The Future of Universities - Graded is Hosting Ben Nelson of The Minerva Project

Photo from WN.com

We are pleased to invite you to a presentation by Ben Nelson, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Minerva Project, a reinvented university experience for the brightest and most motivated students in the world. In this presentation, Ben Nelson will discuss the current situation and the future of higher education and the way Minerva plans to help students be global leaders and innovators. Prior to founding the Minerva Project, Nelson spent ten years at Snapfish as President and CEO.  Ben Nelson holds a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with honors.

Location:  Graded, The American School of Sao Paulo - Auditorium
Av. Presidente Giovanni Gronchi, 4710
Morumbi - São Paulo,  SP  05724-002
Date: Tuesday, April 29
3.30pm – 4:30pm
Coffee Break following the Presentation

PLEASE REGISTER HERE

Cities of the Future: Innovative ideas from a Graded parent

While on vacation in South Africa I came across an article on IBM's 5 in 5. IBM researchers each year develop 5 innovations that will change the way that we live. In the innovation below you may recognize Sergio Borger who is a Graded parent. Based on the research that Sergio and the IBM team have been doing he predicts that cities will change dramatically in the future. Congrats to Sergio. Take a look below.

Article from IBM's 5 in 5, online

The other four innovations are:

• The classroom will learn you
• Buying local will beat online
• Doctors will routinely use your DNA to keep you well
• A digital guardian will protect you online

As we strive to help students to become innovative these are the types of ideas that they need to study and analyze.

Let's Get Googling!

A group of almost thirty Graded teachers ventured to Rio over the weekend of the 9th-10th of November to attend a Google Education Summit at Escola Americana in Rio de Janeiro. The event invited educators from all over South America to come and learn about the latest apps that Google has to offer and how they can be used to enhance the learning in our classrooms. Graded has already adopted the Google Education Suite and our teachers are very knowledgeable about the apps available, but the opportunity to network with other educators and be exposed to all of the latest updates and developments from Mountain View was a really worthwhile experience.

Ms Carpenter and Dr Carpenter were presenters at the summit.
Photo used with permission from Kim Randall

Graded School also sent a dozen teachers to the Pre-Summit event where we learned what it takes to become Google Certified Trainers - hopefully by the end of the school year we will all have certified Google Ninja status! 

Graded Teachers meet and discuss our plans to put
our training to best use.
Photo used with permission from Kim Randall

Most of us had the easier task of being workshop participants throughout the weekend but a few super skilled Graded crew put themselves on centre stage and presented their own Google Education powers. All presenters were great representatives of Graded and demonstrated the wealth of technology and education expertise that we are lucky to have at Graded. Have a look at some of the presentation highlights from HS faculty:

Amaral Cunha and Silvana Meneghini presented their experiences with independent learning through Google Apps

The Carpenters have built a Google Site describing the benefits of Digital Portfolios 
Ask your kids if they have one!

Matt Reynolds delighted his attendees with the wonders of Python.
Check out his presentation here

The event was organised and facilitated by Mark Wagner, Kim Randall, Tim Lee and Mark Allen from the Ed Tech Team and they each brought with them a whole host of tips, tricks and strategies for implementing Google Apps into our classrooms. All Graded teachers left the event with new tools, strategies and ideas to help them lift the student learning in their classes. 

Please ask your kids how they use Google Apps at school!

Pics from the summit:

Coming Soon: Graded's Maker Space

Prepare for the Grand Opening of Graded's Maker Space. Details to be announced in the near future.

Below is the presentation that students saw at the activities fair.

Maker space hs activities fair from Silvana Scarso Meneghini