＊This is a project proposal for the above Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund sponsored by The US Department of State. This project emerged from this blog “US Education Today” and was recently chosen as one of the 137 finalists out of about 700 projects. Please read our proposal and join us if it interests you! Also, if you are a (Department of) State Alumni, please vote for us @ https://alumni.state.gov/aeif2011/finalist We are now competing for the final survival.
US Education Today: Creating Knowledge-Sharing Spaces for Educational Change
Project Description:
What can the world learn from the success and the failure of the US education reforms? This is a 1-day conference for scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and students interested in pursuing such a question. Initiated by a group of Japanese graduate students in the US which disseminates the latest education news and research in the US to the Japanese audience, this project seeks to expand the knowledge-sharing space for change by inviting individuals from diverse schools and institutions. Given the recent and ongoing crisis in Japan, a special attention is given to educational challenges in post-crisis situations. What are some of the challenges that educators, researchers, and policymakers need to overcome in such a moment of disruption, tragedy, and tremendous needs? How can we get our children to invest in humanity, and life? What can we learn from the US experiences? A keynote speaker will be invited from the US to touch on these essential questions.
Goals and Objectives:
The primary objective is to bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds interested in learning from US school reforms. We seek to achieve this by collaborating with various group partners such as JAAES and universities. We also aim to create cutting-edge, research-based virtual spaces to which education researchers and policymakers could refer. The conference will offer workshops to create such knowledge-sharing spaces, and participants are asked to create them in their own languages.
Timeline and Activity List:
May 30 – Jun 13: Blog Management (Committee Formation à Launch)
May 30 – Jul 7: Selection of Keynote speaker (Committee Formation à Confirmation)
May 30 – Oct 7: Selection of presenters (Committee Formation à Approval notifications)
May 30 – Dec 7: Creation of online program (Committee Formation à Distribution)
January 7, 2012: One day Conference
Other committees (Treasury, Registration, Technological Support, and Volunteer)
Outcomes:
1. Inviting diverse individuals, it will help bridge the gaps among practice, theory, and policy to form vibrant learning communities for educational change.
2. Creating knowledge-sharing spaces for educational change, it will promote educational dialogues on a global scale to promote better informed educational practices, researches, and policies.
3. Its emphasis on how the US has responded to its own crises will promote better understandings and readiness for post-crisis educational challenges.
Team Members (Implementers):
19 State Alumni including scholars, graduate students, undergraduate students, and private sector individuals interested in making an educational change.
Individual Partners:
Include 11 members (2 professors, 7 graduate students, 1 educator, 1 journalist)
Group Partners:
Japan Association of American Educational Studies (JAAES) as well as students from 2 universities in Japan.
*Possible presenters/panelists include scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and university students interested in the US education.
*Possible audience include scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and university students interested in the US education.
Region: East Asia / Pacific
Location:
The conference will be held at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. (This location is subject to a change to another institution in a different city in case of a deteriorating nuclear power disaster.) Although the actual conference will take place in Japan, this is a global event that allows online participation from various countries. We have state alumni expressing their intentions to participate online from countries such as Brazil and Portugal.
Innovation:
- Regardless of how other nations evaluate them, today’s US educational landscape is full of innovative, and often provocative, education reforms that are largely driven by market principles. Given this increasingly globalized economy, it is of many nations’ interest to observe these experiments conducted in the US. However, there hardly exist cutting-edge, research-based virtual spaces to which researchers and policymakers could refer in their own languages. One major innovation of this project is the creation of such virtual spaces. As a result of this conference, participants will create, in their own languages, blogs, mailing-lists, Twitter and Facebook accounts that are designed to be hubs for the latest education news and research in the US. Linked as sister sites, they will together provide a powerful knowledge-sharing space for educational change.
- In this sense, this will be an ongoing and sustainable project with a great potential for further growth. The conference is just a start.
- Originally conceptualized by graduate students and brought into realization by the strong support from scholars, this initiative creates a wholly fresh, inclusive learning atmosphere that fosters and capitalizes on young energy. Undergraduate and graduate students from at least two universities are going to participate. Moreover, this conference will be co-sponsored by Japan Association of American Educational Studies.
- In order to be cost-efficient, this conference will allow participants residing outside Japan to join virtually through Skype rather than providing airfares. Moreover, we will broadcast the conference live on Ustream. Providing such measures are especially- Regardless of how other nations evaluate them, today’s US educational landscape is full of innovative, and often provocative, education reforms that are largely driven by market principles. Given this increasingly globalized economy, it is of many nations’ interest to observe these experiments conducted in the US. However, there hardly exist cutting-edge, research-based virtual spaces to which researchers and policymakers could refer in their own languages. One major innovation of this project is the creation of such virtual spaces. As a result of this conference, participants will create, in their own languages, blogs, mailing-lists, Twitter and Facebook accounts that are designed to be hubs for the latest education news and research in the US. Linked as sister sites, they will together provide a powerful knowledge-sharing space for educational change.
- In this sense, this will be an ongoing and sustainable project with a great potential for further growth. The conference is just a start.
- Originally conceptualized by graduate students and brought into realization by the strong support from scholars, this initiative creates a wholly fresh, inclusive learning atmosphere that fosters and capitalizes on young energy. Undergraduate and graduate students from at least two universities are going to participate. Moreover, this conference will be co-sponsored by Japan Association of American Educational Studies.
- In order to be cost-efficient, this conference will allow participants residing outside Japan to join virtually through Skype rather than providing airfares. Moreover, we will broadcast the conference live on Ustream. Providing such measures is especially important as they will enable online participation as well as knowledge sharing for students and educators who were directly affected by massive disasters.
- After the conference, the project members will host a casual social gathering to share their experiences as State Alumni with Japanese university students interested in studying in the US.
Detailed Budget:
Key categories
Honorarium
Conference venue
Refreshments and Expendable goods
Itemized Expenses
Honorarium
-Airfare (US - JAPAN): $2,000 x 1 = $2,000
-Accommodation: $350 x 2 nights = $700
-Meals: $80 x 3 days = $240
-Stipend: $2,000 x 1 = $2,000
= $4,940 x 1 person = $4,940
2. Conference venue $5,000 (including rental equipments) x 1 day = $5,000
3. Refreshments and Expendable goods
-Soft drinks: $1 x 300 persons = $ 300
-Program (supplies and printing): $1 x 300 persons = $ 300
= $ 600 x 1 day = $600
Total Funding Requested: $10,540
Representative:
