In the first week of November this year I was delighted to once again attend the WISE event for 2014 (World Innovation Summit in Education) located in Doha, Qatar. Each time I go to Doha I see more and more changes. I lived there for 2 years, 2007-2009 and was IT Director for K-12 at Qatar Academy, a school based right on Education City, opposite the Doha Convention Centre where WISE was held. This was my 4th WISE. It is still my favourite global conference and organisers do the most amazing job bringing together international experts across a large number of areas, K-12 as well as tertiary, government and NGO.In past years I have usually attended and participated at a more passive level. This year I was invited at short notice to moderate a live debate. After taking a deep breath I agreed, and at one weeks notice worked on putting together the debate format and reading as much as I could about the topic - a topic I had no real expertise in, which I was told did not really matter as my experience and astute critical approach was conducive to the format required on the day.The topic was to do with cognitive science - the screenshots below are from the WISE website.  Although a great challenge for me personally, it was a privilege to interact with and learn from Dr Ramia, Dr Koizumi and Dr Abadzi as their depth and breadth of knowledge was exceptional for this topic. I am going to recreate some of this debate here to show you what we discussed. I am hoping WISE might share the recording they made of the session on their website soon.Here are some snapshots from the actual debate material.INTRODUCTIONThere has been a groundswell of brain research over the last 30 years. The medical and educational communities, once disparate professions, now have common ground in addressing the physiological and psychological evidence for human cognition. To clarify from the beginning, Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the mind and its processes. This topic is important now because…..…..The bridge created between cognitive science and education means there may be pathways for cognitive science to inform learning approaches, pedagogy and therefore improved outcomes. With new information, we can reconsider many long held assumptions about instruction, learning, and assessment. This also has implications for policy and impacts government decisions internationally.In this session we hope to….…. learn more about cognitive science, demystify the concept and practice and what we can expect from it to improve education for all. Are we having unreasonable expectations?What are the good practices to learn from internationally?The challenge for those not working in scientific fields is to understand the terminology and appreciate the actual science behind it. This video may help to clarify…….Dr Abedzi shared insights into how our memory works Neuromyths are common misconceptions about brain mechanisms, which are taken for granted in today's society. Cognomyths are beliefs that people can customarily learn in ways that they can't. Globally a large range of cultural, emotional and developmental biases have influenced the types of unscientific ideas that have emerged. Some long-standing neuromyths are present in products for educators and this has helped them to spread in classrooms across the world. We also discussed creativity:"Imagination is more important than knowledge.For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand." - Albert Einstein The topic of creativity is one example when exploring the broader issue of how to translate cognitive science findings into curricula or pedagogy.I wanted to ask about this but we ran out of time:The role of educational technologyDevelopment and use of adaptive digital technologies - have potential to create more learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom and reshaping the human brain.What about the move to using technology in the learning process - mobile devices, a move away from handwriting to digital communication.Cohort studies very important. Attention span questionsCreating expectations of how you get information and interact with the environmentWhat are the implications here for learners in relation to cognitive science? What role does or could educational technology play in this? Is the development of educational software based on the findings of neuroscience?RESOURCESMany interesting resources for cognitive science are now bookmarked in my Diigo account.You must download this NEW publication by WISE Matters: Explorations of Creativity: a Review for Educators and Policy Making by Helen Abadzi, Marialuisa Martelli and Silvia Primativo.The role of neuroscience in education - WISE EdReviewInnovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

