I'm excited to announce that Global Kids will be producing in Second Life a simulcast of the upcoming FCC Workshop on education and broadband access next Thursday, August 20 at 1pm EST. The simulcast event will take place on MacArthur Island amphitheater (click here to teleport ). For those that can't make the virtual event, there will also be an opportunity to provide input via Twitter and Ideascale.
The topic is obviously very near and dear to us at GK, so we are excited to be involved. I hope that all of the communities of educators, students, nonprofits, and others who understand the value of broadband access for education turn out and participate.
More after the jump...
On Thursday, August 20, at 10:00am PST / 1pm EST, Global Kids will be hosting a Second Life simulcast of an FCC Workshop on the intersections of broadband access and education. The goal of this workshop is to identify potential impact of increased broadband access on education outcomes and how broadband policies can help improve those outcomes. The FCC hopes to learn about ways in which broadband can impact education at the early childhood, elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels in a cost-effective manner. The workshop will look at current programs, such as e-rate and evaluate how such programs can be improved, for example, to take advantage of new technologies that have arisen since it was established. The workshop will also look at what applications and devices might be used to improve educational performance.
Hosted on MacArthur Island in Second Life (click here to teleport ), this video simulcast of the workshop is open to the general public to attend. Virtual event hosting, moderation and technical support provided by Global Kids.
In addition to the Second Life simulcast, the public can participate in the dialogue via Twitter or Ideascale. Twitter users can post a question on Twitter to @USBroadband4Ed as a public reply or a direct message, which may get addressed by the panelists . After the event, you can continue to provide input and questions to the FCC on the Ideascale website at http://usbroadband4ed.ideascale.com.
Background on the Workshop
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) was signed into law on February 17, 2009. The Broadband Initiatives funded in the Act are intended to accelerate broadband deployment across the United States. The Recovery Act authorizes the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to create the National Broadband Plan, that “shall seek to ensure that all people of the United States have access to broadband capability and shall establish benchmarks for meeting that goal.” From August to September, the FCC will be holding workshops on key issues relevant to broadband deployment in the United States. The goal of the workshops will be to promote an open dialogue between the FCC and key constituents on matters important to the National Broadband Plan.
Background on Global Kids
Founded in 1989, Global Kids’ mission is to transform urban youth into successful students and global and community leaders by engaging them in socially dynamic, content-rich learning experiences. Global Kids' Online Leadership Program exposes our youth to global issues through digital filmmaking, serious video game creation, and virtual events and dialogues. We provide professional services for a range of institutions, including the MacArthur Foundation, UNICEF, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Youth Venture, and the International Criminal Court. Find more information on the Global Kids’ website at www.GlobalKids.org.
For more information about the upcoming workshop see http://broadband.gov/ws_education.html . For information about the in-world event, contact rik@globalkids.org .
