Important UPDATE November 19 - Due to technical reasons this conference is now called the Flat Connections Conference.Finally I am able to bring the Flat Classroom Conference to Australia! YOU are invited!Mark your calendars now for June 18-20, 2014 to be held at SHORE school in North Sydney.The Flat Classroom Conference is an international event that joins learners of all ages (students and teachers and leaders from age 10 and above). It flattens the learning environment by providing an opportunity for team work and collaborative work across different learning areas. It is a process conference with set outcomes - students and teachers all produce products that can be used and implemented in the future. Experienced global facilitators will guide learners through the design thinking process to research, pitch, rethink, design and present their team products and solutions. There will be time for up-skilling with technology tools, mobile computing is the norm, and a virtual audience as well as virtual team members will be welcome.Details for the conference are being uploaded to the new Flat Connections website - Sydney 2014.The theme for the conference is 'What's the other story', which will encourage participants to look beyond the stereotype as they plan global connections and collaborations for the future.Don't forget! This conference is unique in the world - it brings students and teachers to the same challenge-based event to not only talk about flat and connected learning but to 'live' it as well through the use of emerging technologies and a conference format that allows teams to envisage solutions ot global problems.Last night I was part of the ACCELN Hangout where we had the opportunity to talk about Flat Classroom and the forthcoming conference. You will enjoy this discussion! REGISTRATION is open now for the Flat Classroom Conference Sydney, June 18-20 2014. We encourage you to register your interest NOW. Places are limited, do not miss out.Inquiries can be sent to: conference@flatconnections.comInnovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Official Google Australia Blog: Towards an Australian ‘innovation generation’ tags: education Google Australia Can MOOCs Democratize Higher Education? | WISE - World Innovation Summit for Education Debate that took place at WISE recently including George Siemens.tags: moocs wise2013 education Simple Sharing of iPad Images and Videos - iPads in Education tags: ipads education multimedia Hate Chalk: Learning with Tomorrow (Global Classroom) tags: globalcollaboration education Interactive Digital Citizenship image created with Thinglink ICT For Educatorstags: digitalcitizenship education infographic Be a Digital Citizen - YouTube tags: digitalcitizenship education viralvideo A Quick Start Guide to Participating in a Twitter Chat.pdf Great guide!tags: twitter chat education 2013 WISE Prize for Education Awarded to Ms. Vicky Colbert | WISE Press Room tags: wise2013 education global Teaching our children to code: a quiet revolution - Telegraph tags: education code UK Codecademy Supporting the UK national curriculum and all students must learn to code initiative.tags: UK code education C.PawlikGTA2013 - YouTube I love this video - Charles, a Flat Classroom Certified Teacher from Singapore was accepted in the Google Academy in Stockholm this December due to this. It's funny! It is also true - Google and Flat Classroom - what a great combination!tags: Google education Wiki, Wiki, Whack! Why Wiki Collaboration Looks Easy...Wait! Maybe Not... - Flat Classrooms Wonderful blog post about a teacher's experience with wiki collaboration. Everyone should read this - it's funny, yet true.tags: fcct13-2 education collaboration wiki elearnspace › WISE: The world’s most important education conference George Siemens, Connected learning guru, reflects on his experience at WISE.tags: wise2013 education WISE Summit and My Takeaway | My Island View Social Media guru Tom Whitby reflects on his experience at WISE 2013tags: wise2013 education Mrs. McCormack 1st And 2nd Grade Handshake - Flat Classrooms See more handshakes on the K-2 Building Bridges to Tomorrow project website - http://k-213-2bridges.flatclassroomproject.org/tags: handshake education k-2 globalproject flatclassroom World Digital Library Home tags: digital library education 20 Questions To Guide Inquiry-Based Learning tags: inquiry learning education School Libraries Boost Student Literacy, Australian Survey Finds | School Library Journal tags: library literacy education The Frugal Teacher: Our Global Classroom Projects Louis Morgan shares her discovery of global projects for her Gr2 class.tags: globalproject education collaboration An Interesting Collection of Handy iPad Tips for Teachers and Students ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning tags: ipad ipads tutorial educationPosted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

iPad as the Teacher's Pet — Tony Vincent - Learning in Hand tags: ipad education infographic 5 Ways to Inspire Students Through Global Collaboration | MindShift tags: globalcollaboration education The Top 10 Skills for the 21st Century Young Professional [Infographic] | The Savvy Intern by YouTern tags: 21stcenturyskills education infographic Innovation Design In Education - ASIDE: Is There A Visual Thinking App? Charts, Graphs, & The 1:1 Classroom tags: visualthinking education graphs maps charts design designthinking Teenagers say goodbye to Facebook and hello to messenger apps just as their mums and dads get the hang of social networking | Technology | The Observer tags: digitalcitizenship facebook education The Global Education Conference Network - YouTube Highlights from the Global Education Conference 2012 - looking forward to 2013 in 1 weeks time! Starting Nov 18 tags: education globaled keynote http://www.setda.org/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=321&name=DLFE-1598.pdf Reimagining the K-12 Textbook in a Digital Age Created by www.setda.org tags: textbooks education opencontent online digital digitalcitizenship Mobile Education - Lessons from 35 Education Experts on Improving L... A wonderful resource sponsored by Citrix. Valuable information from educators who are out there doing it with mobile and online learning. tags: jul mobilecomputing education onlinelearning The 5 Rules of Storytelling Every Teacher Should Know about ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning tags: digitalstorytelling storytelling education Global Citizenship Education: An Emerging Perspective Outcome document of the technical consultation on Global Citizenship Education tags: globalcitizen education UNESCO charting the course of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization tags: globalcitizen education 2013 Global Education Conference November 18-22. Great opportunities! I am keynoting! tags: globaled13 globaled education jul 7 Tips for Encouraging Student-led discussions | Starr Sackstein, MJE, NBCT tags: studentcentred education Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Skyping Across the Continent | elementaryflatclassroom tags: awl13-2 skype education globalproject Connected Coaching The key is listening - wish I rocked it!! Friend Heather Davis @heatherd1951 discusses her recent experience learning about Connected Coaching! tags: education connectedness GEC 2013 keynote Julie Lindsay 'How to Go Global: Lead, Learn, League' tags: globaled13 education Facilitators - Flat Connections Conference 2014 Announcing! Michael Furdyk Frank Guttler Anne Mirtschin Chris Betcher Kristina Stoney Ann S. Michaelsen Flat Connections Conference @mfurdyk @frankguttler @murcha @betchaboy @Kristinastoney @annmic tags: education flatconnectionsconference Sydney Australia Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

I had an interesting couple of hours at SHORE School, Sydney as part of my trip into the 'big smoke' this week. SHORE is just as Cameron Paterson described it - especially the part about views to the Sydney Harbour Bridge.Cameron at SHORE in Nth Sydney with view to the city A cultural icon - something to share next year with our global guestsPlanning and organisation for the conference is going well. We are delighted to announce the full global cohort of facilitators. These people not only come from different parts of the world, they are global in their outlook and approach to teaching and learning. We all have so much to learn from them! Michael Furdyk from Taking IT Global, Ann Michaelsen from Norway, Chris Betcher and Anne Mirtschin - both award winning teachers from Australia, Frank Guttler 'Mr Hollywood' from California, and Kristina Stoney, a social entrepreneur who is out there doing amazing things!The Conference Program is coming together - a full draft is now available online. As usual, it is packed with rich interactions and collaborations.Suggested accommodation options have just been posted this week as well. Sydney is a busy tourist destination - please make sure you book early for this event - or you will miss out on the conference discounts! A flyer is online for everyone to share, and below it is embedded into this post. Please pass this forward through your network! Tell the world to come to Sydney next June and experience connected and global learning.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Connected Culture Student Intro Video -- Our Connected Culture - YouTube tags: digitalcitizenship education video commonsensemedia 7 New Tools to Create Your Own Infographics - OEDB.org tags: infographic education digitalcitizenship Using QR Codes to Differentiate Instruction | Edutopia tags: qrcodes Differentiation education A Global Education Declaration The Global Education Conference Network created this during the Global Education Conference 2013. tags: globaled13 education globaleducation Global Education Conference Keynote 2013 My keynote slideshow: "How to Go Global - Lead, Learn, League" tags: jul globaled13 globalcollaboration education The Global Education Conference Network - YouTube Presentations and Keynotes on YouTube from Global Education Conference 2013. You do not need to miss out! tags: globaled13 education conference Flat Connections Conference | Smore tags: flatconnectionsconference education How (And Why) It's Time To Create Digital Student Portfolios - Edudemic Excellent ideas and reasons for supporting student digital portfolio work in schools. - building a digital legacy - empower students to create their own digital footprint - reflection - pushing the envelop of redefinition - a place to show growth, not just talk about it tags: education digitalportfolio digitalcitizenship Why Learning Through Social Networks Is The Future This article resonates with me - it is about learning environments and setting a mindset for opening the doors to global as well as connected learning for all. tags: pln network socialnetworking education futureofeducation Creating a Digital Learning Environment | eSchool News | eSchool News tags: dle education digitalcitizenship policy Margaret Riel: Improving your Skills as a Global Educator through Action Research - YouTube tags: education globaled13 research globalcollaboration Julie Lindsay: How to go Global - Lead, Learn, League - YouTube A recording of my Keynote for the Global Education Conference 2013. tags: jul globaled13 keynote video education Anne Mirtschin: The World is My Classroom - YouTube tags: globaled13 education global globalcollaboration High Techpectations: GlobalEdCon Gratitude #globaled13 Did you miss the Global Education Conference? All archives and recordings are available on the website now! http://globaleducaitonconference.com tags: globaled13 education global The Global Education Conference (globaledcon) on Pinterest tags: globaled conference education Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Today was no ordinary day. As someone who works from home, and travels quite a bit outside of Australia, it is refreshing to be in a workshop with other Australian educators and learning more about their challenges and successes and needs. Being a Melbourne girl from way back I am also excited to hear more about the Queensland system - especially pockets of excellent. Today was no ordinary workshop. Organised by AITSL and their Learning Frontiers initiative a small group of us gathered at St Aiden's School just south west of Brisbane. Come from Ocean Shores it took me nearly 3 hours to get there via car and train - but I am always up for an adventure! The workshop was co-led by David Price, OBE from the Engaged Learning and Summer Howarth. David has a new book, which I purchased as a kindle version last night, called "Open: How we'll work live and learn in the future".The aim of the workshop was to work in teams and determine design principles and match them with learning practices for the new HUBS of learning being created now. Four principles of engagement were the focus: personal, connected, co-created, integrated.  Needless to say we had energized discussions, and although experienced educators we all found it challenging to come up with a set of principles that were unique and that no other school could say they were already doing them all. Our team chose 'authentic learning' and 'global collaboration' as well as 'community partners'. I did not take a pic of our writing, but I believe it is being shared via the AITSL website soon. We then worked on what our version of a learning HUB would look like. This could include schools as well as extended community people and organisations. Learning Frontiers aim to put together these learning hubs for next year and are currently working through logistics of what this will look like, including leadership and management structures and breadth of stakeholders. We decided the online community was the real core of the HUB, and that through this everyone could and in fact must be connected to everyone else. We also thought that students should be part of this structure as active leaders and have a voice in the community.I see this as a real opportunity to do something different in education in Australia. It is important for stakeholders in the learning process talk to each other. Technology can provide the conduit for this. However, after more than 10 years of building online communities I know that creating a virtual hub to support the physical hub will mean a lot of work to monitor, cajole contributions and develop a community of practice. 'Build it and they will come' is not guaranteed. The 90, 9, 1 principle applies here - 90% will lurk or not even join in most cases, 9% will be reasonably active and 1% will be very active and drive the community. What is needed is experienced online teachers and community builders to help build and monitor the online community. This task will be made doubly hard by the inclusion of community members who may or may not be familiar with online learning and responsibilities of belonging to a community. Not impossible, just challenging. I do see this online community as the core of the learning HUB. There is no other way to do it. It must be transparent, open to the world and freely share ideas, plans, actions, successes and more. Yes! I said 'open to the world'. Enough hiding behind a wall - what are we hiding from? Best practice in learning must be shared to the world. The learning