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

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

Home - ISTE 2014 Network Join the ISTE Ning for the 2014 conference now! tags: iste2014 education 20 Tips for Creating a Professional Learning Network - InformED : tags: PLN connected_learning education network professionaldevelopment professionallearningcommunities The Educator's PLN - The personal learning network for educators tags: PLN connected_learning education Great place to connect with other teachers. ateachr.blogspot.com - post by Ian Snyder 5 Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) for Educators | MindShift tags: PLN connected_learning education ECIS ICT Committee eNews - In the Groove….. Great updates and resources to do with educational technology from the European Council of Independent Schools IT Committee. Authored by @jmikton and @apreis tags: ecis education PLN Starter Kit - LiveBinder tags: PLN education connected_learning 50+Ways - 50Dominoes - Alan Levine "Below are examples of the same story (over and over again!) I was able to create in the 50+ tools, with both linked versions (on the tool's web site) and embedded versions, using the code provided to embed a media player into this web site. One of the most interesting discoveries was that most of these tools provided the ability to embed the media in other web sites. More importantly, this should show that the choice of a tool is not as important as having a well developed story." tags: digitalstorytelling education multimedia Great Educational Quotes - The Learning Revolution "The important thing is not to stop questioning. - Albert Einstein" tags: education quotes Teach Meet Sydney wiki tags: teachmeet education Project Foundry - Organize. Engage. Track. Showcase. tags: projectbasedlearning education Using E-Portfolios in the Classroom | Edutopia tags: digitalportfolio education Reflections on the Global Education Conference #gec13 | On an e-Journey with Generation Y Inspiring reflection from my friend and global educator Anne Mirtschin @murcha about the Global Education Conference 2013. Watch out for GEC 2014! http://globaleducationconference.com tags: globaled13 education conference Design Thinking « Design Thinking for Educators tags: designthinking education FabLab@School | Transformative Learning Technologies Lab This looks fascinating - taking cutting edge fabrication labs and adapting them to schools. Global as well! tags: education digital technology maker Henry Sibley Presents: Managing Your Digital Footprint Excellent video showing the importance of knowing how to manage our digital footprint. tags: digitalfootprint digitalcitizenship education Innovation Design In Education - ASIDE: Rethinking Global Education - Maps As Social Media tags: global maps globaleducation education Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Schools Can No Longer Ignore the Importance of Digital Citizenship tags: digitalcitizenship Australiancurriculum education Macbeth Goes Social BIG FUN Education, a nonprofit in the US, is looking for 6-10 English teachers who work with disadvantaged students (ages 14-18) to participate in a 4-week online+offline project based on our easy adaptation of Macbeth. Ideal for English literature classes and advanced ESL, ELL. Translations of our faithful adaptation will be available in Spanish, Arabic, and Simplified Chinese. We welcome students from everywhere. tags: globalproject education socialmedia Global Partnership for Education | Global Partnership for Education Former Australia Prime Minister appointed Head of the Board of Directors for this new global organisation tags: global globaleducation education Generation Like | FRONTLINE | PBS "Thanks to social media, today's teens are able to directly interact with their culture — artists, celebrities, movies, brands, and even one another — in ways never before possible. But is that real empowerment? Or do marketers still hold the upper hand?" tags: digitalcitizenship education ClassBadges tags: badges education Instilling Global Citizenship within the International School Network tags: education digitalcitizenship globalcitizen Innovative Ideas for Using Google Forms - followmolly.com tags: Google education Learning Theories tags: learningtheory education infographic Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Announcing #TeacherTuesday Prepare to learn about the world through nn innovative online project connecting teachers with bloggers around the world.I am proud to have been invited to be one of the education bloggers who will write 10 blog posts over the next 10 weeks. The first post from me will go up on this blog on Tuesday February 25.The UNESCO Education For All Global Monitoring Report monitors progress towards the EFA goals. This year the focus of the report is on teachers. The stories of 10 teachers will be shared through my blog and many other education blogs as we share perspectives on the featured teacher that week and their challenges to children's learning around the world.The aim is to not only raise awareness of inadequate and struggling education systems and educators, but to give teachers a voice. There are powerful stories that must be told - and choosing experienced bloggers to do this is an enlightened approach.Read more about #TeacherTuesday, and follow #TeacherTuesday on Twitter to be part of the learning and the conversation and to find the other bloggers who will share their thoughts and ideas around each different educator each week.