The recent Global Education Conference (totally online for 5 full days, totally free) had a number of student-led and student-centred presentations. What a great experience for these students to present to a global audience, and what a unique opportunity for the audience to hear from the students about their global learning!Here are brief details and links to session descriptions and presentation recordings. The YELLOW highlight indicates Flat Connections Global Educators and their students. Flat Connections was a sponsor of the Global Education Conference 2014.Pen Pals Around the World~ Pen Pals por el MundoSarah Burke and @lesliedavisonSummit High SchoolRecording A Virtual Trip to AsiaParamita Roy and students in Gr 6 and 8St Dominic’s Priory College (Adelaide, Australia)Recording Service Learning for High School StudentsMax Bone - StudentOakland Christian SchoolRecording Opening Minds Through High School Global Citizenship CourseTina Vasquez and students Charlottesville High School and University of VirginiaRecording Students as Tech SupportSTUDENT KEYNOTE Kern Kelley - Central MaineRecording GIN (Global Issues Network)STUDENT KEYNOTE Lillian Chu Hsiung - Dwight SchoolRecording (not found)FlippingPD - Pre-Service Teachers Teaching Teachers GloballyEva Brown - Red River College CanadaThis session features students at the university level!See the Flipping PD wiki Recording A Student-Led Virtual Technology Conference? A New Model for Collaboration!Marymount School of New York - StudentsRecording Global Collaboration - The Student PerspectiveAmy Jambor & Sheri Williams and students from the Flat Connections Global ProjectBerea District, OhioRecording Senior students talk about their flat learning experienceThey share the skills they developed while in the Flat Connections Global ProjectStudents Presenting A Week in the Life - Environmental IssuesToni Olivieri-Barton, Laura Israelsen, Cindy Nickodam and students from the Flat Connections 'A Week in the Life...' ProjectRecordingDigiteen/Digitween - Global Digital Citizenship ProjectTheresa Allen and Helen McConaghy and students from the Flat Connections Digiteen/Digitween ProjectsRecordingSharing global handshakesDigiteen student in Joliet, USA participating in GECDigiteen/Tween presentation by studentsCaptured form the chat window during GEC student presentation Screenshot of presentation in sessionThe World is Our ClassroomAnne Mirtschin and Grade 7 students from AustraliaRecordingSocial Entrepreneurship: The Student Voice Sharon Brown-Peters and students from ASB, IndiaRecordingStudent Stories in a Solar Cooking ProjectKathy Bosiak and students Lincolnton High SchoolRecording I encourage teachers and students to consider joining the Global Education Conference 2015 and share your global collaborations and learning.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Curate or Be Curated: Why Our Information Environment is Crucial to a Flourishing Democracy, Civil Society | DMLcentral tags: curation education information Library Infographics on Pinterest | 73 Pins tags: library education infographic Learning is Social: Connected Learning tags: connected_learning education First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy - YouTube tags: leadership education viralvideo Leading Innovation: The 3 Carriage Train - YouTube Interesting video showing the challenge of who to support in an education situation - early adopters? never-adopters? those in the middle? tags: viralvideo innovation education 4 Ways Technology Can Make Your Music Lessons Sing -- THE Journal tags: music educationaltechnology education Even teachers can learn a thing or two - Winnipeg Free Press Excited to see the Red River College students under the facilitation of Eva Brown (a Flat Connections teacher) share new approaches to teacher learning and development. Flipping PD! tags: professionaldevelopment education flatconnections Thomas L. Friedman - Globalization and Education - YouTube tags: education flatconnections flatworld friedman The Clever Sheep: Seven Degrees of Connectedness... the Infographic tags: connected_learning infographic education EPT - Education, Productivity and Technology Podcast My interview with Adnan Iftekhar, recorded October 2014 tags: jul education podcast Learning World: The Role of Neuroscience in Education | www.wise-qatar.org tags: cognitivescience education World Museum Project tags: globalcollaboration education Education For Global Peace A new collaboration - consider joining tags: education global peace Master of Education (Knowledge Networks and Digital Innovation) - Charles Sturt University CSU’s Master of Education (Knowledge Networks and Digital Innovation) develops agile leaders in new cultures of digital formal and informal learning, with expertise in navigating diverse information pathways, creative learning environments, and socially connected global networks. Read more at http://www.csu.edu.au/courses/master-of-education-knowledge-networks-and-digital-innovation?utm_source=mixed&utm_medium=mixed&utm_campaign=digital#dAVqzcgRqHyef8Wg.99 tags: CSU education Digital Learning Environments: A multidisciplinary focus on 21st cent… Proud to me an adjunct in the Master of Education (Knowledge networks and digital innovation) course at Charles Sturt University. tags: education knowledgenetworks csu Flat Connections Blog post shared by Flat Connections educator Sonya Van Schaijik in New Zealand tags: fcge14-2 education flatconnections Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Robot used to seize books from underground vault - YouTube A relatively new video showing the changing landscape of a university library where many books are being stored underground.tags: library books education Ebooks can tell which novels you didn't finish | Books | The Guardian Interesting!tags: statistics research education books FCGP Celebration - Flat Connections Students from the Flat Connections Global Project 14-2 celebrate their global collaboration.tags: fcgp education globalcollaboration Critical Digital Literacy Explained for Teachers ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning tags: digitalliteracy education ECIS ICT Committee eNews - December Lots of great resources for teaching and learning with an IT focus.tags: ecis education technology techintegration designthinking professionaldevelopment Design Thinking Materials to Share ECIS 2014 tags: designthinking education Peer Revision in Google Drive - Google Slides tags: google collaboration education Reimagining citizenship for the 21st Century A call to action for policy makers and educatorstags: citizenship digitalcitizenship education Global Competence Matrix The Global Competence Matrix was created as part of the Council of Chief State School Officers’ EdSteps Project in partnership with the Asia Society Partnership for Global Learning. 