Very Special Friends
We couldn’t hold this event without some Very Special Friends from around the world. We are exceptionally proud to list a few of them here.
Adrian Hoad, in Canada, might well be the most amazing creator of quizzes and drawings and word-games and crazy stuff of a kind that increases joy in the classroom and curiosity in the minds of those scratching their heads - young or old.
Annette Stock, in New Zealand, is one of those brave educators willing to step far outside normal comfort zones if that’s what it takes to enrich the learning experience. She also provides brilliant navigation advice to the Skipper.
Arun Mehta, in New Delhi — This man deserves mention in the GLD Hall of Fame. He’s been with us as presenter, crew member, navigator and champion of the use of radio, especially in South Asia. I can’t say too many good things about Arun.
Barbara Dieu, in Brazil, is an extraordinary ESL teacher, blog meister, with untold amounts of energy. It is hard to say too many good things about Barbara. Spend some time on her site and see why we like her so much! Keynote speaker, GLD VIII
Badrul Khan, now in Washington D.C — Badrul is a terrific example of how brains and energy and vision and “heart” all come together to make for extraordinary achievement. As with many on this list, Badrul could fascinate us all for the entire time we make our round-the-world Voyage.
Blaine Berger, in Colorado, USA, has been with us since the first Global Learn Day. We will try to get him to tell the story of the miracle that allowed us to successfully hold it.
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Bob Zwick, from Texas, USA - is as warm and friendly and helpful as Texas is big. It’s impossible to relate how often we’ve called on him to bail us out; and how many, many times he’s provided both life jacket and lantern.
David Wortley, from the Leicester United Kingdom is indeed a Very Special Friend. He comes to us from the town where Thomas Cook launched Cook Travel . He describes himself as Immersive Technology Strategist, Edutainer, Facilitator, Writer, Consultant, Motivational Speaker, Creative Thinker, Innovator, Social Entrepreneur, Guitar Hero. David is all of that. And a LOT more
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Bonnie Bracey, in Washington D.C. - If Stephen Downes has a femal equivalent, it’s Bonnie Bracey. No amount of suplerlatives would adequately describe all that she does. She’s a big part of the Dublin Group and has more links from Google than just about anyone on this list. Here’s and interview and a wee bit more, including some photos, about Bonnie.
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Bruce Best, in Guam - Nobody, nobody, nobody gets more chuckles that Bruce Best when he takes a whole bunch of voyagers via PeaceSat around the Central Pacific. From Yap to Palau to Koror to Major to Tarawa to Midway; every year a new stop to some remote speck in the where the challenges of education delivery are as large as the ocean itself.
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Dixie Ripple, Nevada, USA provides enormous telephone assistance to us every single year. We couldn’t hold this event without the use of her conference service.
Eric Baber, London, UK - We met Eric almost eight years ago when he had already been a pioneer in language instruction over the Net. In our galaxy there are many very bright stars. Eric is one of them, and just as warm in person as he is on line. Note: I like to point people to this page as an example of the contributions we get from people like Eric.
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Graham Stanley, in Spain, is another one of those hugely exceptional English language instructors that come to us via Webheads. We are pleased and proud that Graham is an part of the Dublin Bunch.
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George Buys, California, USA - George, who just happens to be blind, is the C.E.O. and founder of Talking Communities. With scarce resources (sound familiar?), George and his Team have a lot to be proud about.
Jack Bryne, Dublin, Ireland — We think “radio” is the key to both interesting conversations and reaching millions world wide. The bad news is we haven’t done nearly enough to prove the premise. The good news is that Jack and his radio station in Dublin is strong evidence that the reach of radio and the collaborative power of the Net are rich ingredients.
Jeff Lebow, in New England, USA, is founder and sole employee of World Bridges. It’s impossible to accurately describe the extent of his work. Don’t fail to visit his site.
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John Southworth, Hawaii, USA - The last stop on our first Voyage was hosted by John Southworth and his many, many friends at the University of Hawaii and others from around the whole of the Central Pacific. Many will tell you that he and Bruce Best, from Guam, make this the most interesting anchorage of all.
Lukas Ritzel from Switzerland, by way of Bangkok - I have a very special reason to like this hugely gifted young man - he created this image of me during Global Learn Day Voyage Six. Recently married to a brilliant Thai, one look at Prasena
the company he helped to found, will you just how smart Lukas is.
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Midi Cox from San Diego - The unvarnished and absolute truth is that we could never have put on all the Global Learn Day events in each of the last eight years without this extraordinarily kind and exceptionally smart woman. While she has a Ph.D in economics and more brain power and more energy than anyone I ever met, the biggest and best part of Dr. Midi Cox is the size of her heart.
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Narendra Rocherolle, San Francisco, USA, was our original webmaster without whom we could never have held Global Learn Day. He’s also the former owner to Webshots, and now the creator of 30boxes. A great guy!
Nathan Lowell, from Colorado, USA. This blog, as well as those found at our companion blog, TENPLAN, plus the Dublin Group, plus work I do for Sigma Chi would not be possible without this kind volunteer. Nathan’s quick, smart and available — even on weekends. Thanks Nathan!
Sir John Daniel, now in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the Commonwealth of Learning (which we have featured several times) earned his knighthood for “changing the landscape of higher education in the United Kingdom.” He was our Keynoter at the Opening, GLDIV, nicely filling the very big shoes left by Vint Cerf, Keynoter to III. Wouldn’t it be great to have both icons on our Ten stage?
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Stephen Downes in Canada - In a gathering of American Nobel Prize winners JFK quipped “Not since Tom Jefferson has so much genius been gathered in one room.” Stephen Downes and Tom Jefferson are cut from the same mold. Hyperbole? Visit his site and see for yourself.
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Tak Usumi, Tokyo – Don’t even click Tak’s name unless you have a few hours to burn reviewing the history of a man that has lead the distance education parade for almost two full decades. Tremendously supportive of GLD.
Teresa Almeida d’Eca, from Portugal - Another one of those brilliant Webheads, who, with Barbara Dieu, put together what might have been the most captivating Opening in our ten year history.
Terry Redding, from Florida, got his doctorate defending the idea that something called The First Moment of Lasting Excitement makes for an indelible imprint that leads to a high sense of curiosity and willingness to experiment. Don’t miss his presentation.
Vance Stevens, long time resident of the United Arab Emerates, complains that his job of leading Webheads is like organizing cats - but he does it and he does with an exceptional ability. Vance has been with us since Global Learn Day, The Inaugural.
Vint Cerf, Keynoter to GLD III, has so many accolades that we can only encourage you to visit what Google has to say about him. He lays legitimate claim to being “father of the Internet” and now holds at Google the title Chief Internet Evangelist. With any luck at all, we will hear from Vint during GLD Ten.
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