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Open Textbook - An Open Resource on Digital Literacy for Educators, Teachers and Schools tags: digitalliteracy digitalcitizenship education BBC News - Social media transforms the textbook lesson Ann Michaelsen from Norway shares her ideas about connected learning tags: socialmedia education connected_learning Generation YES GenYes and TechYes - new website looks great! Student leaders providing solution for technology use within schools to support project-based learning, tech integration. tags: education genyes student Write My Research Paper | Research Paper Town Interesting.....am I reading this correctly - that this service will do the research and write your paper? tags: education research A Wonderful Visual on How to Use SAMR Model On Different Classroom Tasks ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning tags: samr education Media Studies 101 | A Creative Commons Textbook tags: media opencontent education Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

This is my first blog post for what will be a 10-week series - each week focusing on a different country and a different teacher who will share with us first hand conditions and stories. My educational focus normally is on educational technology - digital citizenship, global collaboration, mobile and ubiquitous learning, therefore my posts will refer to this in relation to each country and situation, but not with the intention of diverting the story, but wanting to broaden the picture.This is an initiative by UNESCO, see my previous post, and many bloggers across the global are writing madly and posting each Tuesday. Follow the action on Twitter - #TeacherTuesday.Week 1 - Focus on Malawi Oh Africa....dear to my heart....In Malawi the pace of progress is too slow, especially for the disadvantaged. This relates to universal primary education, lower secondary education and youth literacy. From 2000-2010 literacy rates among those aged 15-24 increased from 72-77% only.Malawi has one of the worst teacher shortages in the world. What are conditions like in schools in Malawi?The World Inequality Database on Education helps inform policy design and public debate. Recent surveys highlighted that not all children reach a grade 6 level, particularly the poor, therefore on average only 40% of primary school age children achieve this minimum learning standard. Of interest also is the interaction between gender, geography and poverty. It appears that 75% of rich boys living in urban areas achieved the minimum standard compared to 24% of poor girls living in rural areas.What can the government do?Recruit good teachersThe current shortage of teachers means less qualified have been recruitedNeed to recruit from ethnic minorities to work in their own communities Improve teacher educationDevelopment of a distance education program doubled the government's capacity to supply teachers Distance education for teacher training has reduced costs significantlyPut teachers where they are most needed - particularly in rural areas Rural hardship allowance offered to try and get better educated teachers out of urban areas where there is a surplus of teachersProvide incentives to retain good teachers Pay salaries that elevate teacher families out of povertyOffer a career path for teachersUse of ICTMalawi is at the very early adoption of computers stage in a few schools.  Teacher training and understanding of the relevance of computers beyond being a replacement for pen and paper is needed. Using ICT as a real educational resource means having carefully constructed digital curriculum artifacts as well as providing some or ongoing connectivity to the Internet and therefore the world. In schools where classes are up to 200 in size, the ability to integrate technology using devices provided by the government is many years away, or in fact impossible. Or is it? My question is, how can we mobilze the developed world to support digital implementation in the less-developed world?Through the eyes of Esnart ChapombaEsnart is an experienced primary, secondary teacher and is now a teacher trainer.She shares with us some facts about the current education situation in Malawi.The physical structure of schools is inadequate - lack of desks, broken buildingsClass sizes are too large - up to 200 students in the one classTextbook shortage means students share - not satisfactory In a personal interview Esnart talks about the struggle to provide basic literacy to students when teachers are overwhelmed by so many in a class coupled with a lack of resources.More incentives are being given to encourage female teachers (she has 60% male students in the teacher training course right now). Females teachers are role models for girl students, particularly in rural areas.Education for girls generally is not always supported by parents. Pregnancy after puberty has an impact, but now better education around AIDS and protection is helping to change this.Some new teachers are electing the profession because of a lack of other opportunities and Esnart comments unfavourably about this - if they do not like their job how can they be productive?Rural areas lack adequate health care and facilities, therefore not attracting urban teachers and their families. Large class sizes mean a compromised teaching approach - singing, some reading. Esnart reports that student behaviour is not always good in these very large classes, putting even more stress on the teacher. The school day finishes before lunch so students can go home and eat. Afternoons are for teacher planning, and at times the more studious are encouraged to come back for extra help.My commentsI lived in Zambia for nearly 3 years, 1998-2000, when that country was at one of it's lowest socioeconomic levels. I have seen schools and situations where students are not supported, and teachers are not supported, and literacy is very low.  