GlobalSchoolNet.org -- Linking Kids Around the World!

Position: Pat is currently regarded as one of Tasmania’s most experienced online educators, delivering courses to students within her own school and as a teacher within the Tasmanian Online School Campus to students in other schools using WebCt technologies. She is a regular participant in professional discussions online as well as a facilitator of opportunities for both students and teachers to share experience and resources through forum boards and email exchanges.  Pat has mentored many students towards achieving success through her commitment to the use of ICT within classrooms.  Her work has been recognised for its flair and innovation within her own Educational Department as well as by researchers from SOCCI (Schools Online Curriculum Consultation Initiatives, Australia) and the ACER (Australian Council of Educational Research). Her project ‘The Virtual Bridge” assisting students smooth transition from primary to secondary school was chosen by ACER as an Australian exemplary project for inclusion in the Second International IT in Education Study. This research has been published in Tasmania, on the Australian mainland and online by Webzine Korea.  In 2004 Pat is acting as a moderator in a large International Course “Teaching and Learning in Virtual Learning Environments” organised by Saarland University as a research project funded by the EU. Pat was also a judge here in 2002. Pat is a hands-on, energetic committed teacher - ICT is not an “add-on” to her. Rather it is a major new learning paradigm and she has been able to translate its opportunities into a range of effective classroom actions over the past seven years.

Websites: http://waoe.org/president/WAOE-founding.html

Position:  Helen Wong is one of the Unit Heads of the Center for Enhanced Learning and Teaching (CELT) of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). CELT is an academic support unit dedicated to advancing the quality of learning and teaching by fostering a continuous quality improvement culture within HKUST and the wider education community. Internally, CELT strives to nurture a collaborative and creative learning environment through partnerships with departments, faculty, other teaching staff and students at the University. Externally, the center strengthens interactions with other education sectors through partnerships in innovative teaching and learning projects.

Headed by Ms Wong, the Programs Unit is responsible for planning, developing and organizing institutional learning enhancement and teaching development programs for the University and the wider education community.  In the area of learning enhancement, the Unit focuses its effort in programs concerning creativity and life-long learning skills. For example, in addition to offering General Education Courses to university students, the Unit has been running projects for both schools and university students. Currently, the Unit leads a University Grants Committee (UGC) funded project named “Interactive Media Art Gallery” which aims to enhance students’ creativity through media arts creation and involves over 1,400 school and university students. In 2000-2002, the Unit led an online Mathematics learning project named “MathVenture” which is funded by the Quality Education Fund. The Unit also runs self-financed programs for school students in “Creative Thinking and Expression”. It also manages a "Professional Certificate in eLearning for Schools" program with the objective to provide the latest knowledge and skills in the application of eLearning strategies and technologies in school settings.

Prior to joining CELT, Ms Wong was involved in commercial businesses in senior management level in manufacturing, finance and education. In 1997, she co-founded a private consulting company dedicated to promoting Internet learning to parents, teachers and students. In 1998, she initiated National Partnership with the International ThinkQuest Program and led promotional effort in Hong Kong with endorsement by the then Education Department resulting in participation growth of 95% within a year of launching.

Website: http://celt.ust.hk

Position:  Karen Eini has worked as an EFL educator ,teacher trainer and educational materials developer in Israel since 1990. Ms. Eini is a pioneer in telecollaborations and is actively involved in promoting the benefits of online shared learning projects . She has authored an Internet Guidebook for EFL teachers and lectures frequently in technology conferences both in Israel and abroad. Ms Eini's portfolio includes collaborative community building initiatives between youth specifically in USA and ISRAEL  as well as Technology Enhanced English Language Enrichment Programs for learners in Israel and Aboard.

Website: http://www.gsnaward.org/nomineeinfo/narratives/eini.html

Position:  Janette Toral is the site owner of DigitalFilipino.com, an e-commerce, outsourcing, and wireless research site that started in September 1999. The site was a launch pad of her book, The DigitalFilipino: An E-Commerce Guide for the eFilipino. She pushed for e-commerce development in the Philippines as she founded the Philippine Internet Commerce Society last September 1997. She lead the organization as president from 1997 to 2002.

In 2002, she is the chairman of the 1st Philippine E-Government Awards. A recognition given to Philippine government agencies who came up with projects in compliance with Republic Act 8792 or the E-Commerce Law.  She currently heads the initiative of coming up with the Philippine E-Commerce Skills Standards Project using the APEC Tel E-Commerce Skills Standards as a kernel. She's a recipient of the CyberFair Ambassador Award, given by the Global SchoolHouse last June 1, 2002 in Taiwan, recognizing the effort of bringing CyberFair in the Philippines. CyberFair is an annual competition among students of primary and secondary schools around the world.

