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BrianLeung

Brian Leung's TIGblog
Brian Leung's profile

We Day, September 30, 2010
By Brian
What a wonderful day it was to attend an event that would transform the youth of our generation. Andy, Rucha and Brian of the TIGed team participated in an event called We Day hosted by Free the Children. Heading to the venue, we passed by thousands of enthusiastic high school students. They were all ready to begin making a difference in the world. We started the day with a wonderful breakfast, bagels, salad, coffee and juice. We met some pretty interesting people during the breakfast as well. By the end of breakfast, everyone in attendance was excited to begin the experience known as We Day.
Between the speeches and music, I was really inspired to see so many youth caring about the world and willing to stand up for freedom and peace. I was especially touched when I heard the stories and the speech from three peace champions, Betty Williams, Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish and Michel Chikwanine. Their personal experience and determination for peace is truly touching. I’m sure everyone in the audience, when asked to embrace the people around them, literally, had a lasting impression of the event because of their speeches and the stories they shared. It certainly was the case for me.
Overall, this was a great venue, and definitely hats off to Free the Children for putting on a spectacular show and definitely an event that will change the future through the lives of the youth in attendance.
Here’s a cheer for a brighter future! Hip, hip, Hoorray!

iremkhan

iKhan's TIGblog
iKhan's profile

The 2010 CIVICUS Youth Assembly kicked off on August 18th at Concordia University, Montreal, with an opening plenary on ‘Bridging Across Generations: How Can Youth Be Part of the Solution?’. The theme for this year’s assembly was economic and climate justice, and development effectiveness. CIVICUS is an international alliance formed with a mandate to strengthen citizen action at all levels of governance. The Youth Assembly gathered two days before the World Assembly to share knowledge and information in preparation for the events in the World Assembly. The assembly provided a transition for youth to become active in bringing out their passions and engaging them with meaningful dialogues. One emerging train of thought brought out by the panel, including Ingrid Srianth, the CIVICUS Secretary General, and Jennifer Corriero, co-founder of TakingITGlobal was that this generation of youth has access to a fluid identity. Your physical location and where you are born does not define you wholly or does not form your identity to the same extent as it may have in past generations. Jennifer Correiro also commented on the critical point of youth transitioning and re-defining their identities. This plays a large part to the feeling of belonging and being able to express themselves in creative ways. Samar Mezghanni, the Youth Assembly Chair, also commented on youth needing to take the next step and being disruptive to create the change they desire. She referred to this disruption as “soft-violence” to create waves of difference. Rajiv Joshi, Outreach Coordinator for GCAP, also brought up some amazing examples of youth capacity when left to their own resourcefulness, with the ‘Hole in the Wall’ project in India. Finally, Deborah Kaddu-Serwadda, the Founding President of Empower Children and Communities against Abuse in Uganda, brought in her youth engagement perspectives through her experience with setting up her agency. She gave messages of advocacy and offered hope for youth. “Perceptions may exist in society but as long as you’re true to your vision and have a critical mass of people believing in what you’re doing, you should never give up”. The CIVICUS Youth Assembly carried on these messages of inter-generational talks, with focused workshops on Economic Justice, Development Effectiveness and Climate Change. Each group delved into the youth’s perspective on how to make action more effective from the ground up. Kumi Naidoo’s talk on ‘The Impact of Climate Change’ earlier that morning also touched on the youth’s role on activism. One of the important messages we were left with was “We must act now, we must act together and we must act differently”. One engaging video Naidoo showed the delegation was a spin-off to e-Harmony’s ads, called Polluter Harmony. Overall, the Youth Assembly brought strong messages of action, the youth want to engage, they want to push past the talking and be active. I believe this change can happen within the constructs of the assembly itself, by seeing more active positions and representation of youth within the World Assembly. I commend the words of motivation delivered to the youth delegates, but I also hope to see those words actualized into action by youth. Check out videos from the Youth and World Assembly here.

