9-4 Part 2- Global Education Conference

This past week was the Global Education Conference, a free weeklong web conference for educators. Unfortunately, I was not able to “attend” any of the live sessions but I was able review one of the recorded sessions. I reviewed Connecting Classrooms Through Global Project Based Learning Activities and Resources presented by Kimberly Caise on Nov 20 at 11pm EST. I chose this session because it was the same exact topic we discussed in our class this week! There were as many as 13 participants in the session from places such as Texas, New Jersey, New York , and even India. She provided the participants with a LiveBinder which contained all of the links and resources. She first discussed the setup and several of configurations of the equipment for web conferencing. Next, she spent the remaining time focusing on the various activities involving connecting with other classes the world with her own students along with many resources and tools.  I especially liked how the Jeopardy web conference with another class, as my students love to play the game within our own class for review. I could just imagine how competing with another class might further engage and encourage them! There was so many resources that I found myself going to the linked websites, getting lost in them, and then having to going back and rewind the presentation so I did not miss a thing! 

I believe that the Global Education Conference is a great for all educators, not just “techies.” Like other traditional conferences, teachers can learn, but using a web-conference format, you do not have to leave your house saving time and money. You can also potentially take in more content with a web conference. If there are two sessions that you are interested in at the same time, you can attend one of them and then review the recorded version of the other one later. One advantage a traditional conference has is that there is more networking with the other participants. At traditional sessions, I enjoy meeting with other educators outside of the sessions. Besides that point, I feel that web conferences are the way to go!

  Looking at the list of sessions, I see literally 30 or so I would like to view. I will make it a point to take in many of them over the holiday break I will have some more time to breathe! Because I was not a part of a live session, I was unable to ask a question to the presenter or interact with the other participants, but I will definitely be a part of this next year. The recorded sessions are available in MP3 audio, MP4 video, and Blackboard Collaborate formats. However, I would strongly suggest that you download and utilize the Blackboard Collaborate application as you are able to experience the conference the same way as when it was presented live (i.e. see the comments and questions from the participants).