2010tags: globalcompetence education globalawareness Home - Hidden Treasures in the Global Commons - LibGuides Sandbox for Library Schools at Springshare Excellent resources for supporting tech integration and creativity while using Creative Commons materials freely available onlinetags: education creativecommons resources educationaltechnology creativity 5 smart ways students can use Google Scholar tags: googlescholar educationPosted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

The Possibility Post | Global Whale Project: handshake activity tags: handshake fcge14-2 education This Will Revolutionize Education - YouTube The socialisation of learning, and now the socialisation of online learning is a key element in the evolution of technology-infused education. The real revolution/evolution has to be a change in mindset to 'allow' and 'encourage' students to be master learners, to be autonomous and to find their own passion. There should be no walls to learning, the ubiquity technology provides allows anyone to learn with anyone else anywhere in the world - we are not quite there yet, but getting closer. Who a learner connects with and collaborates with daily, the communities they interact with, and the process of learning through co-creation of artefacts, sharing of ideas, building meaning together must be seen as far more important than what technology they have.  tags: viralvideo education futureofeducation A Principal's Reflections: A PLN Quick Start Guide tags: PLN education connected_learning Kid President Throws a Surprise Party for a Retiring Teacher - YouTube tags: digitalstorytelling education 2014 NMC Technology Outlook Australian tertiary Education tags: horizonreport tertiary education technology future The Digital Public Library of America: Collaboration, Content, and Technology at Scale (EDUCAUSE Review) | EDUCAUSE.edu tags: library digital education collaboration technology Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Celebration of global learning!Graduates from the Flat Connections Global Educator 14-2 cohort recently presented their final global project ideas in a formal presentation. This is the culmination of 12 weeks of learning that includes the 'Seven steps to flatten your classroom' as well as global project design and management. These global educators honed in on new ideas and experiences via regular synchronous as well as asynchronous communication and team as well as individual assignment work.These NEW global project and curriculum ideas are presented here with the hope that others will reach out and contact organisers and join in!Remember: the next Flat Connections Global Educator course starts in February 2015 - READ MORE and APPLY to join other educators across the world to take your learning global.Travel2School - Sonya Van Schaijik (Auckland, New Zealand)This project looks at how students travel to school. The first phase of the project will include students from Auckland and then the second phase will invite global participants. Each phase will take about 10 weeks. The project is designed for grades 3-6, age 7-10.The project is aligned with the New Zealand key competencies and levels 2 and 3 of national curriculum.The initial idea of this project is exploring getting to school safely with a focus on also on health benefits and turning city planning around - not just keeping pedestrians safe but building cities for pedestrians.Tools proposed - Padlet, TitanPad, Skooville, Google drive, wikispaces. SkypeThe goal is for children to make a difference by exploring issues and designing new outcomes.The use of Minecraft and Sketchup will be encouraged to design new city areas and create new planning models to share with the wider community.Read Sonya's blog post: Flat ConnectionsConnect with Sonya: @vanschaijik Tell my Story - Martine Blanchet (Winnipeg, Canada)This project is a Grade 2-4 french language immersion (written and oral). It also focuses on digital storytelling and retelling skills.It starts with a simple handshake activity where students introduce their favourite stuffed toy. Each student will then collaborate to write a story for sharing. These stories are shared with another class and re-created in digital format. These digital stories are then shared with yet another class and the story is retold in French using audio software and Web 2.0 tools.This project has great potential as it encourages creativity amongst students as they devise and then retell stories and it also supports language acquisition and sharing.Connect with Martine:  @mblanrunCelebrating Cultural Diversity and Our Shared Global Environment - Ann Rooney (Adelaide, Australia) This global project design focuses on first nation people and whales. It links specifically with the Australian national curriculum and aligns with all ISTE standards for students.It is designed for upper middle and high school students and has carefully set out processes where students are put into cross-classroom