Hi Ragnar!!!!

I have taken the initiative to propose a presentation for this event and it was accepted!

See below! 

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Hello Anne!

Thanks for your prompt and affirmative reply! We are very excited about sharing this with our colleagues abroad!  We have been working on a manuscript (it's currently 40 pages) for publication and our presentation at this conference will highlight this work. Our goal has been to develop a structured framework so ANY class could not only connect and say "hello", but CONSTRUCTknowledge via project-based learning. Much thought and many LONG hours of work have gone into this manuscript. We will briefly share the experience of how we connected and paired 12 rural classrooms in Alaska with 12 similar classrooms in Tasmania and the 6,7, & 8th grade students co-authored e-books on global warming, environmental issues, they had webinars with scientists and other subject-matter experts and much more. The construction of the e-books were cross-curricular to as English, tech skills, art, critical thinking and collaboration skills were used. A major barrier  challenge has been LANGUAGE. For example, suppose a class in Alaska wanted to connect with a equatorial classroom in Equador to work on a project. While Google Translate can decipher English to Spanish in an asynchronous or print fashion, we have been patiently waiting for what we are calling the "Babel" tool which would allow for synchronous translation. We have been alpha-testing numerous mobile technologies too. The Google Translate APP is not the most robust technology but it does help some with translation as it has an audio component.

You seem like you are very much "in the know" with emerging technologies and I hope you can possibly offer some suggestions for addressing the barrier challenge of synchronous language translation. Perhaps there is a pending Global Ed 2011 presentation that might be of relevance?

We will be using the polling interactive feature during our engaging Collaborate presentation for the Global Education 2011 conference to solicit feedback from the participants for their thoughts, suggestions, caveats etc. 

On behalf of my colleagues, Professor and language expert Kimberli Holmquist in Arkansas, and my Aussie colleague and friend, Ragnar Purje, we sincerely thank you for considering this request!

Warm regards from snowy Alaska and 26 degrees F,

Andy