Article - January 26, 2004
from the Washington State Coalition for International Education

Friendship through Education Connecting Classroom Communities in the World: Professional Development for International Education through Technology

The Friendship Through Education (FTE) Consortium, with leadership by iEARN-USA, has been funded by the U.S. Department of Education to create professional development demonstration projects through which U.S. schools can internationalize their curricula as a way to enhance global learning and understanding in a context of educational goals that are aligned with state and national educational standards.  In these projects, students and teachers in the U.S., and schools throughout the world, will utilize the Internet and other new technologies to demonstrate how international education can be integrated into K-12 classrooms.

Through one demonstration project, which is called Connecting Classroom Communities in the World (C³ World Project), ten K-8 pilot schools in King County of Washington State will be selected to engage in comprehensive professional development, including on-site mentoring in the classroom, an online professional development course that builds international education communities, and implementation of collaborative curricula projects through which students and teachers engage with peers in other countries to achieve educational objectives and gain global understanding.

This initiative is unique in that it brings together schools, classroom teachers, and state education programs (social studies, world languages, technology, and international education) to demonstrate how technology can be used to integrate international education into all parts of a teacher’s curriculum.  The initiative utilizes the international community and project-based learning of iEARN and resources of the other Friendship Through Education (FTE) Consortium members.  It is being conducted in collaboration with the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.  The initiative also builds on the highly-regarded work of the Washington State Coalition for International Education, sponsored by the National Coalition for Asia and International Studies in the Schools.

The key elements of the project include:

• Selection of the ten pilot schools and two teachers from each school as participants in the project (by February 10, 2004)
   
• School one-year iEARN membership
   
• Professional development through on-site classroom mentoring at each participating school by the Project Director, Ms. Kristi Rennebohm Franz, a nationally recognized teacher and author on the subject of technology-based integration of international education in classrooms (March to June 2004)
   
• Video-conferencing and e-mail among participants to build a collaborative professional development community that supports one another’s international education curricular teaching and learning
   
• Teacher participation in a nine-week online course on how to use technology in international project-based learning (Spring or Fall 2004)
   
• Monthly professional development seminars by all participating teachers to build expertise on integrating international education and technology into curriculum and assessing student learning within the context of this initiative (March to June 2004)
   
• Dissemination of results at the 2004 NECC conference
   
• Participation in the 2004 iEARN International Conference in Slovakia in July 2004 (two half-scholarships for conference fees and transportation for each participating school), for the purpose of sharing their experiences with educators from other states and countries
   
• Reporting to the U.S. Department of Education on results from the project for adaptation in other states and communities in the U.S.

Schools wishing to participate in this initiative should contact Kristi Rennebohm Franz at krennebohmfranz@us.iearn.org Tel: (206) 320-1459 and complete a participation application form by February 10. 2004. To apply, do one of the following:

• Complete the Online Application Form or
• Open, save, and edit the Word Application Form (Word file opens in new window), then email it as an attachment to krennebohmfranz@us.iearn.org or
• Print and fill out the PDF Application Form (PDF file opens in new window) and contact Kristi (telephone (206) 320-1459) to arrange to fax or mail it her.

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Washington State Coalition for International Education
http://internationaledwa.org