Candidates for an international Review Board of distinguished Internet and education professionals are selected based on their experience and devotion to online collaborative learning and their reputation as visionaries of the Global Information Infrastructure. Duties and requirements for Review Board participation include participation in a judges' information listserv and review and ranking of semifinalist contest entries.
Taiwan Jennifer Corriero
Barbara Dieu, Brazil
Dr. Mark Esposito
Janet Feldman
Jeanne Meyers
Bob Pearlman
USA Lukas Ritzel
Ethel Liang
USA Janette Toral
John Gottsman, USA
Susan Echard,
World Future Society Tim Mack, USA
Position: Claude Almansi has taught in various schools (from kindergarden to university) for about 30 years, mainly French and English as foreign languages, in Switzerland, Italy and UK. She has also been an editor and translator of literary books. She still translates, but has now specialised in texts about distance learning projects using IT. She is in charge of information and training at ADISI , i.e the Cyberlaw Association of Italian-language Switzerland, where she also edits Bollettino di ADISI (a blog). She represents ADISI within Comunica-ch, the Swiss Coalition for Information Society. She is member of the Swiss Forum New Learning, and participates in the discussions and actions of Wilhelm Tux and FSFE Switzerland. She is also member of the Digital Divide Network.
Name: Jennifer Corriero, Canada
Position: Co-Founder, Executive Director, TakingITGlobal
Position: Named by the World Economic Forum as a 'Young Global Leader', Jennifer Corriero is a young Canadian innovator, bringing tremendous insight into understanding, reaching and engaging youth. Jennifer is co-founder and Executive Director of TakingITGlobal, a non-profit organization with the aim of fostering cross-cultural dialogue, strengthening the capacity of youth as leaders and increasing awareness and involvement in global issues through the use of technology. The website currently has over 100,000 members in over 200 countries and receives over 1 million hits each day. Jennifer has served on the Official Canadian Government Delegation to the World Summit on the Information Society and has traveled around the world to speak at various conferences and events. She has been a consultant and advisor for a range of groups including Microsoft, VanCity Credit Union, and the Ontario Science Centre. Currently, Jennifer is pursuing her Masters on Youth Engagement and Capacity Building Across Cultures at York University.
Website: www.takingitglobal.org
Barbara Dieu has been an educator for more than 30 years and presently teaches EFL at the Lycée Pasteur, a bilingual secondary school in Săo Paulo. Her passionate involvement in international projects and collaboration online placed her among the 2003 and 2004 finalists of the Global SchoolNet Award. She represents This is Our Time project, of which her school has become home base for the French and Portuguese speaking countries. She belongs to the Tesol Technology Advisory Committee, coordinates the Braz-Tesol EduTech SIG and co-runs Dekita.org, a project dedicated to promoting peer-to-peer communication in language learning.
Name: Dr. Mark Esposito, Switzerland
Position: Dr. Mark Esposito is Co-Professor of the first virtual classroom experiment, held among four universities in Switzerland, USA, China, and Gambia. He regularly hosts "e-nteractive" experiments and endeavors within courses. Dr. Esposito works as Program Director of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Switzerland and Visiting Professor for some renowned European and Asian Universities. He is Companion for the Institute of Management Specialists in the UK and Regional Director of the Academici Forum in Switzerland.
He works as an active contributor to UNESCO, Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education and serves the ICT Program as an Educational Advisor. He has authored textbook chapters and educational journals, with focus upon Emotional Intelligence Management, Cultural Heritage and Cross-cultural contexts . He is also involved in corporate consultancies. He is a member of the Prasena ThinkTank's group.