teams for collaboration. The handshake activity is unique as students are asked to create a 'diversity tile' to introduce themselves.Collaborative research across countries exploring the history and current situation with whales including cultural aspects culminates in a personal multimedia artefact produced by all students. Teacher-sourcing is a key feature of this project, as with Flat Connections global projects, as teachers need to be present and active to guide students (not just their own) and promote digital citizenship.Read Ann's blog post - Online FriendshipsConnect with Ann: @AnnRooney6  Who am I? An inquiry into cultural identity - Julie Carey (Colorado, USA)This global project brings together minority groups with the guiding question 'Why is culture important? It aligns with social studies, world languages and other curriculum standards as well as all ISTE standards for studentsJulie has already started this project with two schools in the western USA and linked them using technology with the purpose of sharing ideas and exploring difference cultures.The main focus is on creating eBooks about the students' culture that can be shared globally. These eBooks will be collaborative and include learning new skills with technology tools, and also be bilingual.A feature of this project is the group and then individual handshake expectation where students get to know each other through sharing cultural and personal qualities.Review the slideshow below for evidence of project development, including teacher testimonials from the Navajo School.Connect with Julie: @JuliesWords1Congratulations to Sonya, Martine, Ann and Julie! Welcome to the Flat Connections Global Educator community! We look forward to supporting your global ideas, interactions and projects as you encourage more educators to take their classrooms global.Readers of this blog post, don't forget to review Flat Connections global projects for all levels of K-12. All projects run twice a year starting in February and September. Applications are OPEN NOW for February 2015. We encourage you to also view our growing list of PARTNER global projects.Subscribe to Flat Connections News to be updated on all global projects, teacher professional development and live events!This blog post has been cross-posted with Flat Blog  Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Year 2060: Education Predictions - YouTube Have you seen this yet? Created 3 years ago by Sal Khan. tags: future education globaleducator Learning with 'e's: Maker pedagogy Steve Wheeler shares ideas to do with Maker space pedagogy tags: makerspace education pedagogy 3 Reasons Why You Should Share and 3 Things You can Do to Start Sharing | Langwitches Blog Excellent blog post from Silvia Tolisano! tags: globaleducator PLN PLC education The Globally Connected Educator- Beyond Plugging In Towards Global Pe… tags: globaleducator connected_learning education Building a PLN tags: globaleducator education connected_learning PLN Learning and Sharing with Ms. Lirenman: 2014 My Year in Review A 'must read' blog post from inspiring educator Karen Lirenman in Canada. tags: education globaleducator globalcollaboration FCGP Celebration - Flat Connections @annrooney6 shares her celebration with students at the end of the Flat Connections Global Project December 2014. tags: fcge14-2 celebration education Global Project: Handshake Task - Flat Connections This exciting and detailed handshake activity highlights key digital citizenship skills for global connection and collaboration. tags: handshake education fcge14-2 Cultural Artifact Handshake Activity - Flat Connections Example of a 'handshake' design for a global collaboration. tags: handshake fcge14-2 education Happy New Year from MedCIE See http://www.medcie.org/ for all professional development opportunities through the Mediterranean Center for Innovation in Education. Discount offer if you book a course before the end of January 2015. tags: education professionaldevelopment Four countries, Four educators, Four NEW global collaborations - Flat Connections tags: fcge14-2 education Flat Connections A blog post from https://twitter.com/vanschaijik about flat learning and connecting globally tags: fcge14-2 education connected_learning elearnspace › Digital Learning Research Network (dLRN) An initiative by George Siemens....a Gates Foundation grant..... the goal of the grant is to improve the depth and quality of research in digital learning. I’m defining digital learning as anything that has a technology component: online, blended, and in classroom with use of technology. Additionally, this learning may be formal, self-regulated, structured/unstructured, and "lifelong". tags: education digitallearning dLRN research Outside the Skinner Box Provocative article by Gary Stager about the ongoing state of educational technology in schools. tags: education garystager makerspace educationaltechnology Summer Reading on Pinterest | 221 Pins tags: education reading 4 Principles Of Student-Centered Learning tags: studentcentred education A glimpse into the future of learning tags: infographic futureofeducation education learningecology The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers Who Use Educational Technology Infographic - e-Learning Infographicse-Learning Infographics tags: infographic education educationaltechnology Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Environmental Global Project #flatconnections On her 21st Century Ideas for Learning blog Toni shares the outcomes of the