The impact of AIDS in countries like Zambia and of course Malawi can not be underestimated - thousands of children with no real parents. Schools requiring a uniform to participate, although a simple entry point is usually beyond the means of rural and less financial families.For many years now my focus has been on developing digital literacy, and I also have full appreciation and understanding of the need to develop basic literacy and uphold minimum standards across the world - these two objectives MUST go hand-in-hand. I am really thinking however that through digital means education can be improved at a far greater rate in a country like Malawi. The cost of technology is decreasing. Developing countries have the opportunity to leap-frog over what other countries have been through in the past 10 years.Meanwhile, my thoughts are with Esnart and her colleagues in Malawi as they struggle to improve conditions in a profession they love. What can we do to help in a more meaningful way?Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Choose the Best Search for Your Information Need tags: curation education searchengine search ETL523 Langwitches Blog | Search Results A methodical approach to blogging for learning from Silvia Tolisano. tags: blogging education CLU01 blogs ETL523 Google Announces An Online Data Interpretation Class For The General Public | TechCrunch tags: Google MOOC education Global Education Resources listed by Shambles (Chris Smith)tags: globaleducation education global globalcompetence Facilitating Intercultural Digital Exchanges » NMC ACADEMY "Facilitating Intercultural Digital Exchanges"tags: interculturalunderstanding education globalPosted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Natalee, HondurasMeet Natalee from the Bay Islands, Honduras. She is a passionate teacher and proponent for better approaches to teaching and learning.Natalee shares some of her stories of teaching in Honduras, with special emphasis on language. Decisions about the use of language affect the well being of a nation - causing some languages to become extinct, alienating and isolating some communities. I am reproducing Natalee's words here from a recent interview as part of the UNESCO #TeacherTuesday series, and blending in some facts about Honduras in an effort to raise awareness across the world.Honduras has a Primary school net enrollment of 97%, however it is the completion rate that needs to be considered. In Honduras in 2011, only 75% of children were surviving to the last grade of primary education, with 25% dropping out. Also in 2011 85% of adults were literate. The 2015 target of universal adult literacy by 2015 is unlikely to be met. Speaking a minority language can be a source of disadvantage The discrimination some indigenous or ethnic groups face is reinforced by the fact that the language used in the classroom may not be one that they speak. In Honduras in 2011, 94% of those who spoke the language of instruction at home learned the basics in reading in primary school compared to only 62% of those who did not. From the EFA (Education For All) Global Monitoring Report Honduras Fact Sheet: Curriculum and assessment strategies that improve learning When curriculum is standardized to state policies and does not consider the native language, traditions and customs of the people, this creates a barrier that most indigenous people are unable to overcome. - Natalee, teacher, Bay Islands, Honduras A recent interview with Natalee In Honduras there are 9 indigenous groups (Miskitu, Tawakha, Lenca, Tolupan, Maya-Chorti, Garifuna, Nahao, Pech, Negro de Habla Ingles) and 7 languages. Two groups have lost their language and became fragmented. One of those languages (lenca) is almost extinct, there is now a process of revitalization to try and keep that language alive. As a result of the historic and cultural background in the Bay Islands, English is the main language of instruction. On mainland Honduras, Spanish is the main language of instruction. The English speakers on the Bay islands are descended from Grand Cayman and Jamaica and we speak English. The others speak Spanish or Garifuna language. The Garifuna people have lived in Honduras for the past 216 years and have become very important for the cultural framework.  