hub could be monitored for membership and of course moderated membership is always needed to avoid spammers, but I would suggest the idea is also to let outside interested learners in as well to further proliferate the diversity of the community.One aspect of today was the general lack of 'global' thinking. Discussion was very localised and pertinent to individual school situations. Wonderful stories were shared about engagement in learning, however to me one of the key engaging factors in the schools and with the teachers and students I work with is the fact they are taking their learning global, they are building rich collaborative curriculum and embedding interactions that support cultural understanding and global mindedness across grade levels. This is something I believe these learning HUBS could be working towards - as they build their community and develop good practices based on the design and engagement principles.Creating the conditions for change is challenging but necessary. Preparing schools for change in terms of leadership, learning and pedagogy, school structure (timetable, disciplines, curricula and co-curricula), and technology infusion is even more challenging today with the connected, mobile and ubiquitous generation coming through. We need to make schools relevant, provide more diverse personalized learning choices and connect learners locally as well as globally. I know teachers in Australia are ready for this....well the colleagues at the workshop today certainly are - so the next step is to get out of the way of the learning and make this happen! Forge new Learning Frontiers! Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

The Art Costa Centre For Thinking 16 Habits of Mind shared. Habits of Mind is knowing how to behave intelligently when you DON'T know the answer. It means having a disposition toward behaving intelligently when confronted with problems, the answers to which are not immediately known: dichotomies, dilemmas, enigmas and uncertainties. tags: education learning thinking ISTE 2014 Awards and Recognition Nominate yourself or another educator tags: ISTE iste2014 education awards Cool Coding | Inquiring Minds Excellent blog post by @ToscaKilloran about coding using Scratch - from an amazing PYP teacher in Germany who really gets it! Great resources - video and websites - shared. Love it when she says, "However, the real goal rests not in the student’s ability to code, but the complex network of skills that are contained within coding. Among other things, this entails thinking logically and algorithmically but also creatively, and collaboratively." tags: scratch education code OPEN-SOURCE LEARNING Pinterest tags: education opensource PISA 2012 Results - Wikiprogress.org tags: pisa oecd global education 20 Ideas for Content That People Love To Share on Social Media tags: education socialmedia sharing content Arizona Technology Integration Matrix I like the clear and simple interactive layout. I have used the older Technology Integration Matrix produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology before and it was useful - this newer version really hones in on collaborative, constructive, authentic and goal directed design principles. tags: techintegration education 21stcenturyskills What kind of global citizens are teachers creating? | Teacher Network | Guardian Professional tags: globalcitizen education Future focus / Principles / Kia ora - NZ Curriculum Online "future-focused issues as sustainability, citizenship, enterprise, and globalisation." tags: futureofeducation curriculum education Letting inquiry unravel naturally | Inquire Within Wonderful blog post from @nainisingh in Hyderabad, India. tags: PYP inquiry visiblethinking education 12 education guidelines from Alfie Kohn | Dangerously Irrelevant tags: education learning Engaged Learning Website of David Price OBE - his new book is also available! 'Open:How we'll work, live and learn in the future' tags: engagedlearning education learningfrontiers futureofeducation The Differences Between Pedagogy, Heutagogy, and Andragogy | Learn Egg tags: pedagogy heutagogy andragogy research learningstyles education Digital Dragons - Yokohama International School As part of our Connected Learning Community, we are highlighting the importance of balance, safety and responsible behavior online (generally called "Digital Citizenship") through a variety of events, lessons and activities. tags: digitalcitizenship digital citizenship education Digital Citizenship: The Forgotten Fundamental tags: digitalcitizenship digital citizenship education Yokohama International School: Global Citizen Diploma Reviewing the Global Citizen Diploma developed at YIS. It includes as an extended element Digital Citizenship - creation of a digital portfolio and video production with responsible use of technology. A good model to emulate. tags: globalcitizen digitalcitizenship education digital citizenship Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Celebrations and sharing well considered ideas for future collaborations have been part of the  exciting culmination to