edited.

I am thinking of registering for the Masters of Educational Technology at the American College of Education. Total cost comes under $7000 US. All done online and completed in 18 months. The profile at Wiki looks okay. Any info on American College of Education?

I attended the IBO workshop in Toronto summer 2011. It was for PYP/MYP/DP at Level 2 and 3 IT. Held over 3 days. It cost $850. It was not worth the money. It was worth maybe $100. But really, the only worth is now having attended it on my CV.
There were guest lecturers describing what Inquiry was: you could sum up their entire monologues with the word: vague.
The lectures on technology were topical, what I learned I could have read on the back of a box of software they had installed on their computers. Were were supposed to be trained on Smartboards but most of the boards there were Prometheum.

I also attended another one of their introductory workshops some years ago. That was even worse.

When I think of IBO I think of Church of Scientology meets Herbalife. It's similar to a pyramid scheme in my opinion. The most useful product IBO sells is their tie-clips emblazoned with their company logo.

I have attended workshops provided by other organizations. Much better, but I won't mention them as I am not here to plug any organization.

But IBO, get it together or you will be as well-thought-of in the field of education as Microsoft now is in the field of software.

Dear wrldtrvlr123 and others.
What if I had left the school I wanted to post about on ISR and had already secured a 2 year contract with another school and had arrived and started teaching. Would posting then in an honest and not bitter fashion haunt me later with certainty, in your opinion?

Dear "wrldtrvlr123",
I guess what I mean is that if a specific problem at a school was posted by a teacher at ISR, I mean very specific, for example posting "there is not 1 computer on campus" as opposed to a vague statement such as "our schools lacks teaching materials". It may be difficult for a director to confront such as posting. Because what does stating "our school lacks teaching materials" really mean? Nothing. But if the posting "there is not 1 computer on campus", was true, a director may think twice about making a stink about that. Because they would not want to draw extra attention to their school and themselves by having a running dialogue posted here or ISR. And, a recruiting organization, if contacted by the director because of this specific posting by a teacher, may say "well, is it true that your school does not have 1 computer? I think this is a problem. Especially if you told the teacher in the hiring stage that your school had many computers".
Vague negative critiques posted by teachers may be disputed by a director. But specific ones which may also be easily proven may be less likely disputed by a director and may be more likely to be ignored. But, I may be wrong. :)

Dear 'respond', why have you not posted a review for your school in Bali on ISR?

I have already left the school. If I added any fake details they would have to not be misleading making the school look worse or better than it is. I think it would be tricky to do that in any way that would help hide my identity. I also do have some pleasant things to say about the school, city, and country.
The reason why I want to post 'questions to ask' and not what happened to me is because the purpose of my posting is to help teachers and not make anyone angry. Also, I find that much of the negative comments posted about schools and administration is vague and not much use, such as posting' that school is bad', 'i hated it there', 'you can't trust that director'. What does that mean? Maybe nothing at all!
I think if a posting is completely honest, stating facts in an almost journalistic fashion but also offering advice, it would make it very difficult for a director to get angry and cause trouble for you because it would give more publicity to their and their school's shortcomings, faults, etc.

I would like to post a review at International Schools Review and list maybe 5 questions teachers should ask the director during the hiring process. The questions would definitely reveal my identity to the director. The questions relate to errors the director made regarding my benefit package, promises made in email and broken once I arrived, extra hours of work I was not told of until after the academic year started. Asking these questions could definitely safe a teacher thinking of working at this school a lot of problems.
To post or not to post? Could I be blackballed by a recruiting fair or could it seriously hurt my career?

I have experience with ISS, CIS, Search Associates.
ISS was the worst, an absolute money making machine with no concern for teachers. Once they have your fee, that's it, they have no interest in you at all.
CIS was just kind of, there. Okay I would say.
Search Associates was the better of the three and in some cases very good, (for my colleagues, not necessarily me).

I would take Thailand over Turkey for a few reasons:
1. Turkey is now more expensive which is the main reason I left.
2. The weather is not great year round in Turkey as it is in Thailand.
3. The food in Turkey is great but I prefer Thai and it is healthier.
4. There are more sports, water, and adventure activities in Thailand.
5. Thai people are more relaxed and quiet than Turkish.
6. There is probably less petty theft in Thailand.
7. Thailand may have other opportunities to tutor or teach on the side.
8. There is less chance for violence, terrorism or earthquakes in Thailand. Though I would not really be concerned about terrorism in Turkey.

Good luck!

I lived in Izmir for a few years and loved the city and everything. I would rather live in Izmir than Istanbul or Ankara. But I was not at MEF and I think MEF is near the airport, not a great place and away from the seaside, not nice restaurants close to school. That would be a drawback for me. But Izmir is really great. I don't know the MEF benefit package.

One can still PM and use an anonymous email address and still correspond with someone and neither person will find out who the other is. So 2 people could discuss a school they work at and if they are careful neither one will find out who is who. If you want to reveal your identity then just be careful.

I had an offer there recently but turned it down because of the nuclear issue. Also, class sizes seem pretty huge. Gunma has the lowest yearly savings that I have come across on Search.

There is no info on the school at ISR or anywhere else that I can see.
1. Is the package as described at SA, is it good?
2. Are students and admin pleasant?
3. Are accomodations adequate/nice?
4. Is there PD?
5. How is life in Riyadh?

Why wouldn't you work there?

Does anyone have any information on this school?