Teach About US Update // January 2017

Teach About US Update // January 2017

by Joannis Kaliampos -
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Teach About US Update // January 2016

Dear Colleagues,

The Teach About US Team and our partners would like to wish you a happy and successful new year 2017!

In this year’s first newsletter we are taking a tentative look at what lies ahead this year:
  1. Evaluation of the U.S. Election Project – We need your input!

  2. Going Green – Education for Sustainability: Follow the blog and sign up for the project!

Read more about these topics below and stay tuned for more information on the upcoming Going Green project cycle. More information on this will follow soon in another newsletter.
Yours,

Joannis Kaliampos
on behalf of the Teach About US Team and Partners
Joannis Kaliampos
Leuphana Universität | Scharnhorststr. 1 | 21335 Lüneburg

Fon +49 (0)4131.677-1662 | E-Mail | Web


1. Evaluation of the U.S. Election Project: We need your input!

We have extended the deadline for participating in our evaluation of the U.S. Election Project (for participants from Germany).* As you might know from previous projects, in order to improve our online platform and teaching materials and secure funding for these projects, it is crucial to collect feedback from participants systematically. We have developed a project evaluation questionnaire survey for teachers and students that takes about 10 minutes to fill out. We kindly ask you to take a few moments and fill out this survey. Please also remind your students to fill out the survey.

The online survey will remain open for two more weeks (until Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017). Please invest 10 minutes to participate.

Link to the survey: https://evasys.leuphana.de/evasys_02/online
Password for teachers: teacher
Password for students: election

*Due to an email error, some participants might not have received the initial invitation to participate in the online survey in December. We apoligize for this.

2. Going Green – Education for Sustainability 2017


Did you know that this year the city of Essen will be the European Green Capital and that Bonn will host the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) to the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), organized by Fiji, in November? These are good reasons (among many others) to continue “Going Green”!

Follow The Blog!
After the winter break, our Teach About US-based Blogger Team will resume their work and contribute reports and insights from their peers on U.S. campuses. With the presidential election campaign now behind us and Inauguration Day just days away, they will once again shift their focus toward green and sustainable developments in the U.S. and beyond so as to accompany this year’s Going Green project cycle. Even if you can’t participate in the project, you might want to encourage your students to follow the Blog. It’s great (short) reading practice and might interest them not only in the subject but in blogging themselves.

Sign Up For The Project!
Going Green materials will remain online and will be gradually updated. Register now and participate in Going Green in the second half of this school year. Secure your Moodle e-classroom for Going Green by filling out the registration form here: https://www.teachaboutus.org/.

We will have a student competition and look forward to reviewing your students’ green action plans. The most creative submissions will be featured on the website and receive a certificate. However, instead of a central final event we will reward the winners with
  • a school visit by representatives of the Teach About Us team or the U.S. Embassy and Consulates.
  • a briefing in the U.S. Embassy Berlin should your school be in the vicinity.
Deadline for project submissions: June 2, 2017.

Get Help!
Using Moodle and participating in our projects is not rocket science – over the last four years we have welcomed many 'newcomers' to our projects and they all managed to navigate through our teaching units and Moodle classrooms. The Teach About US team is happy to help:
  • Katja Krüger (LIFE e.V., krueger@life-online.de) is our programming master-mind and can assist with course settings, enrollment, and technical issues.
  • Dr. Karin Ernst (LIFE e.V., ernst@life-online.de) is our expert in cooperative online learning and will help you with implementing the Moodle platform in your classes, making online submissions, finding partners online, and related issues.
  • Joannis Kaliampos (Leuphana University, joannis.kaliampos@leuphana.de) is responsible for materials and curriculum development and will assist with questions relating to your project participation, adapting teaching materials to your learner group, etc.
If necessary, we can also arrange phone meetings for more detailed advice – just let us know.

Also, the Teach About US FAQ section as well as support forums in the Virtual Town Hall and Teaching Notes in your Moodle classroom might be helpful resources for your classroom preparations.

From our Teach About US Blog

Recent posts

The Teach About US Blog is our window on what's happening in the U.S. right now. Our team of bloggers contributes a peer perspective on U.S. culture and politics. Read on in their blog posts and use them in your classes.

And So It Ends: Reflections on the 2016 Presidential Election, by Brandon Greenblatt

U.S. Election Expert Matt Riley on the Election in North Carolina, by Janina Schmidt

Bernie Sanders at the University of Minnesota, by Tobias Luthe

Presidential Debates Influence on The Polls, by Emily Young

Laughter and satire - friend or foe? Q and A with Christianna Stavroudis , by Joannis Kaliampos

Thanks for Subscribing

The team at Teach About US wants to extend a hearty 'thank you' to all of our wonderful teachers, students, and readers. You've made the Teach About US community shine, and we want to keep that going! If you're not a regular just yet visit the Teach About US website for some exciting student projects, fun and interactive teaching resources on politics and sustainability in the U.S., and much more!