iremkhan

iKhan's TIGblog
iKhan's profile

The Youth Assembly came to a close with a March and flashmob down the downtown streets of Montreal. There were three messages embedded within the March, which were; climate change, leadership powers and decision making, and human rights. The youth cheered and called out for justice to be served in different languages and came to a finish at the Palais des Congres where the World Assembly was to commence. The flashmob scenes focused on Climate Change, which was demonstrated through a group of people representing an iceberg and then slowly parts broke off and dissolved into the ground. The March ended with the message of maternal mortality as a critical issue to human rights. This was demonstrated with the youth blowing up balloons and placing them under their shirt, which represented various stages of pregnancy. They then popped the balloons simultaneously and fell to the ground showing the deaths of mothers as a result of lack of access to services and information. To learn more about this issue visit Amnesty International at http://www.amnesty.org/en/campaigns/demand-dignity/issues/maternal-mortality. The energy and importance of the March was a strong ending to an amazing two days at the CIVICUS Youth Assembly. These young leaders have demonstrated an incredible capacity to learn and engage with each other in effort to reach their common goals.

To watch some of the flashmob visit: http://www.youtube.com/takeitglobal#p/u/6/OmDi_leCdz8

iremkhan

iKhan's TIGblog
iKhan's profile

On Friday August 20, the BBC Radio programme broadcasted live from the Youth Assembly. The program marked a one-year anniversary since the Lockerbie Bomber had been released from prison in Scotland, on the base of compassionate grounds. Adel Baset Al-Megrahi was released when thought to have only three months to live due to prostate cancer. The question was then posed to the youth; do u waive your rights to compassion? And, what is stopping youth from engaging today? What are your thoughts on these questions?

iremkhan

iKhan's TIGblog
iKhan's profile

Tonight marks the end of the CIVICUS Youth assembly, but it is just the beginning for the World Assembly. Taking part of the youth assembly and the planned activities over these past few days have really brought the message home, that today’s youth are connected to the world and committed to making a change. The third Civicus Youth assembly is being held in Montreal, at Concordia University and has brought over fifty youth together to take part in seminars, workshops and discussions. The Youth Assembly took place two days before the World Assembly in preparing participants to become aware of their power in creating solutions for socio-economic and environmental issues. The theme of the conference this year is, Seeking out Solutions: Economic Justice, with cross cutting themes of development effectiveness and climate justice.

Stay tuned for video interviews and pictures!

dajmeri

Danish Ajmeri's TIGblog
Danish Ajmeri's profile

Hi, my name is Danish Ajmeri and I am an intern at TIG working on the Youth Task Force Toolkit. I was fortunate enough to be invited along with Brian, another intern, to attend ISTE and represent TIG and TIGed. ISTE is a technology and education conference that hosts different sessions, keynotes and booths by various companies and organizations. Our job was primarily to work at the TIG booth and explain TIG and TIGed to those who visited. This blog will highlight our time in Denver and tell you a little bit about what we did.
Tread Lightly:
Almost right after landing in Denver, it was time to get to work and make our debut at ISTE with the Tread Lightly poster session. We had people visiting our booth before we were even done setting up. Tread Lightly is a climate change education and engagement program developed by TIG with the generous support of the Staples Foundation for Learning. The program includes the following components:
• An interdisciplinary, secondary school level curriculum developed which teachers can use to support their students in learning about the climate change and the importance of taking personal responsibility for the environment. The curriculum includes 7 lessons, complete with discussion questions and homework suggestions, organized into three modules: Step In, Step Up, and Step Back. These modules are designed to give a basic introduction to the science and importance of climate change, prepare students to take action and participate in other Tread Lightly initiatives, and reflect on their Tread Lightly experience as well as global perspectives and policy developments.
• An accompanying online classroom pre-loaded with Tread Lightly lesson plans and other resources to help youth engage with the issue of climate change.
• An environmentally themed art contest
• Ecological footprint challenges
• And opportunities to connect globally through international student video conferences.
The Tread Lightly program was very well received by everyone who visited the booth and many even expressed an interest in TIG and TIGed and took the time to explore the different resources that they had to offer. They were fascinated by the large scope of our offerings and amazed that so much of what we offer is absolutely free. The poster session was an enormous success to the point that we were at our booth 90 minutes longer than the originally scheduled 90 minutes, for a total of 3 hours! We were literally the last people to exit the convention center! It was a great way to kick off ISTE and it really set the tone for the rest of our time there.
For more information on Tread Lightly visit www.treadlightly.me.
TIG booth:
Taking care of TIG’s booth at ISTE offered the opportunity to meet many wonderful teachers who reminded me of the inspiring teachers I’ve had in the past. The booth had periods of high and low traffic. But this gave us a greater chance to engage on a more personal level with people flowing into the booth area. We introduced so many people to the TIG community, and gave them a chance to explore all the resources available to them through TIGed. It was so amazing to receive such positive feedback from the educators, administrators and technology specialists who visited our booth.