UNESCO Profile http://www2.unescobkk.org/education/ict/v2_2/detail.asp?id=17763
Teaching Blog
http://www.20six.co.uk/markesposito
Interview www.prasena.com/public/cybrainology/DrMEsposito/andragogy.htm
Name: Jeanne Meyers, USA
Position: Jeanne Meyers is the co-founder and director of The MY HERO Project a not for profit interactive multi-media journal. This award winning on-line project has been used by students of all ages in schools around the globe. A decade ago, Meyers along with co-founders Rita Stern and Karen Pritzker decided to provide a venue in the media where children could find and share stories of heroes from all walks of life. Today the MY HERO web site is visited by millions of people who contribute their vision to this ever growing internet archive. As digital story telling tools and technology become more accessible to children and parents around the globe ---Meyers and the rest of the MY HERO team are committed to providing them with a child friendly---commercial free place in the media where they can share their stories of heroism and celebrate the best of humanity. To bridge the digital divide MY HERO has partnered with other not for profit organizations to train educators and students on the use of media and technology to tell stories about those making a positive difference in this world. Outreach has taken place in libraries, schools, and international educational conferences in China, Russia, Africa, Europe and across North America.
The MY HERO web site hosts many interactive areas including: a teachers room with lesson plans and resources, a library, a virtual art gallery, a Spanish language version (miheroe.org), The AP "Heroes in the News" section, a forum, as well as the CREATE template so that visitors can author web pages with images, text and links that honor the people making a positive difference in their lives. In 2005 Free Press published MY HERO's first book --MY HERO: Extraordinary People on the Heroes Who Inspire Them is a collection of essays written by some of the most remarkable people of our time including Muhammad Ali , Wangari Maathai , Erin Gruwell, Senator John Glen, Elie Weisel and many more contributors who donated their stories to help support this educational project. The Best of the 2005 MY HERO Short Film Fest can be viewed as online.
Meyers received her training in producing multi-media at the American Film Institute (AFI) and Brown University where she also served as Director of Media Services. As a freelance producer for NBC News, she covered stories around the world, including China, Japan, Europe and Russia. She is passionate about the positive use of media for global storytelling.
Website: www.myhero.com
Name: Ethel Liang, Taiwan
Website: www.taiwanschoolnet.org
Name: Judyth Piazza
Position: Judyth Piazza is the CEO of the Student Operated Press. The Student Operated Press is a cutting edge news organization that's intention is to provide novice writers and student journalist with the opportunity to showcase their talents while practicing ethical journalism in an environment that rivals all major media outlets.
WWCI TV 10 news anchor, www.thesop.org
Senior Editor, www.thecollegepress.com
Position: Janette Toral is the site owner of DigitalFilipino.com, BeadClubPhilippines.com, CMMIPhilippines.com, and PrimaPlaySchool.com. She started the Philippine Schools Cyberfair affiliate in the Philippines in 2001 and aggressively promoting educational content development in both Filipino and English for elementary and high school students.
Website: http://www.digitalfilipino.com
Name: Susan Echard, United States of America
Position: Susan Echard is WFS Vice President of Membership and Conference Operations and has been with the World Future Society since 1977. She has has a BS in Education and Criminal Justice and an MA in Counseling. She has taught at the elementary school level and was nominated at that time for National Teacher of the Year. Ms. Echard is a certified counselor and has counseled children and youth through high school age and their families.
Name: John Gottsman, United States of America
Position: John Gottsman is President & CEO of the Clarity Group, a venture investment and strategy firm specializing in business, and education knowledge acquisition software and services. Gottsman has been a strategy advisor and active venture investor for the past 8 years. His career focus as CEO of 4 corporate turnarounds and 2 startups has been the acceleration of knowledge acquisition for customers and staff.
Gottsman has a demonstrated deep personal commitment to helping learners accelerate knowledge acquisition in K-16 education, and with employees in commercial organizations. For over 15 years, he has been paid by Public School Districts and Colleges to provide quality of life and instructional services, including distributed learning, to students and instructors.
Gottsman serves on boards of several Silicon Valley startup companies; the Center for International Leadership in Washington, D.C., The World Future Society, The Greater Educational Opportunity Foundation, and served on the board of the now merged Institute for Research on Learning, and The Foresight Nanotechnology Institute. Gottsman was a co-founder of an Orange County incubator; Gazelle Lab. Gottsman has been active in the World Future Society for over 20 years. He was Chair for the 2003 WFS conference in San Francisco, and was Chair again for the 2005 WFS conference in Chicago. Gottsman is also Chair of the Silicon Valley Node of the United Nations Millennium Project. He has an engineering degree from Villanova University, and a Master's degree in business from George Washington University where he was also ABD for a DBA.