the Flat Classroom Certified Teacher Cohort 13-2 this past week.This professional learning course started 3 months ago, and together we have journeyed through the '7 Steps to Flatten your Classroom' into 'Global Project Design and Management'. Cohort members came from Australia, USA, Vietnam, Singapore, USA and New Zealand. We met most weeks for a synchronous meeting (you can appreciate the time zone challenges!) and connected asynchronously through our wiki portal and through the Flat Connections teacher community (which is open for anyone to come and join!)What is significant about this course and this cohort is the diversity of teaching positions and experience and individual place on the global collaborative learning pathway, however as a community of learners we have thrived - learning with and from each other at each turn of the road.Let me briefly introduce and describe each teacher and each project.Session #1 - Recording Avylon Magarey - Agents of ChangeAvylon is from Australia, she teaches gifted students at the middle school level. She wants her students to think global and act local and uses the Art Costa Habits of Mind method as a basis for student researching.Her project involves students in cross-school teams meeting in Edmodo, brainstorm issues in their community, take these ideas global, survey an expert in the field of the topic chosen (an interesting idea, putting a survey together is hard work and a good skill to have!), make a collaborative video around the devised solution the team comes up with to raise awareness, and share final presentations via Skype.Maureen Tumenas - Scratch Coding ConnectionsMaureen is from the USA and has been involved with Flat Classroom for many semesters, also as a project manager recently. She raised our awareness about the use of Scratch (coding, creating animations) to form a collaborative project. Such wonderful ideas once again! The Scratch community is apparently already very close and responsive and provides lots of global support. The idea of this project is for a cross-curricula, three ability levels approach.  Students from 8-14 years will meet in Edmodo and follow the design cycle to create products using Scratch. The project will take 10 weeks, and 6 classes are needed for it to run effectively. Students will interact and collaborate and keep mandatory journals of their experiences. Maureen shares her work here, and links to the design planning doc.Session #2 - RecordingCameron Paterson - What I saw in the WarCameron is a history teacher from Australia. He has a great passion for sharing a broader view of history and connecting students with primary sources - people in fact! who have experienced first or second hand the 'textbook' events we learn about as 'history'. He presented to us ideas for going beyond the patriotic, jingoistic approach to teaching history through his focus on WWII for his project idea. This is a project he has run in the past but is now redesigning with new determination. Students will form teams and interview someone who remembers WWII and compare primary source recollections across countries. It is that simple - but so powerful! He described a past project where students from Australia and Turkey connected and how stories and understanding went far beyond what a text book can provide. Penny O'Brien - Building CommunitiesPenny is a Principal in a small elementary school in New Zealand. She shared with us ideas for ensuring teachers are future focused, and for cutting through the isolation of teaching to start building relationships to share new ideas, new ways of thinking and common understandings. She has developed an approach to professional learning that leverages Web 2.0 tools and provides a pathway into connected learning. Through this process of collaboration teachers will come to realise the importance of communication, new ideas and new opportunities. Penny is aiming to build a community with her current teachers and expand that globally! It is exciting to see a school leader develop this to support their own community and as a plan to bring new learning experiences  into the school.Chuck Pawlik - The Open Art ClassChuck is an international teacher currently in Singapore. He is an art teacher and has designed this project idea to join art students across the world. He wants to harness Google hangouts and other collaborative asynchronous spaces to share art, do field trips and expand cultural ideas. He compares the 'brick and mortar' classroom with the global classroom - and shares his ideas for students to get outside views and make alliances to support creative work. This is a refreshing set of ideas leading to a global collaborative opportunity for other art students.Session #3 - RecordingJennifer Simon - FCP Tech Toolkit (Techy Teachers) Jennifer is a technology integrator in an international school in Vietnam. She has developed this 4-week course around skills and tools needed to collaborate globally. She takes the objectives of connection, communication, citizenship, creation and has created a pathway for educators to learn together and become more confident