Mindshare:
It was an honour to be part of a networking reception hosted by Mindshare and the Consulate General of Canada in partnership with Canadian eLearning Enterprise Alliance (CeLEA), and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). The room was full of wonderful educational technology leaders. Meeting like-minded individuals who aspire to common goal is an inspiring experience. We all wanted to improve the learning experience of youths. Ultimately, augmenting the educational system to a point where dropout rates are lower and youth everywhere better equipped for their futures.

TEDxDenverED:
Thanks to the Svitak family (http://www.adorasvitak.com/), I was fortunate enough to attend the TEDxDenverED event at the Center for Performing Arts. With over 1,000 people on the guest list, it was a hot ticket event and it sure did not disappoint – possibly the fastest four hours of my life. I’ve been a frequent visitor of www.ted.com so I was delighted to know that I would be able to attend the event live. With exquisite hors d’oeuvres prior to the show, I knew I was in for a special treat – no pun intended. The program featured six high calibre speakers as well as impeccable musical compositions by pianist, Adrianna Svitak.
One of my favourites was Brian Crosby, an upper elementary school teacher of 29 years who works with “at-risk” students. Utilizing field trips, art, technology, high-altitude balloons and the help of a couple professors from the University of Nevada, Brian took his students on a journey unlike any other. They launched a balloon into the atmosphere equipped with a digital camera and then tracked its progress on their laptops via GPS and blogged about this wild adventure as an English assignment. He was then able to connect his students with classrooms from New Zealand and Singapore to interact and learn from them. It’s truly remarkable to see the work that some teachers and individuals in the field of education have done and are willing to do and the future does look very bright. I thoroughly enjoyed the night and you can learn a lot more about the speakers and programme by visiting www.tedxdenvered.com .
iEARN Dinner:
On Tuesday night, I had the opportunity to enjoy a lovely night of Peruvian cuisine with Jennifer Corriero and Katherine Walraven and other members of the iEARN community. It was a fun night filled with new friends, jokes and an overall good time. It was also a timely opportunity to meet with some of the faces associated with iEARN since I will be at iEARN 2010 in Barrie the week of July 12-17! (http://iearn2010.tigweb.org/) I learned about its history and met people who have been at the forefront since the beginning. Also, I had the opportunity to participate in some of logistical details and planning that was being done for Barrie on the hotel notepad. It was a great night and I am really looking forward to meeting these people once again in Barrie next week!

Presentation by the students of The Odyssey School:
Brian was pleasantly surprised with an invitation to a presentation hosted by The Odyssey School given by students who had recently returned from visiting Israel after doing a unit on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. During the presentation he was awed by the maturity of these high school students. Their compassion, understanding, and passion for ordinary Palestinians who are affected by the conflict really moved me. A simple act of connecting American youth with other youth really opened their perspectives on world issues. Upon some simple reflection, this presentation reaffirms that the work we’re doing at TIG is really changing the world. At the conclusion of the presentation, I was instilled with a great sense of hope for the future because these students are now the leaders in the world.
Plenary Session:
After a wonderfully exciting day at the TIG booth and the TEDx event on Monday, we were all up bright and early Tuesday morning for the 8:30 am start of an insightful and engaging plenary session titled Innovation and Excellence: Buzz Words or Global Imperative?. Moderated by our very own, Jennifer Corriero, the session amalgamated the perspectives of four very different individuals including former vice-president of the World Bank, Jean-Francois Rischard, Canadian teacher, Terry Godwaldt, Singaporean student, Shaun Koh, and Director of the Office of Education Technology, Karen Cator.
Shaun encouraged teachers to rekindle their passion for teaching and use technology as an enabler to teach the subjects they love. He believes the students of today need to be taught how to learn and relate this knowledge to the real world. Similarly, Terry elaborated on his experience of using web 2.0 tools and social media to enhance the classroom experience and expose students to the world that lies before them. Speaking from experience, Jean-Francois believes three major developments are needed:; a new skills agenda aimed at equipping students with the necessary skills for the 21st century, a new global citizenship agenda producing students with a global mindset, and a new learning agenda offering students more memorable and deeper-reaching learning experiences. Finally, Karen Cator emphasized that learning happens everywhere and all innovations should be embraced to facilitate this. Even though the four panellists offered very different opinions, they agreed that education needs to change and be adopted for the 21st century. It was truly an eye-opening session and I was glad to have been a part of it. You can watch the webcast on video here: http://www.istevision.org/viewsession.php?id=114

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Games poster session:
What a great way to end the conference! We left with a bang! The poster session attracted many people to learn more about TIG, TIGed and our games. We showed teachers and administrators the viability of games in the curriculum. Many were interested in our Ayiti: the Cost of Life game, GRUB: Food Bytes, and Geography Genius: Flags of the World. It’ll be great to see a more engaging and interesting learning experience for students! To play the games go to www.tigweb.org/games

iremkhan

iKhan's TIGblog
iKhan's profile

The digital world of connections and networking has been made possible with the aid of mediums/platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube to broadcast ideas and identities. There is an increasing level of importance placed on people and businesses to integrate social networking in their day-to-day lives. The benefits of social networking have been made clear over and over; it is bridging gaps and bringing people together. It is not necessarily about the social media tools that help us engage, but it is about the connections that are created with people. I recently read an interesting article.

that pointed out that social networking is still about the relationships created; they are the currency to finding jobs in today’s markets. “Only you can make the relationship. Connecting with people still means you can’t be a dinosaur and ignore what is going on around you thinking nothing is changing. Change is constant”. Recently at the 17th annual iEARN conference held in Barrie, social networking was on the forefront. It made global classrooms possible and collaborations could take place across the world. However in learning about the social media, I also began questioning words that were being used to describe the benefits of these tools, such as breaking through “cross-cultural boundaries”. What role does social media play in bridging worlds, and does this bridge lead to a homogenized culture. In engaging children and youth to be active within social media platforms we are also exposing them to information that is increasingly homogenized. I was reading a recent Adbusters.

magazine on a beautiful beach on the lake, connected to nature and my surroundings. I found an article called "Ecology of Ecology".

to particularly resonate with the today’s generation of youth. The Jumpy Brain Syndrome is our endless feed of information being fed to us at all times through our blackberry devices, our netbooks and ipods. “The Kaiser Family Foundation reported that American children between the ages of 8 and 18 spend an average of 7½ hours a day using some sort of electronic device.” This did not take me by surprise but I did realize this was probably the first time in a month I was not plugged into technology. I had left all my devices and gadgets at home and I felt exposed and the compulsion to get an update on the world outside. Although I am not saying we should not use the amazing advantages of social media to connect, but we should also be aware of the increasing demands to be integrated into all components of social networks. Youth are buying into this alternative universe faster and easier than ever, given their ability to shape and recreate their individualistic representations. Which is why we need to promote using these mediums and tools of social connections for something of value. TakingITGlobal has always been a forward thinker for introducing social media for social change.

LaniC

Lani Chevat's TIGblog
Lani Chevat's profile

The week is coming to an end and with the final ceremonies the conferences was able to reflect on the past week. The closing ceremonies started off with the final flashmob dance, the songs lyrics "one people" was symbolic to the end result from a week long life changing conferences. There were many people to thank from the TakingITGlobal team, mentors, Mali and Jim and everyone who participated and helped organize the amazing youth summit. The presenters where also thanked for their hard work and teaching everyone about their interesting topics. Students have said their expectations where excessed, more than they could image! Everyone had gained from the conference and the people they have met! The finished art miles mural project was displayed forever one to see. The beautiful expression of peace from the students was incredible and inspirational! One presenter was the first man to climb Mount Everest from Oman! His climb was extremely symbolic for how with hard work anyone can complete their dreams. " The challenges in life are like the ridges in the mountains,"- you can get over them if you try! Mike Furdyk from TakingITGlobal presented gifts to the winners of the virtual conference contest. TalkingITGlobal connects the world and changes the world at the same time. Finally the location of the conferences for 2011 was announced; Taiwan! Representatives from iEARN Taiwan has invited everyone to join the iEARN 2010 Conference; Green Tech, Green Life, Great Ear! Though it will be hard to beat this years conferences, 2011 conferences sounds fun and exciting and I would love to attended!

