What is #ASEFClassNet?
For over two decades, the ASEF Classroom Network (#ASEFClassNet) has been providing capacity-building opportunities for collaborative teaching and learning and a platform to explore the potential of cutting-edge EdTech tools and the integration of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in secondary, high, and vocational schools in the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Partner countries. Its target group is broad, given its intergenerational & multi-stakeholder outreach. It ranges from students, teachers, school leaders, teacher trainers, researchers, policymakers, and to EdTech experts. Since its inception, about 2,000 teachers from all 51 ASEM Partner countries have participated in and become members of the ASEF Classroom Network. As a result, about 35,000 students have been engaged in over 430 Asia-Europe School Collaborations and local spin-off activities.
10th ASEF Classroom Network Conference
On 7-11 November 2011 in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland, ASEF ClassNet teachers and students got their creative juices flowing as they learnt and shared ways of bringing new technologies into their classrooms to nurture creativity.
109 educators and students from 33 ASEM partner countries learnt and shared ways of bringing new technologies into their classrooms to nurture creativity. The conference opened with inspiring introductory presentations by Mr Ciarán Cannon, TD Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, and Mr Denis Cummins, President, Dundalk Institute of Technology.
Over the 5 days conference participants actively engaged in professional enrichment sessions, speed networking and interactive workshops on topics ranging from “Effectiveness of Creativity in Education through Performing Arts Using ICT Platforms” to “ICT Skills for the 21st Century”, and from “Apps in the Classroom” to “Collaborating Professionally in the Cloud”. Through interactive plenary sessions, ASEF ClassNet teachers also considered how to continuously develop their network.
Once again, student representatives from the 6 award-winning Online Collaborations, attended the conference, presenting their activities to the conference and experiencing a day at a local school. 38 new Online Collaborations for the subsequent year; giving many more students the opportunity to learn about other cultures, while developing increasingly important ICT skills. The winners were:
Gold Awards
- Flora and Fauna Conservation
- Home Seek
- Red listed and Endangered species Database (R.E.D)
Merit Awards
- Magic Flight to Benevento, Italy
- East Speaks West, West Speaks East 2010
- GoCyberGreen 2010/2011
A total of 39 ASEFClassNet School Collaborations were submitted at the conference which will be implemented by the teachers and students in Asia and Europe after the conference.
*Austria, Bulgaria, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Thailand and Vietnam