Flat Connections 'A Week in the Life' project last semester.tags: awl14-2 education The Possibility Post | Online Friendships Ann talks about her online experiences via the Flat Connections Global Educator online coursetags: fcge14-2 education flatconnections Artsy - Discover, Research, and Collect the World's Best Art Online tags: art education online Horizon Report - Library edition 2014 The 2014 Library Horizon report examines key trends, significant challenges and emerging technologies for their impact on academic and research libraries across the globetags: library INF405 education horizonreport Beyond Global Connectedness - What's Next? My short presentation for #TeachMeetMz October 2014.tags: jul teachmeet education globaleducator connected_learning 5 Powerful Videos That'll Help You Understand Global Education | Edudemic tags: jul globaleducation globaleducator education Global Education Teacher resources to encourage a global perspective across the curriculum. Australian Governmenttags: globaleducation education globaleducator Teaching strategies | Global Education tags: globaleducation globaleducator education A 60 Seconds Guide to The Use of Blogging in Education ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning tags: blogging education The Future of EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY tags: future education educationaltechnology Morguefile.com free stock photos tags: images free education The Mindset of the Maker Educator | User Generated Education Great graphics by Jackie Gerstein created for her 'Mindset of the Maker Educator' workshoptags: makerspace education creativity 21centurylearning NGGE Goes Global Next Generation Global Education tour starts this week. Global educators take note - REAL opportunities for connection and collaborationtags: education globalclassroom globaleducator The Globalized Classroom: 18 Key Resources for 2015 | Edudemic tags: education globaleducator globalclassroom Social Media News Blog Australia tags: socialmedia Australia educationPosted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

The ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) Global Collaboration PLN is up and running! If you are an ISTE member - please come and join us!You are not an ISTE member? - Well, take a look at what this global organisation has to offer educators. NEWS: The Global Collaboration PLN have taken an existing resource started by vibrant global educators in the past, updated it and are now sharing it for further additions.If you are a global educator running projects or Tweetchats or online webinars and conferences that are reaching a global audience PLEASE consider contributing updated information to the ISTE Global Collaboration PLN - Resources SpreadsheetThis is just the start of what will become an essential resources for educators at ALL levels! Thank you in advance for your contributions. Don't forget ISTE members, come and join the ISTE Global Collaboration PLN - it's new and we are just getting started! We need your input and energy and excitement!Julie LindsayISTE Global Collaboration PLN ChairFollow us on Twitter: #ISTEglobalPLNInnovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Facing Chronos | My Mind's Museum Blog post by Sydney educator, Matt Esterman about the challenges of global learning tags: globaleducator education globalcollaboration #EdFest15 "EdFest is a free national virtual conference which will be filmed and the live stream broadcast right here in the Scootle Lounge from 9:00am-4:00pm AEDT on January 27th. The event will feature 11 half hour presentations across a day of professional learning, conversation and provocation from educators and leaders from across the country on Australian Curriculum implementation and contemporary models for learning to help get the 2015 school year off to a great start." tags: education conference online free Australia Summit Highlights WISE 2014: "Imagine - Create - Learn: Creativity at the Heart of Education" - YouTube tags: WISE2014 education Meet The Classroom Of The Future : NPR Ed : NPR tags: education future personalizedlearning blendedlearning Home | GlobalMindED Conference tags: conference international education Futurist Speaker Thomas Frey - The Future of Libraries | DaVinci Institute tags: education library future Learning with 'e's: Next generation learning tags: learning3.0 education research 2014 Reflections on Gamification for Learning « Karl Kapp tags: gamification education Developing Responsible and Autonomous Learners: A Key to Motivating Students tags: education research autonomouslearners motivation Digital tools in K-12 classrooms and student achievement: Weighing the evidence Journalist's Resource: Research for Reporting, from Harvard Shorenstein Center "For instance, digital sessions were relatively lacking in — and did little to improve — intellectual rigor and advanced thinking skills. Often the questions presented to students were simply "digitized worksheets" that did not require students to actually use technology to apply, evaluate, or create concepts. In general, our analyses found that digital tools do not regularly add value to instruction, even when the technology is readily accessible and working well (which often is not the case). In addition, drawing upon large samples of student test score data, we also estimated impact of these tutoring services on student achievement." tags: research education digitaltechnologies higherorderthinking Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration