21st Century Focus at Conferences... near and far...

Hands On: Literacy in the 21st Century Classroom and Library is the one-day conference our Singapore international school librarian network is putting on Saturday, 15 November 2008 at the Australian International School Singapore. It's modeled on the Teach IT conference of the IT educator network, which was offered in November 2005 and 2007. Note that anyone is welcome to attend, whether you work in Singapore or not.

We're still at the Call for Workshops stage (until Sep. 30th). Topics can cover all forms of literacy, whether visual, digital, information, critical, mathematical, historical, scientific, political, media, cultural, spatial, social, ethical, or the traditional textual. We especially welcome workshops with a "hands-on" component or practical application of theory.

Wish I could have attended the Learning 2.0 conference up in Shanghai this week, but with a new campus we were in lock-down mode for the month of September. Others, from our old campus, did get to go, e.g., Ben Morgan gave a workshop on Creating a 21st Century Learning Environment in Your School: From Strategic Vision to Reality (his slide presentation and handouts are available for download from that link page). As IT director, his take is the big picture and I appreciate we've come a long way, however, I still chafe at StudyWiz and its inability to let people roam around and see what other teachers are doing. It's structure is basically silos, or, what happens in your classroom stays in your classroom. It may suit secondary, but not primary. Though we at the East Campus are trying to find ways to be as open as possible, using the StudyWiz junior interface.

Roaming around the Learning 2.0 conference ning, "21st Century" jumps out as a major buzzword. Note these workshop sessions:

• The Dimensions of Change within Schools in the 21st Century -- and -- Implementing 21st Century Skills: Steps to Build Momentum -- both by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach -- see her wiki 21st Century Collaborative
• Leadership for the 21st Century: Awakening to School 2.0 -- by Blair Peterson -- see his wiki Principals of the Future
• Students and Teachers Promoting 21st Century Skills and Social Networking on a Global Scale - Using ePals in the Classroom - Demonstration and Discussion -- by Mikey McKilip
• The 21st Century Interactive Classroom -- by Cecilia Tsang
• Best Practices in 21st Century Library Media Centers -- by Kimberli Gertz
• Making the Shift Happen: Embracing 21st Century Literacy at Your School -- by Kim Cofino -- see her wiki Making the Shift Happen, where she has slides of her presentation available

Kim gave a workshop at the Teach-IT conference last November here in Singapore and her school, ISB (International School of Bangkok), is pursuing 21st century goals with a passion. See, for example, their ongoing professional development wiki, 21st Century Literacy, complete with minutes of meetings, teams, projects, resources, etc.