Ceesa Istanbul 2016 Logo-01

March 17-19, 2016 at
Renaissance Istanbul Bosphorus Hotel
in Istanbul, Turkey

Featuring

  • One day of pre-conference sessions on Thursday March 17.
  • 2nd Annual Learning InnovatED Un-Conference on Thursday March 17.
  • Invited presenters Anne van Dam, Fran Prolman, John Notten, Eric Demore, and Vicki Hannah Lein. CEESA Educators will also be presenters.
  • Pre and post tours; opportunities to visit historic and cultural sites in and around Istanbul
  • Literacy Cohort; Literacy Coaches Job-A-Like; Athletic Director/Athletic Coordinator’s courses;

Read more in the flyer

This conference has two kinds of Call for Workshop-forms:

Call for Workshop / (Teacher) Presenters

  • Workshop presentations on Friday March 18 or Saturday March 19
  • 15-20 slots available
  • 60-minutes or 90-minutes slots
  • € 75 discount for CEESA’s teacher presenters, which has to be shared if presenter has a co-presenter
  • Deadline: Monday November 2, 2015

Call for Workshop / Learning InnovatED Pre-Conference Presentation

  • This Un-Conference day takes place on Thursday March 17
  • Available for 60-80 participants
  • Participants need to prepare a 2-minutes, 20-minutes and 60-minutes presentation
  • CEESA will cover the one day Pre-Conference fee
  • Participants pay for their own transportation, hotel expenses and the main conference registration fee and expenses
  • Deadline: Monday November 2, 2015

You can view the conference schedule below.

Conference Hotel

The conference hotel is the Renaissance Istanbul Bosphorus Hotel.

The hotel is located on the European side of Istanbul, in Besiktas, midway between the areas of Taksim and Levent. The hotel isin walking distance to key Istanbul.

Hotel Reservations

You have to book your room online in order to get the special discounted conference rate. Deadline for booking your hotel room is February 1st, 2016.

Cancellation Policy

for hotel room reservations at the Renaissance Istanbul Polat Bosphorus Hotel

In case of cancellation by the guest due to any reason:

a) Accommodation rooms may be cancelled without any penalty prior 4 days of arrival date.

b) If the accommodation room has been cancelled prior 3 days of arrival date, the guest has to pay 100% of this total accommodation amount as cancellation fee (including room, breakfast and VAT for all nights).

Visum Turkey

Important notes for the visa application.

Shipment might be a challenge since Turkish custom laws are different then in the rest of the world.

Although using a courier, goods often get stuck in customs, and therefore they cannot be used on the time needed. Often these goods have to be shipped back which means paying another bill from the courier.

As usually CEESA will not be involved in the shipment procedures. We strongly advise exhibitors to contact the below mentioned company, BEFORE sending anything:

Custome Clearance;  
Contact Name: Mr. Ali Erdem
Tel:  +90-212-466-0030
Mobile:  +90-533-464-2021
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Webpage: http://www.expologist.com/

Half Day Tours, from 08h00-13h00, will be organized from Thursday through Sunday. For more information and for reservations, please contact ODS Turkey by sending an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The Half Day Tours are described in the flyer.

Full Day Tours, from 08h00-17h30, will be organized from Thursday through Sunday. For more information and for reservations, please contact ODS Turkey by sending an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Full Day Tours are described in the flyer.

Our onsite coordinator ODS Turkey is organizing the Full Day and Half Day Tours. For more information and for reservations an email should be sent at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The tours have to be paid directly to ODS Turkey.

CEESA will provide transportation to many of the popular tourist sites. Participants need to ensure their own safety at the conference and while touring Istanbul and due so at their own risk.

ODS Turkey, our onsite coordinator, is welcoming you at Ataturk Airport of Istanbul on Wednesday March 16 and Thursday March 17, from 10:00-18:00.

They will help you to find the taxi’s to the hotel. The cost of a taxi from airport to hotel will be approximately € 20 (one way).

Please find some airport arrival details in attached presentation (at the bottom of the article).

It is possible to make airport transfers arrangements prior your arrival in Istanbul, especially if you are traveling with a group. ODS Travel will be pleased to take your reservation. The cost are: * € 90; one way transfer by A/C deluxe Mercedes minibus (up to 7 persons), with assistance of English speaking staff.

For reservations, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dear CEESA Colleagues,

The 26th Annual CEESA Conference is just around the corner.  We have assembled some talented and inspiring educators to challenge our thinking about our theme, "Transforming Education Through Personalizing Learning".

The conference will be held March 17-19, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey at the Renaissance Istanbul Bosphorus Hotel.  This boutique hotel will cater to our conference delegates, as we will have full run of the hotel with our learning programs.  Room reservations need to be made by February 1 to ensure the special rate. Please use this online hotel reservations link

For those attending the Pre-Conference sessions, plan to arrive on Wednesday.  To see the full list of Thursday’s sessions, visit our Pre-Conference webpage.

Thursday evening, the hotel is offering a welcome reception in the roof top lounge.  Come and see CEESA old friends and meet new ones.

Friday morning’s key note,  “Learning Personalized: Catalyzing A Vision”, will be given by Greg Curtis. This keynote will focus first on the “whys” of Personalized Learning, move through the “whats” and outline the essential “hows” to achieve the shifts required to make this approach achievable and essential for our students.  Much of this content is drawn from the book, Learning Personalized:  The Evolution of The Contemporary Classroom (Allison Zmuda, Greg Curtis and Diane Ullman, Jossey-Bass, 2015).

Check our website for all of the conference speakers and sessions and register today by using the online registration form.

Istanbul is a gateway to so many fascinating places in the world so you can easily book your flights. The city is a vibrant history center in our region. We recommend you plan your trip to be able to see some of the sites in Istanbul.  Safety is of greatest concern, and while we have monitored all of the events in the past few weeks and feel that the city is still a wonderful place to visit, we encourage you all to follow the advise of the US State Department Travel Advisory to be aware of your surroundings and cautious in tourist areas. They will give you the latest advisory message.

Our local, onsite agency ODS Turkey is organizing half day and full day tours from Thursday through Sunday. Please contact ODS Turkey This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to make reservations. CEESA is organizing transportation into several of the key sites on Saturday; however, you will need to decide if you want to partake in these opportunities. 

If you have any questions, please contact me, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Ingrid, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Looking forward to seeing you in Istanbul in March

Kind regards,

Kathy

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Dear Colleagues,

It is a great pleasure and privilege for us to be hosting the 2016 CEESA conference

“It is no exaggeration to say that with the myriad of mounting crises we face we need the most authentically educated, creative and confident generation of young people that we are capable of sending into the freighted challenges and unimaginable opportunities awaiting them in the not-too-distant future”
- Tim Burns,  Presenter CEESA conference 2016

Though international education is not without its challenges, our CEESA schools have a responsibility to be bold and courageous in exploring what education needs to be like to best serve this generation of young people. Our schools are populated with adventurous and open-minded global educators and creative, motivated, well-supported students. We have freedom from the excesses of centralized national control, we have wonderful facilities, access to resources and opportunity. We have a duty to use our advantage to contribute to the great  work of improving education for all.

There is much talk of the need for transformation and new paradigms but less example of what this looks like in practice. Teaching and learning is difficult and messy, the process of significant change still more difficult and messy – for us to make progress in this great endeavor we need a strong community of diverse explorers and practitioners to share their experiences, to provide practical guidance for others to learn from and redevelop to suit their own contexts and students. We need to continually reaffirm and re -examine the ‘why’ we are doing this to ensure we remain connected with our students and their world as well as with the actual teachers working with them every day.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
- Margaret Mead

The wonderful CEESA team has curated an inspiring group of thought leaders and practitioners to share their experiences and have created the opportunity for us to collaborate in person. We are all aware of the possibilities of virtual collaboration, but there is still nothing quite like the spark and joy of real people, sharing real experiences, in real time..…..so much more personal

Our conference seeks to enrich and affirm the journey, to build the community that will make this happen and support our intrepid educators in building their capacity to make this transformation in the lives and learning of our students.
You can access the full conference program from this website - do explore the full programme – there is so much on offer for you to plan your own personalized learning experience!

Through these inspiring and thought-provoking professional sessions, providing space and time to reflect and discuss as well as  the relaxed  social opportunities organised, that the dynamic CEESA community will be re-energised and connected and ready to continue to progress CEESA’s mission:

‘leads educational transformation through collaboration’

See you there!

jane-signature

Jane Thompson, Head of School
Istanbul International Community School

Please download the guide as PDF file below.

You will need to get an electronic VISA for Turkey prior to arrival in Istanbul. You may purchase it at https://www.evisa.gov.tr/en/

Important notes for the visa application:

  • We suggest to apply as a TOURIST and NOT to mention that you are attending a conference.
  • Enter an arrival date a few days BEFORE your ticketed or planned arrival and to enter a departure date from Turkey a few days AFTER you plan to leave; this allows for some changes that may come up without having to apply for a new visa.
  • You will need to pay the US$20.00 fee with your credit card.
  • Each traveler requires his/her own application, so if you are bringing your partner or guests along, the partner or guests will need their own visas.