opportunity to comment on each others work and then revise accordingly before they actually post their messages to the iEARN newsgroups.

3. Responsibility. It is important to emphasize to both teachers and students that iEARN is first and foremost a human network, and that when they post messages to the iEARN newsgroups, they are communicating in the context of a global community. Thus, special care should be taken to ensure that language is cross-cultural and appropriate for a diverse audience. And, it is the responsibility of each school to ensure that students' writings are thoughtful and respectful of others.

 

How can I post the results of project work on the WWW?

Many students and teachers place files on the WWW to show others the work that they have done. The beauty of this technology is that it allows for graphics, sound, moving images, text, etc.
Some examples of school web pages designed for iEARN project work:
Baja, Hungary: Bela III Grammar School's iEARN pages:
http://www.bajabela.sulinet.hu/tubi/iearn/iearn.htm
New Jersey, USA: Franklin Township School's iEARN pages:
http://www.csnet.net/coalition/lc.spring.98.menu.html
Focsani, Romania: Duiliu Zamfirescu School’s iEARN pages:
http://www.lanzadera.com/ourprojects

How is videoconferencing used in iEARN?

 

With the arrival of faster, more reliable and less-expensive Internet connections, schools are increasingly seeking to take advantage of new video-conferencing technologies. Some of these include "CU-SeeMe", "NetMeeting", "MeetingPoint", etc. To utilize these technologies, a minimum connection of 28.8 dial-up is required, with an ISDN, LAN, T-1 connection preferred. With the minimum, it is often not possible to utilize both the audio and video capabilities of the technology. Since these technologies are in "real time" attention must be paid to time zones and to language capabilities of the participants. Further, our experience and other research indicates that successful use of these technologies requires careful advance preparation and effective facilitation during the connection.

To facilitate such connections, iEARN has created a field within its on-line database http://www.iearn.org/databases for "CU-SeeMe" to allow members to identify others with access to this technology. Schools often find partners for video-conferencing events by posting a message on the iearn.teachers conference indicating the date and time of the proposed video-conference and the subject matter to be discussed. Should schools wish to coordinate group conferences, iEARN also has a reflector site which allows multiple users to dial on and conference with one another using the same number. Once you have identified a group of classes with whome you would like to videoconference, write to iearn@us.iearn.org for help in setting this up.

Building Connections/Getting Starting in iEARN Projects

How can I find and join iEARN projects?

 

1. Welcome Phase - Meet Others in iEARN: We invite new members to introduce themselves and greet new members on our conferences for connecting people:

 

- iearn.teachers - This newsgroup is a place to meet and talk, make announcements and updates. It is also a place to share initial project ideas in order to find other people who might want to help develop a project.

As part of their introduction into iEARN, new teachers are encouraged to post a message to the "Windows on the World Section" of iearn.teachers. We invite all iEARN teachers to introduce themselves under the appropriate topic (Windows on Asia, Windows on North America, etc) and describe briefly what they see when they look out the window of their school, as well as a brief mention of any special interests they or their class have.

- iearn.youth – A place for young people to meet, share ideas, and plan projects.

 

- iearn.latina - A place for speakers of Latin based languages (Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese)

 

- iearn.francais - A place for speakers of French to meet and conduct French language projects.

 

- iearn.port - A place for speakers of Portuguese to meet and conduct Portuguese language projects.

- iearn.nihongo - A place for speakers of Japanese to meet and conduct Japanese language projects.
2. Learn About Projects - There are several resources that will help you find out which projects are currently taking place on iEARN:

- iearn.ideas - This conference describes the projects that are taking place in iEARN. It is especially important because it will tell you where a project is taking place if it is not being conducted in its own newsgroup/conference. Projects can also be found in the online iEARN database at http://www.igc.apc.org/iearn/databases.html.

 

- Newsflashes - Every two weeks an online newsletter is created and sent to all iEARN participants via e-mail. It describes new projects and people looking for collaborators, gives updates on continuing projects, and is a place to make general announcements.

 

- Project Description Booklet - This annual publication is sent to all members ofi*EARN. Up-todate descriptions of projects can also be found on our web site: http://www.iearn.org/projects.html. Descriptions of what is happening in each of the different iEARN project newsgroups can be found at http://www.iearn.org/conferences.html.

3. Become Involved in a Project - We encourage all iEARN teachers and students to participate in existing projects before initiating a project of their own. Identify a project of interest and find out if the project is still active using the steps in part 2 above. Go to the conference where the project is held or write to the facilitator of the project. Post a response to the Project Announcment topic introducing yourself, your class/school and reasons foryour interest in the particular project. Respond to recent existing postings/topics on the conference.
4. Create a New Project - Once you have made contacts in iEARN and are familiar with how the projects are on conducted on the newsgroups these are the suggested steps for developing your own project: Announce your idea by posting it on iearn.teachers or iearn.youth. This is to generate discussion and possible collaboration on the actual design of the project, and to see if there are other people interested in the topic. Once you find other people who are interested in joining the project fill out the Project Template Form in iearn.ideas [also available on the WWW at http://amity.iearn.org/projectadd.html] and send it to the facilitators of iearn.ideas- Judy Barr judybarr@iearn.org.au or Adriana Vilela adrianav@iearn.org. The facilitators of iearn.ideas will assign an on-line conference for your project to take place on and indicate this on the form. If your project will not take place on an on-line conference (if it will be a small e-mail exchange, for example), the posting will indicate this and tell people who to contact. The facilitators will then post the form to iearn.ideas. Please note: iearn.ideas is moderated so that only its two facilitators can post a topic to the conference.

Next, either you or the iearn.ideas facilitators will post your project as a topic on whichever on-line conference it has been assigned. The discussion will take place as responses to this topic on the conference. Occasionally post up-dates to your project announcement on iearn.ideas so that people know whether it is on-going or ended, whether you are still looking for participants, etc... Send the updates to newsflash@us.iearn.org as well so that we can put them in the newsflash. This is especially important if most of your project is taking place over e-mail and not on an on-line conference where it is visible to the public. Don't be disappointed if you don't generate a response to your proposal. Participating in other projects is just as important. It will give you valuable first-hand lessons about managing project activity andwill also give you the chance to meet other potential collaborators.

How is IEARN integrated in various curriculum areas? Examples…IEARN in Social Studies:

Classroom activity: A "Participation in Government" class is studying current events, with an emphasis on teaching students how to be savvy interpreters of what they read in newspapers and magazines, and see on television. The class chooses a particular current event and tracks it across the course of the semester. The issue in this case is "free speech" as it relates to a local hate group in the area, and their right to assemble and distribute propaganda in the community.

 

Networking activity: Students work on the IEARN project, "The Contemporary," a newsmagazine dealing with a different set of themes each year, ranging from "When should a politician's private life be made public?" to "Teenage Drug Use" to "War: When is it Justified." The Participation in Government class proposes a discussion of the issue of "Free Speech" for the upcoming issue of the magazine, posing a number of questions and activities that will allow for a cross-cultural comparison (school,local,national,international) on provisions for/protections of freedom of expression.

 

Among their questions

1. Are there internationally recognized protections/human rights concerning freedom of expression?

2. What provisions are there in your national constitution for protections of free speech?

3. What rights do students in your school have to express their beliefs? (example... who has final control over what is published in the school newspaper?)

4. What are various examples across different communities (local to global) of freedom of expression being called into question or challenged?

5. What are students' personal views on freedom of expression? Censorship? Hate speech?

In the end, students working in "The " decide to create a Common Draft of Free Speech for all Students around Contemporary the World to present as an insert in the next issue of the magazine. In addition, another group of students joins the new Holocaust/Genocide Project, "The Rise of Nazism," being facilitated by IEARN students in Russia who are witnessing a rise of hate groups in their own country. In both cases, the Participation in Government students research and share with their peers in IEARN what they are following in their local community.

 

IEARN in Geography:

Classroom Activity: Students in a "World Geography" class are assigned to research a particular region of the world and report on their findings in a five page research paper. As the class progresses, a large map hung in the back of the room is filled with facts and images from the students' research among the IEARN community.

 

Network Activity: The class as a whole joins the "Local History" project, a project to teach students local history while at the same time, building a tapestry of images and writings about towns all around the world.

 

To launch their world geography project, the class compiles a rich history of their town, and posts it to the local history project. At the same time, they begin corresponding individually with other participants in the project about what they are learning as their distant peers post their own local histories. In addition, the geography class uses the IEARN People Database to outreach to students in regions of the world not yet active in the Local History project to bring them into the group. Students have the opportunity to post questions to the project group about what they are learning about different regions of the world and to correspond directly with actual students from those regions. As their final class project, students build a Local History website using the correspondences within the project, as well as their own research.

IEARN in Math:

Classroom Activity: Students in a math class are learning about Statistics. Their assignment is to come up with a research project in which they gather and compile date related to a community issue and then report on their Statistical findings.