dajmeri

Danish Ajmeri's TIGblog
Danish Ajmeri's profile

With four days of iEARN completed, it was very interesting to see how much more interactive the workshops had become. I remember clearly on Monday that most of the youth were very apprehensive in participating and it's just amazing that everyone has become so much more open with each other. The workshop on Communicating Effectively Across Cultures focused on helping realize the differences in cultures and understand that not all things are universal. Substituting paper clips for money and following some instructions for behaviour, the group was split into two and were assigned completely different cultures. They then played a game where the objective was to collect as much money as possible to see how hard it really is to communicate with other cultures.

Then we made our way to paint the mural which was lots of fun and filled with deep meaning. Stephen from Taiwan stressed the symbolism of bananas as a universal fruit and being synonymous to the "dream". And to "catch it" we must go step by step on the "banana leaves" to face and overcome the challenges that life throws at us. The mural indeed is a very universal representation of the global perspectives that have gathered here at iEARN and it has been really successful.

dajmeri

Danish Ajmeri's TIGblog
Danish Ajmeri's profile

With four days of iEARN completed, it was very interesting to see how much more interactive the workshops had become. I remember clearly on Monday that most of the youth were very apprehensive in participating and it's just amazing that everyone has become so much more open with each other. The workshop on Communicating Effectively Across Cultures focused on helping realize the differences in cultures and understand that not all things are universal. Substituting paper clips for money and following some instructions for behaviour, the group was split into two and were assigned completely different cultures. They then played a game where the objective was to collect as much money as possible to see how hard it really is to communicate with other cultures.

Then we made our way to paint the mural which was lots of fun and filled with deep meaning. Stephen from Taiwan stressed the symbolism of bananas as a universal fruit and being synonymous to the "dream". And to "catch it" we must go step by step on the "banana leaves" to face and overcome the challenges that life throws at us. The mural indeed is a very universal representation of the global perspectives that have gathered here at iEARN and it has been really successful.

iremkhan

iKhan's TIGblog
iKhan's profile

The Social Networking workshop began with two videos, both with a focus to engage their audiences into social consciousness and change. Presented by the organization Free the Children, the workshop covered the importance of conveying messages of change using mediums of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. In educating the youth with tools of how to use social media we can facilitate the direction of spreading messages of change. The workshop then split the students into groups for discussion and brainstorming on how they can take on issues they feel passionate about and create change through using accessible technology. I feel the most profound message the students can take away from this workshop is being able to take their passions and communicate them using these mediums. The groups came up with ideas such as a website to empower women, called Sister-Sister, another group dedicated to saving the whales and cleaning the polluted waters, as well as a movie about the detrimental effects of climate change.
One of the short movies shown at the beginning (called ‘We’re All In This Together’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4NlyZqJhwk) used conflicting images and contrast to evoke our social conscious, leaving us with the “Perhaps the only fair thing to say is, if we forsake the lives of other, we actually forsake our own.”

LaniC

Lani Chevat's TIGblog
Lani Chevat's profile

W.A.K.E- worthy argument, attach people emotionally, know your audience, effective imagery! The workshop Action Planning W.A.K.E: The Four Pillars of Awareness, Free the Children was about cause marketing campaigns and how reach and the effect people take away from social visual imagines. The workshop went through a series of social and environmental campaigns. The women running the workshop would go through images and ask the students what they felt the message meant. It required the students to pay attention to small details and think about the real message behind the image. The session finished with a game of taboo; which demonstrated word associations with different problems around the world. The workshop was fun and enlightening!

