AISA Members’ Circular Sept 01, 2014
In this issue:
Note from the Executive Director
What is AISA SchooLink?
AISA Website Revamp
AISA Scholarships
Conference Registration Recommendations
AISA Members Making a Splash
Note from the Executive Director Greetings from Nairobi. As you may know some of our colleagues and schools in West Africa are caught up in the turmoil unfolding as a result of the Ebola epidemic. AISA continues to support several schools as they make difficult decisions about possible closure, late opening and home schooling options via our SchooLink platform. I know you join me in offering them all our very best wishes and a safe journey through this difficult time.
Today (Sept 1st) AISA opens our 2015 Conference registration system. This is a brand new system that we have tested rigorously but it may need some fine tuning. We ask you for your patience if you should have any issues while registering. Elsewhere in this circular are some very important tips and details about how schools should register. Suffice to say here that we think this will be our best conference yet. There has been massive interest in the 2015 workshop and institute programme - I strongly urge you to register and sign up for your session sooner than later. We have had to implement quotas again this year to ensure all our schools have chance to participate in this unique learning experience. Not only is AISA 2015 in the stunning surrounds of Cape Town International Convention Centre but it will also take place alongside the AISA International Child Protection Symposium. All the details of the Symposium plus the AISA School Leaders Retreat, the AISA Business Managers Institute, the AISA Educators Conference and the various IB, IGCSE (new for AISA), Service Learning, Advanced Moodle, and Trauma First Responders pre-conference workshops are available at www. aisaor.ke/aisa2015
Peter Bateman
Executive Director
AISA Website Revamp It is finally here, launch day has arrived. Today we open the conference registration system and reveal the new look and feel of the AISA website. We want to hear your thoughts on it, and if you encounter any issues, please contact me and let me know. We have given the system a rigorous testing, so we don’t anticipate any problems, but we can never be too sure when the internet gremlins are going to strike. So please be patient with it as we troubleshoot anything that arises and please contact us and let us know if you find something. My email address: Mhenderson@aisa.or.ke
Conference Registration Recommendations Its official, AISA conference 2015, in Cape Town, registration is now open! It’s important to please note, if you are going to have more than one person registering for the conference from your institution, we would recommend registering as many at the same time as possible. By doing this then your business managers will receive a single invoice, rather than several individual invoices for each individual registration. I am sure that all your business managers will appreciate this. If you have any questions please contact: Max Henderson - info@aisa.or.ke
Schoolink AISA SchooLink can help with continuing teaching and learning in case you have to close school for an extended period of time.
What is AISA SchooLink?
AISA SchooLink (a part of World Virtual School Project) provides a Moodle platform for schools to run their courses online. The purpose is to provide a blended learning environment through which teachers and students share classroom information, work collaboratively on projects and participate in classroom activities. In addition, it serves as an emergency platform for schools, to continue instruction online in times of emergency school closure. SchooLink also provides for collaboration among its member schools within and outside of AISA region through the participation in our global collaborative projects such as 1. Virtual Science Fair, 2. Poetry Cafe (username: poetrycafe Password: poetrycafe) and 3. i-Olympiad. Click on the links to know more about them. AISA also runs some PD through SchooLink and has plans to bring in more.