 

Network Activity: As part of their classroom work, students take part in the "Connecting Math to Our Lives" project. Students join with others around the world in examining their own lives and communities and broader issues relating to social justice and equality from a mathematical perspective. The class chooses to get involved specifically in the "STATISTICS AND SOCIETY" section of the project. They ask others in the project all around the world to complete a brief survey relating to the issue of Smoking, including questions about media advertising, rates of smoking in schools around the world, and attitudes about smoking. Students create a graph depicting their numeric data or statistics on a theme of interest. After creating the graph the students explain the information that it conveys and write about the implications they think the data projects.

 

IEARN in Science:

Classroom Activity: Students in chemistry are studying the chemical make-up of various pollutants in their environment.

 

Network Activity: As part of the "Virtual Chemistry 2000" project, students join with peers in Russia, the Ukraine, South Africa, and Argentina to take samples of soil around local highways and railroads. Students take samples of soil and water, analyse these samples in the school chemistry lab, and eventually compile their finding in a Web-site "Virtual Chemistry 2000."

 

IEARN in English

Classroom Activity: Students in an English class are doing a unit on poetry.

 

Network Activity: The class joins the international poetry anthology "A Vision," whose purpose is to use art and the medium of creative writing to demonstrate that despite linguistic, cultural, ethnic and racial differences, teenagers around the world share the same hopes, fears, interests and concerns. Students submit their work to the online project group and receive critiques, feedback, and encouragement from their online peers around the world. In addition, they assume the role of peer editors for the work of their online peers, learning how to analyze and critique works themselves. The hard copy publication of "A Vision" (coordinated by an IEARN school in Bulgaria) is received by the school at the end of the year, and includes a number of the submissions of the class!

 

IEARN in Languages:

Classroom Activity: Students are studying to learn Spanish.

 

Network Activity: The class joins the iearn.latina conference, a forum for current projects and discussion among educators and young people who would like to develop collaborative projects to contribute to the health and welfare of the planet and its peoples using Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, or other Latin based languages. Over the course of the year, the class participates in projects and discussions on a number of issues, including the environment, math, history and traditions of different countries, literary expressions, water, mathematics, and sports, among others.

IEARN in Art:
Classroom Activity: A class meets once a week for an arts unit.

Network Activity: Global Arts Projects have a strong tradition in IEARN, with art being a theme threaded throughout many of the various projects of the network. After exploring the different arts projects currently happening in IEARN, the students decide to work with the project "Folks Tales around the World," a project involving schools in Argentina, Australia, the Czech Republic, Ghana, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and the USA. Students became quite interested to learn that modern kids all over the world do really know "Three Little Piglets", "Sleeping Beauty" and "Cinderella". And unfortunately they know little about folk tales of their own country. And they know nothing about folk tales in other countries. Students began collecting Folk Tales in their school library and from their families to compile for the project. Each story became animated in their art class with drawings and paintings that soon became part of the project's collective Folk Tale anthology of stories from around the world!

What kinds of community service opportunities are possible through IEARN?

 

The premise of IEARN is that the Internet can be used as a tool to enhance education, not only in the cognitive aspect, but also in terms of helping to develop values, critical thinking and attitudes about participation in the community. By creating multicultural, on line communities, students can be empowered to be pro-active in their communities in issues of democracy, class, gender, human rights, ethnic differences and environmental preservation. By creating the habit of getting involved in issues that are relevant to them, kids and teenagers will hopefully be better equipped for future citizenship participation. On line communities share many characteristics of physical communities, even if their members are geographically dispersed. The members in these communities have a common interest and make up for the physical absence by creating distinct patterns of communication via e-mail. Instead of bodies and proximity, communities on line invent visible language that will do the things needed to build community.

IEARN projects allow students to reflect and dialogue on their local and global communities. Students are often inspired by these projects to take action: cleaning up a local pond, sending blankets to hurricane victims, or letters of solidarity to victims of violence. The IEARN global network of schools makes it possible to for students to look outside, as well as inside their community, for solutions. The following are examples of IEARN projects that can serve the purpose of promoting community action:
The Somalia Project- Students in the United States, Australia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Canada, and Arabia are collaborating on the aims of: 1) Providing a meaningful experience of cross-culture, friendship, and the community spirit of co-operation, giving and receiving, that is so congruent with IEARN, and 2) Assisting struggling Somalian schools with funds and supplies. Through their efforts, they have establishedcommunication and a link with Somalian schools so that the students can become part of the IEARN community.