As an IT practitioner, she has more than 13 years of combined experience in the areas of training, management, sales, technical support, web development, event management, media relations, and project management. She's also a freelance writer since 1995 writing about e-commerce and IT developments in the Philippines. She has written articles for international publications such as Business Online, asia.internet.com, and World Executive Digest. Since September 1997 to the present, she has been frequently invited to various IT conferences in the country to talk about e-commerce developments in the Philippines. She is currently engaged in research, consulting, and working on a book project documenting 10 years of the Internet in the Philippines to be launched on March 2004.

Position:  Joanna Bialobrzeska is a co-owner (with her husband) and Managing Director of a private elementary school and a preschool in Warsaw and also co-owner of a publishing house DIDASKO. She has been an active elementary and preschool teacher for over 16 years as well as an active author in children's literature. She has published whole range of schoolbooks for children ages three through ten. Her schoolbooks have been highly recognized and honored by the teachers and are also considered exceptional and “cool” by children. Mrs. Bialobrzeska’s schoolbooks are used in nearly 40% of Polish preschools and kindergartens and elementary schools. She has a way of seeing the best in each child and this has an impact on her own books. Her dedication to kids is the heart of everything she does. She loves teaching and it shows.

Joanna also works with children’s and family’s monthly magazines as a consultant. She has been a consultant and an author of articles for several web sites dedicated to children, parents and teachers. She is a frequent speaker at educational teachers conferences and those focusing on active learning and designing to meet the developmental needs of each child. Joanna holds a M.A. degree in pedagogic and education from Warsaw University.

Position: Ms. Yue-Chane has been devoting herself to Children's education for fifteen years. She has been an active author in Chinese children's literature and has published eight books for kids. She was chief editor of science section for the Chinese Children's Encyclopedia and for Kid's Monthly magazine. She was chief editor of information page for the only children's newspaper in Taiwan, Mandarin Daily News. She is currently the president of the Dragon Book Co. Ltd., as well as the producer of Digital New Education program, for the Educational Broadcasting System in Taiwan. She is also in charge of several internet based projects namely, the Taiwan Schools Cyberexchange program, the 2000 Taiwan Schools CyberFair program, the Kids Care for Kids program, and the Bancroft and Arnesen Expedition curriculum in Taiwan. She is currently a country coordinator in Taiwan for IEARN.

Name:  Bonnie Bracey, United States of America

Position: Bonnie Bracey is a teacher-agent of change, working on technology integration projects with classroom teachers and national organizations. She also works internationally with Global Information Infrastructure initiatives as a consultant. She does outreach teaching with the George Lucas Educational Foundation. A former Fulbright Exchange Teacher in India and an elementary school teacher in Virginia, Ms. Bracey was selected as a Christa McAuliffe Educator by the National Education Association. She is also a Challenge Center Fellow and an Earthwatch Fellow. She served on the faculty of the Challenger Center and is a NEWEST Graduate, Langley, and NEW graduate of Goddard Space Center. She is a longtime advocate of science, math , engineering and technology learning for children at an early age. Ms. Bracey is currently involved with two MIT projects: the Games Project and Media, Education and the Marketplace. Ms. Bracey is a frequent speaker at educational technology conferences and those focusing on bridging the Digital Divide.

Ms. Bracey has served on numerous advisory boards including: Technos, The National Urban League, E-School News, On the Horizon, African Schoolnet, CTCnet, the President's National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council, the White House Technology Initiative-Cyber Ed., and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education Task Force. She was the original network director of the 21st Century Teacher's Network and serves on the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Kinetic City Advisory Board. She was co founder of the Online Internet Institute, an NSF funded grant. She is a member of the ISTE Minority task force and has several listservs, one for digital equity, one through her participation with gender equity through teacher tech at Rice University, and one through the MIT channels on technology outreach.

She is involved in a digital equity project and a technology resource project with the National Community Innovations projects which share content with resources with PT3 projects. The National Institute for Community Innovations offers a Digital Equity Portal full of on-line resources for educators to increase digital equity Nationally she also works with  with the Imagiverse Project,  and is a student of Ubiquitous Technology. She was selected  as one of the 25 most important women on the web, and is a webby judge this year in the educational section. Internationally, she produced the high technology  and the indigenous project for the Third World Summit in Thessaloniki, Greece, and works with the Med Agora Project. She has worked in 17 countries around the world and this year was honored for this work. Bonnie Bracey, a change agent and inspirational outstanding advocate for teachers, kids, and teacher educators was recognized for Outstanding Service to Digital Equity at the SITE 2004 Conference. Bonnie has been an important contributor to the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) Symposium on Digital Equity since its inception bringing her passion to bear on the core of educational renewal: teacher education. Sir John Daniel, Assistant Director-General for Education, UNESCO presented her award.

Website: www.tcp.org

Position:   Andy Carvin is Program Director at the EDC Center for Media & Community, where he runs the Digital Divide Network, an online community for activists working to bridge the digital divide.  He is the author of the pioneering online education resource EdWeb: Exploring Technology and School Reform. Named by NetGuide magazine as "One of the Top 50 Places to Go Online," EdWeb was one of the first websites to advocate the use of the World Wide Web in education. Andy is also the founder and moderator of WWWEDU, the Internet's oldest and largest email forum on the role of the Web in education, and DIGITALDIVIDE, the Internet's premiere discussion group for digital divide issues.