knowing how to use the essential tools. This concept could be implemented within a school or, as it is originally designed, for teachers globally as a virtual course. There is a great need for this focus - 4 weeks of tools related to global collaborative projects and objectives.Tina Schmidt - Edmodo Penpal Project Tina is a Grade 3 teacher from the USA and is a very experienced global collaborator already. She has redesigned her Penpal project to tighten up the structure and provide a supportive environment to encourage more classrooms to join. Her wiki page on the Global Classroom wiki is an excellent writeup of what is a great opportunity for entry level teachers to join a global project. The goals are for students, Grade 4-8, to engage in collaborative discussions with others in teams and explore diverse topics. One aim is for young students to learn how to communicate in a formal way - not text-speak - while online. A feature of this project is the reflection at the end, the 'eye-opener' as Tina calls it. A 12-week timeline, starting next in February 2014!Dorothy - Global Wanderings Dorothy is a Grade 1 teacher in the USA. Her project is literature based, with weekly discussion questions posted to a wiki. Partners are invited to join the wiki and add their details and share their school. She has a lot of 'flat' connections and collaborations going on with her class already and this project idea is a way to collect those together and build towards more extended collaborations. Dorothy also shared this short video with us of her students talking about what they liked best about reaching out beyond the classroom walls to learn about the world.What happens next? Well I know the above ideas for projects and collaborations will go ahead and be implemented. Some have run in the past and now will run with an updated structure and clearer focus. Others will run as pilots and be tweaked and evaluated for future improvement, once again building a better collaborative experience each time. The main point is that these educators are out there doing it - they are 'teacherpreneurs' in their schools - probably the only ones. They are leading the way, taking steps to embed collaborative practice and global learning into their curriculum, planning to provide rich multicultural and technology-infused experiences for their students. Bravo! Please support them, join our teacher network and interact with them, join their global project, be a part of their plans and dreams for a better education that joins the world for global understanding. Are you interested in joining a supportive cohort of global learners to embed global collaborative practices into your classroom or school? There are TWO opportunities offered in early 2014. These are shared via the Flat Connections, Flat Professional Learning website.Flat Connections Global Educator - a 2-graduate credit course (this is what the cohort above have just completed!) (Cohort starting February)Global Collaboration Primer - 4 weeks - for those who think they may want to go global but need help - and for leaders and administrators to learn what 'going global' may mean for them and their schools  (Cohort starting January)Consider joining us in the new year - it is possible to take your classroom and your learning global and create wonderful opportunities for your students and colleagues.Julie Lindsayjulie@flatconnections.com   Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

What 'Connected Education' Looks Like: 28 Examples From Teachers All Over - NYTimes.com tags: education CLU01 connected_learning The Nerdy Teacher: The Complete Guide to Evernote in Education #Evernote tags: evernote education AALF Articles - Global Social Entrepreneurship Summit: Promoting Student Innovators with Unreasonable Vision Sharon Peters shares ideas to promote our Global Social Entrepreneurship Summit happening in Mumbai end of February 2014. Come and join us! It is not too late. tags: gses education asbunplugged asb2014 Social Entrepreneurs: Innovators with an Unreasonable Vision | Findings Karishma Galani writes about social entrepreneurship and the new Global Social Entrepreneurship Summit to be held in Mumbai end of February 2014. tags: gses education asb2014 asbunplugged The Learning Revolution The Learning Revolution Project highlights virtual and physical events from Web 2.0 Labs and its partners. These events bring together educators, learners, leaders, and others to rethink and reinvent education. Steve Hargadon tags: education learning network The world is my classroom - TES Global teacher talks about how she has used social media to connect with the world. tags: globalcollaboration education What’s New in 4.0 - Creative Commons tags: creativecommons education digitalcitizenship CC’s Next Generation Licenses — Welcome Version 4.0! - Creative Commons tags: creative education digitalcitizenship Building a first great school - in rural Karnataka - GlobalGiving An NGO set on transforming education - consider supporting their fund raising now. tags: India education Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration