Leadership For Learning tags: leadership education The Future Of Content Curation Tools - Part I tags: curation future education content digitalcitizenship Should Schools Teach Social Media Skills? | Fluency21 - Committed Sardine Blog tags: socialmedia education Stoodle Interesting new collaboration tool - for iPads as well. Real time and asynchronous. Has audio and chat. tags: Web2.0 collaboration education The 10 Biggest Trends in Ed Tech for 2014 -- THE Journal tags: byod socialmedia education SIIA || Vision K-20 tags: educationaltechnology vision education The Role of PBL in Making the Shift to Common Core | Edutopia tags: pbl commoncore education An Amazing Timeline Chronicling The History of Social Media ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning tags: socialmedia education infographic Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Digital Citizenship in New Zealand schools tags: digitalcitizenship education Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Digital Citizenship MOOC 2014 This online course has 3 approaches including the 'Extended Student' (no credit, no fees) opportunity. Led by Jason Ohler, who I was delighted to meet at ISTE last year, the goal of this course is ' to develop the skills and perspectives necessary to be able to interact in this new community in ways that help the community flourish in healthy, creative ways.' Spring semester starts January 12. Take a look! tags: education digitalcitizenship mooc 100+ Influential Learning Professionals Worth Following - Edudemic tags: education Course structure | Master of Education (Knowledge Networks and Digital Innovation) | Postgraduate | Courses | Charles Sturt University tags: charlessturt education Knowledge flow and the power of networks - a powerhouse of innovation | Judy O'Connell - Academia.edu "https://www.facebook.com/KnowledgeNetworksDigitalInnovation" tags: education charlessturt network Privacy and Security on Facebook tags: education facebook digitalcitizenship Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: 10 Proven Strategies to Break the Ban and Build Opportunities for Student Learning with Cell Phones tags: mobilelearning education aup techintegration research Blooms Digital Web Tools tags: bloomstaxonomy education The Twitteraholic’s Ultimate Guide to tweets, hashtags, and all things Twitter | The Edublogger tags: Twitter education socialmedia digitalcitizenship What’s Our Vision for the Future of Learning? | MindShift Excerpt from the book by David Price OBE, 'Open'. @davidpriceobe tags: future vision education engagedlearning Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Why Are Dead People Liking Stuff On Facebook? - ReadWrite Some interesting ethical and digital citizenship points made in this article....a little unnerving ... tags: digitalcitizenship Facebook education Children's University | Australia tags: education Engaged Learning: The fear factor that holds back innovation tags: engagedlearning education innovation futureofeducation Education and Social Change Infographic | e-Learning Infographics tags: infographic socialchange education Free Technology for Teachers: Chart - A Comparison of Educational Blogging Platforms tags: blogging education Building our own classroom: Studio H at REALM Charter School by Project H Design, 501c3 — Kickstarter tags: kickstarter social_entrepreneurship education The Year in Kickstarter 2013 Find out about the projects that were supported across the globe via Kickstarter! tags: kickstarter entrpreneurship socialmedia social_entrepreneurship education Beyond the Basics of the Flipped Classroom -- THE Journal tags: flipclassroom education Play, passion, purpose: Tony Wagner at TEDxNYED - YouTube tags: education tedx Project-Based Learning vs. Problem-Based Learning vs. X-BL | Edutopia tags: projectbasedlearning education Brandon Wiley: Six School-Wide Strategies to Globalize Your School - YouTube tags: global globalcompetence globaled13 keynote education Learning Without Technology | My Island View Interesting comments on Tom Whitby's post about the need to be learning with technology - and not without. tags: education blog discussion ECIS ICT Committee eNews - IT Updates, ideas, musings and news for the ECIS IT Community This regular blog, for the ECIS IT committee by John Mikton, currently at International School Prague, always includes news and updates and interesting IT-related artifacts that are worth reading/viewing and sharing forward. tags: ecis blog education techintegration professionaldevelopment The 8 Digital Skills Students Need for The Future ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning tags: future education digitalcitizenship 10 Competencies Students Need to Thrive in The Future ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning tags: education futureofeducation future Ya Toast Lip Dub- CClouse,,http://fun2updates.blogspot.com/2013/12/ya-toast-lip-dub-cclouse_27.html - post by siya1cool Taking a dip in the SAMR swimming pool I like this fresh approach to viewing SAMR, as a swimming pool with the S and A in the shallow end, and the M and R in the deeper end. tags: samr education techintegration Creating MultiMedia eBooks - wesfryer tags: ebook education The 6 Most Popular eBook Formats To Know About - Edudemic tags: ebook education Personalize Learning: 10 Trends for Personalized Learning in 2014 tags: personalizedlearning trend education Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Plagiarism vs. Collaboration on Education's Digital Frontier tags: plagiarism education digitalcitizenship (35) Comments4Kids tags: education blogging flatclass Google image search | tags: google image search education "The Benefits of Connecting~Investing your Time." Andrea Stringer tells us about her connected life as an educator tags: CLU01 connected_learning education Teacher confidence in using technology - Mark Anderson's Blog tags: techintegration education technology How to Create Social Media Guidelines for Your School | Edutopia tags: digitalcitizenship socialmedia education policy To MOOC, or not to MOOC tags: mooc education Moodle MOOC 3 on WizIQ - YouTube The next Moodle Mooc starts on February 1. It's Free! tags: moodle Mooc education free onlinelearning Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

I had the opportunity to speak briefly with a group of teachers at SHORE School in North Sydney this week about global learning and collaboration. SHORE is well-established and quite traditional boys school. They will be hosting the Flat Connections Conference in June 2014, where students and teachers from around the world will gather for a 3-day event that includes using emerging technologies, action project development and global collaborative curriculum design.In the time we had at SHORE this week I focused on three main strands, with conversation pauses at regular intervals:Global understandingCollaborative learningLeadership creativityWe talked about the technology needed to scaffold connected learning, and the digital citizenship habits and understandings. It was clear from conversations that access to technology, as in many schools, is one challenge at SHORE that teachers need to have more conversations about. School owned desktop PCs and iPads are available to teachers and they are not permitted to put their personal device on the network at this stage. Students do not have an individual mobile device for learning yet.Like many schools in Australia, and across the world, there are some important next steps that SHORE need to consider. Mobile and ubiquitous technology in conjunction with cloud computing for all learners (students and teachers) is a priority to meet 21st Century learning and living needs. This takes planning and implementation. Conversations at this stage are important for teachers to realise the potential and to start to understand how a digital learning environment can support now pedagogy. Global Learning and Collaboration - Key ideas and themes from Julie Lindsay Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

In Connectivism, No One Can Hear You Scream: a Guide to Understanding the MOOC Novice - Hybrid Pedagogy "Cognitive load and Prior Knowledge are why we tend to teach absolute novices using techniques and contexts that are different to the ones we deploy for absolute experts, and why we avoid exposing novices to too much chaos. We start to drive in car parks, not motorways, we learn the names for foods before we deal with negative inversion when learning a language. We learn how to log in to a computer before we learn to code. We are still bundles of brains, experiences, and nervous systems sitting on the other side of a screen. This has not changed. Or been optimised by technology." tags: connectivism education The Maker Movement and the Rebirth of Constructionism - Hybrid Pedagogy tags: maker constructionism education Flat Connections: An Ideal Global Collaboration Model Thanks to Adam from the Academic Social Action Collective tags: jul flatconnections education Critical thinking in global challenges tags: global education free onlinelearning Aligning teaching for constructing learning tags: assessment CSU education rubric constructivism Competency Based Education… in 5 easy steps | An Ethical Island tags: competency education Transmedia Story Stream: Don't just read a book--play it! - Bleeding Cool Comic Book, Movies and TV News and Rumors tags: transmedia education Global Connections - Flat Connections Words of encouragement from Avylon, a Flat Connections Global Educator. tags: education flatconnections Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

I am spending a lot of my time thinking about, writing about and planning for 'digital citizenship' experiences for learning at all age levels. The K-2 Building Bridges Flat Connections project celebration meeting today reminded me that teachers need support and reminding that it's ok to connect students across the school, across the country and across the world, and yes of course there are safe and exciting ways to do this. The fact that technology has made connecting with another location synchronously as well as asynchronously so simple my challenge now is to find out what needs to change so that all teachers can do this, and can embed connected and collaborative learning into their curriculum. What are the teacher beliefs about teaching that are supporting this or preventing this? What are the institutional and social changes that need to take place to make it possible?I am privileged to be working in conjunction with Judy O'Connell at the Charles Sturt University, where I am now an Adjunct Lecturer, rewriting the Digital Citizenship in Schools subject for the Master of Education (Knowledge Networks and Digital Innovation) http://digital.csu.edu.au.I will be teaching 2 subjects in this course starting in march, including the Digital Citizenship subject. See Judy's recent blog post 'Understanding your digital footprint - new opportunities' for more information.At ISTE 2013 I was also privileged to meet Jason Ohler - digital storytelling and digital citizenship guru. Right now he is running an open MOOC on Digital Citizenship that I am tagging along with hoping to learn more.....more about how a MOOC runs as a three strand or three 'circle' approach (see Jason's explanation), and more about digital citizenship from a global perspective. I say global because I believe digital citizenship is social, cultural and global in nature. One person experiences digital learning differently to another, and somehow, as we join the world for learning, we need to find certain levelers so that we can all communicate with similar understandings.Recently I was nudged via Facebook to review the book (or part of ) by Leonard Waks, called Education 2.0. I admit I have not had time to read it all yet, but I have of course read the pages (pp. 115-117) devoted to reviewing the Digiteen Project, a collaborative global project started by Flat Classroom in 2007 (I was a co-founder of course), and still going strong today.  Unfortunately this situation has occurred in the past where a reputable author has printed information about our global projects without referring to the source for verification. I appreciate the work Waks has put into this comprehensive book on education now and future directions, however the Digiteen project as such has been misrepresented and I will attempt here to rectify this.Let me share what global connected and collaborative 'flat' learning, and the Digiteen Project in particular, really is so there is no misunderstanding in the future.Let me remind everyone about Digiteen....from the Teacher Guide:Digiteen Project. As part of the Flat Connections group of global projects, Digiteen uses the ‘Enlightened Digital Citizenship’ model (Chapter 5, Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds, Pearson 2012) to implement a global project and be a catalyst for local action. Students are grouped into mixed classroom teams (this project is global so team members are likely spread across the world). They connect through an educational network, research specific digital citizenship topics and share that information via a co-created wiki. They then focus back on their own communities and classrooms develop an action project based on their research that can be implemented, recorded in some way and shared back to the project. Examples include organising and hosting a school assembly or event to raise awareness of digital citizenship, or creating a series of lessons to share with younger students to do with digital citizenship issues.The Digiteen Project, and now the Digitween Project for students under 13, is focused on not just learning about digital citizenship, but embedding experiences into the curriculum that allow students to understand their own actions through connected and collaborative work locally and globally.My further thoughtsAs it was originally framed, the Digiteen Project is not about top-down learning and teaching, it is about inquiry - global inquiry. This must be made clear. All global projects are about inquiry - and the conservative forces across many countries (not just the US) need to understand that teachers and schools who enter these projects, although perhaps struggling with the new flat pedagogy, and with 'factory school paradigm' are willing to give new working modes a go. Students are encouraged to interact and discuss issues across classrooms and are not, to my knowledge, told what to think. Inquiry learning, constructivist learning, experiential learning is the focus. Rather than 'teach' students about how to learn in a social/educational network through dry theory, we put them into one and encourage them to adopt best-practice professional behaviour for learning, while opening up thinking.Para-quotes from the current Digitween and Digiteen project managers:Theresa Allen (Digiteen)It's not a top-down hierarchy, it's global inquiry and collaboration.  It's sharing, editing and using information for a final product that is viewed in local and virtual communities.  With my students, I record them on a Google hangout and invite schools around the world to view and "critique" them using a rubric.  They also present to younger students.It's not about spoon-feeding them information.  We do have to guide them a bit when they don't understand the language, but it's up to them to find the websites, images, and videos to share."Helen McConaghy (Digitween)What first attracted me to the Digiteen project and why parents and administrators allow me to let their children be in the project is that we are preparing them for a world where they will cast their net far and wide but first we are watching them make those steps in a bigger arena than their school but still in a protected area.  In our Skypes, my students were surprised that an Australian student had been up really early doing a Service project at the Fire Station.  They compared uniforms (or lack of), lunch, sports, time zones, accents, and more.  I try to have my students see the similarities, as well as the differences. I rarely present material in front of the class as I am barely able to have enough time for students to do the Action Projects that they create.  If anything, I worry that the I haven't given enough individual time to each group, that their Action Project will contain flaws in research as you would expect from a 6th grader.  Every year one of the things students like best about the project, is the Action Project, where they are able to choose who they work with and what their focus or topic will be.  While these projects are not perfect, they are theirs.  Time constraints sometimes dictate the audience that sees their project and also the depth of the project.  These projects are NOT all videos.  They are stories, games, presentations, bulletin boards, spreadsheets with graphs, surveys, and more.In conclusion, my understanding and approach to digital citizenship in the classroom (at all levels) is to encourage diverse conversations and action-based collaborations in a monitored (as opposed to controlled), Web 2.0 environment. Learning by doing, inquiring, co-creating and being given the opportunity to question and critique is the basis of all Flat Connections projects. Doing this in a 'flat' classroom means students and teachers cut through the isolation of learning within one room and it invariably supports intercultural understanding about many things - including digital learning environments and digital citizenship.I invite you to explore the just finished Digiteen and Digitween wikis to see the rich activities and action projects. Student conversations for these projects abound, but are not public as we are using Edmodo.Pictures below are from the final joint project celebration where teachers share their experiences and learning outcomes and evaluations of the project in an online meeting. Building a learning community around a supported and well-structured global project is a part of the digital citizenship approach needed for all global collaborations. Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Australian teachers and education leaders if you are looking for new and exciting ways to integrate the 'Intercultural understanding' objectives of the Australian National Curriculum into your learning environment, the Flat Connections Conference is the place you should be. (June 18-20, 2014. Sydney).It is with much anticipation that I am exploring the Australian National Curriculum (ANC) documents and becoming absorbed in the 'Intercultural Understanding' sections. As an IB (International Baccalaureate) teacher for 10 years, and a global educator, having taught across six different countries, I may have had more access to conversations and documents to do with intercultural understanding, cultural awareness, third culture kids, international mindedness, and cultural awareness than perhaps the average Australian teacher to date. It is certainly heartening to see a focus and emphasis on exploring how to recognise different cultures and develop respect now embedded into the relatively new national curriculum guidelines. In terms of organising elements, the 'Intercultural understanding learning continuum' is organised into three interrelated organising elements, as shown by this diagram:The website provides further details including the following three areas. Some key statements and examples are selectively shared here to show clear alignment and empathy with the aims and objectives of Flat Connections.Recognising culture and developing respect: investigate culture and cultural identityshare ideas about self and belonging with peers For example: identifying the language(s) they speak, describing something special about themselves or their families explore and compare cultural knowledge, beliefs and practicesdescribe and compare a range of cultural stories, events and artefacts For example: comparing media, texts, dance and music from diverse cultural groups including their own, exploring connection to place develop respect for cultural diversity.understand the importance of mutual respect in promoting cultural exchange and collaboration in an interconnected world For example: upholding the dignity and rights of others when participating in international online networks Interacting and empathising with others:communicate across culturesrecognise there are similarities and differences in the ways people communicate, both within and across cultural groups For example: identifying various ways that people communicate depending on their relationship  consider and develop multiple perspectivesassess diverse perspectives and the assumptions on which they are based For example: exploring the factors that cause people to hold different perspectives  empathise with othersimagine and describe the situations of others in local, national and global contexts For example: presenting another person’s story as seen through their eyes or as if ‘walking in their shoes’ Reflecting on intercultural experiences and taking responsibility:reflect on intercultural experiencesreflect critically on the effect of intercultural experiences on their own attitudes and beliefs and those of others For example:  describing how exposure to a diversity of views, ideas or experiences has or has not changed their thinking on an issue challenge stereotypes and prejudicescritique the use of stereotypes and prejudices in texts and issues concerning specific cultural groups at national, regional and global levels For example:  assessing the use of stereotypes in the portrayal of cultural minorities in national conflicts mediate cultural differenceidentify and address challenging issues in ways that respect cultural diversity and the right of all to be heard For example: engaging with views they know to be different from their own to challenge their own thinking  Read the full Intercultural Understanding Learning Continuum as provided in the Australian National Curriculum. The Flat Connections Conference, (and Flat Connections global projects) is a unique opportunity for teachers, students and education leaders to become immersed in a process whereby participants are teamed with others they have not met or worked with before, including different nationalities and cultures. It is a chance to break through stereotypical attitudes and prejudices and learn how to create something meaningful with others who are similar but not the same, and who may have different backgrounds and perspectives.The ANC 'Intercultural Understanding' goal is for students learn more about their own culture and the variable nature of culture (languages, beliefs, customs) and thereby develop intercultural understanding, as the introduction tells us:"The capability involves students in learning about and engaging with diverse cultures in ways that recognise commonalities and differences, create connections with others and cultivate mutual respect." "Intercultural understanding is an essential part of living with others in the diverse world of the twenty first century. It assists young people to become responsible local and global citizens, equipped through their education for living and working together in an interconnected world." The Flat Connections Conference, to be held in Sydney, June 18-20 provides an opportunity for teachers to learn more about how to embed 'Intercultural understanding' into their curriculum at all age levels through new pedagogy and curriculum design that focuses on global collaboration supported by emerging technologies. In the words of Anne Mirtschin, award winning Australian government school teacher who will be a lead facilitator at the conference, 'The world is my classroom, and my classroom is the world'. That is how 'flat' and 'connected' learning takes place.Technology makes connections and collaborations, and potentially intercultural understanding possible however for many teachers and students it is not clear HOW to harness the new tools and HOW to effectively harness 21st century learning objectives so that new conversations and meaning can be created. The Flat Connections Conference provides a pathway, the beginning of a journey into better understanding of this and aligns very nicely with the ANU Intercultural Understanding requirements.  How does it do this? Let's take a closer look.Students work in cross-school teams, teachers work in cross-school teams on a common goal. Already the walls of learning are flattened through the need to communicate and create something together by bringing skills, experience and understandings to the table to share with othersBoth student and teacher teams produce a product that is showcased in a celebration on the last day. The process of pitching to other teams for feedback provides an energised design cycle of designing, planning, creating and evaluating. The product (an action plan, a unit of work, a new curriculum design) is designed to join classrooms and/or teachers together globally and can be implemented after the conferenceThe theme for the Sydney conference 'What's the other story?' aligns once again with ANC Intercultural Understanding goals. This theme emphasises the importance of all humanity’s stories and the way they have been defined by the historical context of culture, migration and identity.  ‘Grand Narratives’ are no longer viewed as a satisfactory way of understanding the complexities and interconnectedness of the world we inhabit. Participants will be asked "What are the stories we want to tell to break through stereotypes and emphasise common humanity?" Discovering new stories, in conjunction with the design process of the conference, the aim is to open eyes to a more enlightened future of interaction and collaboration across the globe.The Flat Connections Conference Program provides time for interaction, consolidation, ideation, and skill development with multimedia and Web 2.0 tools for both students and teachers.The conference is about ideas - merging and melding cultures to create the best new projects and curriculum designs to join the world. It is about empathy with others, learning how to work with others, learning how to create a final product/proposal from set of initial ideas, learning how to flatten and connect using technology......and much more! If you have any questions about the Flat Connections Conference in Sydney, June 2014, please email Conference Chair, Julie Lindsay: conference@flatconnections.com Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Making the Most of ICT - what the research tells us - ICT in Education - tags: ICT education research Apps in Education: Editing Video on your iPad tags: ipad video education The Future of E-Ducation Report | Silicon Valley Comes to the UK tags: future report technology education elearning Lesson For All | Global Campaign for Education: United States Chapter "The Lesson for All is a set of three units focused on the right of education and the barriers that youth around the world experience when trying to access that right. Written by teachers Donna Roman (K-3 and 4-6) and Craig Perrier (High School), each unit (K-3 and 4-6) or module (High School) has four lessons with multimedia, discussion and modes of assessment. Each lesson is mapped to the Common Core State Standards and the Global Competence Matrix. " tags: globalcompetence education globallearning global ARTHISTORYWORLDS | arthistoryworlds.org Interesting online course - open for all? tags: education online Building Technology Fluency: Preparing Students to be Digital Learners | Edutopia tags: digitalfluency digitalliteracy education digitalcitizenship iPads Improve Classroom Learning, Study Finds tags: ipads research education Google Glass in Class - Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything tags: googleglass education 5 Reasons You Should Be Teaching Digital Citizenship tags: digitalcitizenship education curation OZeLive 2014 | Smore tags: education online conference Australia Home for OZeLive - Australia e-Series tags: Australia online conference education educationaltechnology i-Ed, Inc. - Achievement and innovation through international education Trips and opportunities for teachers to learn more about the world and embed authentic experiences and contacts into their curriculum through organised educational tours. tags: education global teacher globalawareness international Curation in Learning tags: curation education digitalcitizenship Learners Should Be Developing Their Own Essential Questions | User Generated Education tags: inquiry education Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration