TakingITGlobal

Minds on Media participants will have the opportunity to visit the online world of TakingITGlobal (TIG) is an international charitable organization which serves youth worldwide through a multilingual online learning community and innovative education programs.By fostering cross-cultural understanding and global citizenship, TIG helps young people develop their potential as creative, technology-enabled, and globally-aware leaders.

=** TIG's Online Learning Community **= TIG operates the world's leading online community for young global citizens committed to changing their world. Often described as a "social network for social good," the award winning [|www.tigweb.org] is available in twelve languages and offers a diverse set of educational resources and action tools intended to inspire, inform and involve. Since launching in 2000, 20 million people have accessed the website to learn, grow and realize their potential. The site offers the following sections:


 * 1) Community: Home of TIG's discussion boards, e-cards, member search tool, member stories, and newsletters.
 * 2) Action Tools: Where you will find Action Guides, the "Commit to a Better World" tool, Featured Actions, petitions, and online spaces to organize groups and projects.
 * 3) Resources: Which houses a database of events and professional opportunities such as internships, fellowships and volunteer placements, e-courses, profiles of organizations around the world interested in working with youth, and toolkits and publications.
 * 4) Youth Media: One of TIG's most popular site sections, it offers blogs, games, an online art gallery, the newly launched Student News Action Network, and member contributed publications.
 * 5) Global Issues: Provides background information on, and amalgamates all of the content on the site that relates to, over 40 pressing global issues.
 * 6) Regions: Provides background information on all of the world's countries and territories, and brings together all of the members and content on the site as they relate to specific locations.

= **__ TakingITGlobal for Educators __** = TakingITGlobal for Educators (TIGed) supports teachers around the world in utilizing technology to bridge classrooms and build students’ global citizenship while equipping them with 21st Century Skills. The TIGed site ([|www.tiged.org]) offers:

A [|Community] of Globally Minded Educators
The TIGed community currently consists of over 4,000 educators and 23,000 students in 114 countries. Participants will be able to join TIGed, and engage with the community by submitting their educator story or posting their collaboration details.

A Growing Database of Global Education [|Resources]
Participants will be able to browse the TIGed [|Best Practices Guide] for in-depth case studies of educators utilizing technology to facilitate innovative global educational projects, browse the [|Activities Database] for lesson plans, activities, and games contributed by TIGed members and partners, and explore TIGed's suite of thematic classrooms. Free to use, thematic classrooms are online spaces pre-populated with lesson plans and resources designed to support learning about specific topics and issues. They feature all of the collaborative learning tools available within TIGed virtual classrooms.

An [|Online Learning Platform]
For a small fee, TIGed offers safe and customizable virtual classroom communities, designed to support international collaboration, that teachers create, moderate, and control to fit the needs of their students and objectives of their curriculum. Classroom tools include blogs, podcasts, maps, image galleries, live video chats, discussion boards, and online file storage, allowing students to demonstrate their learning, express themselves, engage in constructive dialogue around important topics, and develop a portfolio of their work – all within a private, secure, and advertizing-free online environment, anytime, anywhere! The fees charged for virtual classroom use support the costs associated with hosting and continually improving the TIGed virtual classroom platform, and also subsidize the use of these online spaces in developing countries (where teachers are not charged a license fee).

There are two types of virtual classroom licenses: standard and premium. Premium licenses include two bonus features: 1) Class chat, which allows up to 100 people to participate in a four-way live video chat; and 2) Class files, which provide a secure online space for teachers and students to exchange and store files. All licenses allow the creation of an unlimited number of classrooms over the course of one year! (15 transferable licenses) || $195 (Cost per teacher per year: $13!) || $325 (Cost per teacher per year: under $22!) || (75 transferable licenses) || $495 (Cost per teacher per year: under $7!) || $795 (Cost per teacher per year: under $11!) ||
 * =  ||||= **Cost (CDN/USD) per year ** ||
 * || **Standard** || **Premium** ||
 * Individual teacher || $29 || $49 ||
 * Small school
 * Large school

Free Trial
MoM participants will have access to a free trial of the virtual classroom platform by using promotional code ecoo2010 . This code needs to be activated by November 30th, and will provide for a complimentary 30 day trial. Users will be prompted to enter the promotional code in step 4 of the registration process.

__**A Range of Global Learning Initiatives** __

 * Shout: Shout invites educators and students to take an active role in global environmental issues. Connect online with experts in the field, share ideas, and collaborate with people around the world committed to solving environmental challenges.
 * Tread Lightly: Tread Lightly is a free climate change education and engagement program that features innovative online educational tools and resources designed to empower youth to reduce their ecological footprints and take action on climate change.

Support Resources
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The TIGed support page is a space where educators can read the responses to the most frequently asked questions and watch video tutorials designed to assist in how to create, build and manage virtual classrooms. Educators can also access the educator support forum, explore the demo classroom and browse the Guide to Using TIGed. The User's Manual is a practical, step-by-step guide designed to help educators understand and utilize the TIGed platform. It includes all you need to know to make the best of TIGed's community, resources, and virtual classroom spaces. Virtual office hours conducted using Elluminate Live web conferencing provide educators with real time assistance once a week.