Andy was named in 1999 by eSchoolNews magazine as a member of the Impact 30, an annual list highlighting 30 of the most influential people in education technology today. He is a former board member of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), which advocates policies regarding the role of information technology in schools. From 1999 to 2001, he sat on the Board of Directors for the Asia/Pacific Center for Justice and Peace, a consortium of NGOs that promotes democracy, free speech and freedom of religion across Asia.

Andy holds a bachelor of science in rhetoric with a minor in religion and a master of arts in telecommunications from Northwestern University, where he received the prestigious Annenberg/Washington Graduate Fellowship. While living in Illinois, he was co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Chicago area arts weekly, Art+Performance magazine. In his free time, Andy has traveled extensively around the world and has written about his adventures in popular online travelogues, most recently through his blog, Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth. Andy is an avid amateur genealogist; his successful use of DNA testing to explore his family's lineage was profiled in a January 2001 cover story of US News and World Report. And in 2002, he and his wife completed production of "Thai Boxing: A Fighting Chance," an independent documentary that has aired in more than 140 countries on the National Geographic Channel.

Website: www.edwebproject.org/andy/blog

Position:  John Hibbs is the Founder of the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Global Education. John has spent nearly 20 years abroad in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. John became the Managing Partner for a highly unusual American magazine which was published in six languages in 45 countries. He then built "United Amusements," an import/export company specializing in software distribution for the video game business into the leading firm of its kind the industry.

John holds a History degree from the University of Oregon, an MBA in Finance from the Golden Gate University, and was a member of Special Forces while serving in the U.S. Army. In Prague from 1991 to 1995, John developed an Export Management Course and Curriculum which was subsequently taught by Americans in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, the Baltics and parts of the former Soviet Union.

Website: http://www.bfranklin.edu/

Position: Don Mitchell entered civilian federal service in 1970 as a management intern at the Department of Agriculture. In 1972, he moved to NSF, and began a career in contracting. In the mid-70s, he developed a system for motion picture production which was adopted in 1977 for government-wide use, pioneered the use of support contracting (before) and cooperative agreements (after) the inception of the Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act and managed the first civilian agency SBIR solicitation, as well as the first procurement which put a microcomputer on the desk of every employee in a federal agency. In 1987, he left NSF's Division of Grants and Contracts to join the newly formed division of Networking and Communications Research and Infrastructure (NCRI) shortly before the beginning of the NSFNET Program.

In addition to his role in NSFs major infrastructure activities, he was personally responsible for the Global Schoolhouse Project, Cornell University's (CU-SeeMe) Conferencing Software development and Cells-in-Frames projects, the InterNIC, the Internet Scout Project, Dave Hughes Wireless Field tests, the National Laboratory for Applied Networking Research, the Internet Caching Project, the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis, the National Center for Data Mining,the very high performance Backbone Network Service and the High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network.

Website: http://www.globalschoolnet.org/about/bio/donmitchell.htm

Position:  Bob Pearlman has been a key leader of educational reform efforts nationally in a unique 30-year career as a teacher, Co-Director of Computer Education, teacher union leader and negotiator, Foundation President, and Director of Education and Workforce Development. Pearlman’s experience and expertise includes Whole District Reform, New School Development, Business-Education Partnerships and coalitions, School-to-Career and Workforce Development, Union—School District Negotiations, School Restructuring and Technology, Project-Based Learning, Professional Development, Educational Finance, and School-site Assessment and Accountability.

Pearlman is currently the Director of Strategic Planning for the New Technology Foundation in Napa, CA, which supports the replication of New Technology High School in twenty-four sites across Northern California, Southern California, and the United States. Additionally Pearlman is a Strategy Consultant for education reform, assisting key reform initiatives around the country. Among these are Sacramento's e21 high school reform initiative, and LINC 2 the Future, Boston's new 5-year technology plan for the schools and the community. He is the former President of the Autodesk Foundation and former Director of Education and Workforce Development at Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network.

Pearlman previously served as Coordinator of Educational Reform Initiatives for the Boston Teachers Union.  As the former National Consultant on Educational Technology for the American Federation of Teachers and as a founder of the Co-NECT School New American School Design Team, Pearlman has been a pioneer in designing new schools, integrating project-based learning, work-based learning, and technology into the schools, and in training teachers, administrators, and parents in the application of new technologies and their role in restructuring schools. Pearlman has been a leader in building coalition organizations that bring together educators, business, labor, and community leaders to support education reform. Key coalition organizations have included the Bay Area School-to-Career Action Network (BaySCAN), the California School-to-Career Action Network (CalSCAN), Business and Education for Schools and Technology (B.E.S.T.), and the Boston Compact. The National Alliance of Business named BaySCAN its 1998 Local Coalition of the Year.

Website: http://www.bobpearlman.org