Monday, November 16, 2009

Becoming WISE in Qatar - Day 1





Here I am back in Doha, Qatar after a personal invitation to attend the WISE event. (World Innovation Summit For Education). Also here, so I found out through Twitter late last night, is Alan Levine, Tom Barrett....and 100's of others!
I have a wonderful room at the fairly new Grand Hyatt Hotel, with a balcony overlooking the pool area and towards the Pearl. Photos above taken just now from my balcony.

What an amazing event! At last I will see and hear Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned, the Leader of innovation and education here in Doha. I can't believe I lived here for 2 years and worked at Qatar Academy, and for a time taught her son, but did not see her in person once, however this morning she will be opening the WISE event in person!
The program is full of plenary and breakout sessions. This is one of the the think-tank events of the year globally. I am honoured to be a part of it.

In addition, my friend and colleague Vicki Davis (who was also invited to attend but could not get away from the USA), were shortlisted out of 100's of entries for a WISE award in the Pluralism section for our Flat Classroom projects and Conference. Really looking forward to meeting the finalists this week.

Follow the action on Twitter, and through the hash tag #wise09, and the WISE official YouTube channel.

3 comments:

Anna said...

Hi Julie.

Welcome back to the Middle East. Say hello to Dr. Kurshan and Mr. Levy from Curriki. Looking forward to following your coverage of WISE.

Anna

Founder
www.boneducation.com

Heather Davis said...

Want to hear all about it when you get back. Enjoy the warmth as today it is -18C with the windchill factor. Coldest winter on record so far in Beijing.

Heather

Anonymous said...

How wonderful to read this post! It brings back memories of the Flatclassroom Conference in Doha, in Jan this year. All the best with the awards. The flatclassroom projects are an amazing experience at the cutting edge of technology and 21st century education. I am proud and honoured to be associated with you and the projects and for my students they have been a fantastic experience.
Glad you are getting some personal PD as well! Enjoy!