LaniC

Lani Chevat's TIGblog
Lani Chevat's profile

Thursday morning started off with a presentation of the My Hero Project. The project highlights students and their heros from around the world who are sharing their stories. The project celebrates global learning and the celebration of inspirational people. Slater Kemker, a student and filmmaker at the conferences was highlighted for interviewing her hero Cousteau, an environmentalist. There was then a video of Mali and Jim taking about the My Hero Project and the importance of multimedia learning. Making my hero videos helps kids with problem solving, collaboration and it builds international communities by learning from other student’s projects from around the world. The My Hero project has a global exchange program to help young people tell their stories and provides a meeting place for people around the world while improving cultural understanding. Another film shown this morning was about children who have made solar cookers. The women who created the solar cooker project explained who so many children have lost connection with the environment. Solar cookers not only help those in countries without a lot of electricity but it also saves an extreme amount of wood and natural recourses. The project also shows that learning can be moved outside the classroom and change someone life.

LaniC

Lani Chevat's TIGblog
Lani Chevat's profile

Cultural night was destined to be a great evening! To get everyone’s energies back up from a long eventful day the showcase started with a drumming circle, which was created from a drumming workshop earlier in the day. You could feel the beat vibrating throughout the auditorium. With audience involvement the drumming started the tone for an amazing night to come!
The drumming was followed by a poem with paintings created by Jen Corriero, from TakingITGlobal. The poem asked the question “how do you make change?” Once the poem was over you could see the reflection in everyone’s eyes about how they thought change could happen and how they will make change happen.
Then one by one 16 different countries went up on stage to represent their unique cultures. First to go was Spain with a traditional Catalonia dance. The dance was the first of many great dances to be performed. Next was Canada’s turn. A group of girls danced to “Wave Your Flag” and everyone in the audiences waved their flags proudly. After the dance Indonesia took the stage with one of the coolest instruments I have seen made of bamboo. Taiwan was ready next with wind instruments and a violin. The music was soft and had an uplifting melody that flowed through the auditorium. It was followed by a dance that had everyone jumping out of their seats to participate, it was fun and entertaining; everyone looked so happy and excited.
With traditional clothes Egypt performed a dance that was fun and lively. The dance also had everyone out of their seats, dancing and clapping along. And as many people that could fit on the stage ran up to dance with the Egyptian group!
Slovenia followed with an extremely funny story and a lovely song and dance. The story explained how small the country Slovenia is, ‘you could have dinner on one side of the country, sleep on the other side, hop around to the surrounding countries and still have a half tank of gas left at the end of the day.’ Georgia then took the stage and performed a dance; all of the girls where very graceful. Followed by Japan that sang a song about peace and brought up quests from other countries to join them in singing the song. Then a girl from Pakistan performed a wedding dance. With colorful traditional dress she invited everyone to join her on stage. Again students went running up to participate! Seeing that level of interested was magnificent and exciting. It looked as if they had been practicing and had known each other for years! What a beautiful sight to witness!
After everyone settled back down, Oman explained their traditional outfits with the aid of a video. Then Azerbaijan sang an adorable song and taught the audience a phrase of the song so they could sing along. This was followed by Jordan and a short film encouraging people to come visit. The countryside looked gorgeous with magical desserts and beautiful old architecture! Russia than went on stage in traditional dress and danced. The audience was clapping along in excitement as the music became faster and faster. The last danced performed was the gully creep from Jamaica. The performers invited students to come learn the dance on. Cultural night ended with a song from a First Nation man. Accompanied by a drum the song had a strong rhythm and an echoing sound that you could feel filling the room. He captivated the room with the most powerful instrument-his voice.
I feel extremely lucky to have witnessed all of these wonderful, unique and fun traditions from around the world!!!

iremkhan

iKhan's TIGblog
iKhan's profile

Today's schedule called for a practice Flashmob, in preperation for the final performance at the gala on Friday! Although I never knew what it was I was excited to try it out. Flashmob is a choreographed dance that was created from youth members from Spain, but this video probably explains it better than I can say: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAW95PvhLhg). The purpose of this mass movement dance (it reminded me of the thriller dance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o) is to bring people together and share a collective experience.
I really enjoyed the atmosphere, the energy and music that this dance brought to iEARN Youth Summit. Even though I was going through the steps for the first time it was simple enough to follow, but engaging and really exciting! I can't wait for the final performance on Friday :)