They live in the North eastern sector of the island and we are trying to revitalize their language. When people don’t know how to read or write, that’s how a language becomes extinct.Natalee and her students, HondurasLanguage definitely has an impact on how children learn and how they perceive themselves as being part of the teaching-learning process. As a young child growing up in the Bay Islands, there were many times in school when we were not allowed to speak English. (Bay Islanders are English speakers living in a Spanish country). To not be taught in your mother tongue, leaves a gap, and makes you feel that your language is not important. Over the years you tend to develop certain humps. The first thing teachers need to do if teaching in a multilingual classroom is to keep an open mind. They need to be stay focused and motivated and not to let the system itself get the best of them. They need to build a strong relationship, integrating parents, the community, teachers in the school community and the students. They must strive to use a learner-centered approach, which places the child at the centre of the process. If we find ourselves in a multilingual classroom, it is vital that we bear in mind that our approach must be multicultural, multilingual and needs multi models to reach all students. We must teach the majority language speakers to speak the minority language and the minority language to speak the majority language, which builds on the principles of inclusion.  In classes with children who speak different languages, I tend to use a lot of visual cues. I divide the class into groups, those who don’t speak the majority language, those who are beginners, and those who are advanced. Children need their early education to be in their mother tongue but then should be exposed to other languages at grade 3,4,5. When they’re taught in their mother tongue, they can better understand the context and the world, in turn developing a better understanding of the culture around them, and of what’s happening in their surroundings. I also think that they should be exposed to other languages, which aids in developing global learners. Our educational system must strive to enable us not disable us. It should help ground students in an ever-changing and globalized world.  So by teaching students other languages, we open the gateway for them to interact with others, to become global leaders and to embrace diversity. Just because you speak a different language, doesn’t mean you’re less important than others etc… It also promotes a cultural sensitivity. Over the years there have been a number of dropouts in our system, this in part is due to fact that students feel lost in the classrooms. Sometimes it’s because their learning style is not catered to, and others it’s because the language at school is not their first language. The General Direction for Intercultural Multilingual Education (DIGEIM) is to ensure that indigenous and afrodescendent people are a part of the agenda. In Honduras, regular training courses prepare teachers to teach only in Spanish. If you want to specialize in other subjects, you go to university level. In the govt. programme there are sub-programmes catering to the development of minority languages. But not every teacher learns that. The majority do not have training or skills to teach in multilingual classrooms. The Ministry of Education has declared that 2014 is the ‘Year of inclusion’ ‘el Año de la inclusion’. In our country they’ve realized the need to prepare every teacher to create an inclusive classroom, embracing learning styles and cultural baggage of the children they will come in contact with. Whether it’s due to economy or a result of the internal migratory movement- people move around. There’s not just one particular group of students in one school, they’re all interacting and you have to be sensitive to their needs. Finally, it’s essential that to teach students in the language of their thoughts. Some children won’t be able to read or write because they’ve been taught in a language they don’t understand. They’ve been pushed beyond the limit, and they simply don’t understand. However if we teach from the heart with sensitivity and a focus on diversity, we will serve as change agents whose sole goal is that their students become lifetime learners, proud of their cultural identity and respectful of others. From the EFA Language Fact Sheet: RECOMMENDATIONS: Policy-makers need to focus their attention on hiring and training teachers from under- represented groups, such as ethnic minorities, to serve in their own communities. Such teachers, familiar with the cultural context and local language, can improve learning opportunities for disadvantaged children. Pre-service and ongoing teacher education should train teachers in ethnically diverse societies to teach in more than one language. Curricula need to address issues of inclusion to enhance the chances of students from marginalized backgrounds to learn effectively. Classroom-based assessment tools can help teachers identify, monitor and support learners at risk of low achievement. This blog post is a contribution to Week 2 of #TeacherTuesday, a UNESCO and EFA initiative.I invite you to also read:Week 1 - Malawi: The Struggle for Literacy#TeacherTuesday - background information  Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Introducing digital Open Educational Resources into Zambian schools - YouTube tags: education global ICT digital zambia BBC News - Getty makes 35 million photos free to use tags: presentations pics education free English is so fun!: British vs American English tags: globalcollaboration english education 21st Century Teaching & Learning by Steve Smith on Prezi An excellent slide show covering many facets of what it means to teach and learn using technology. tags: digitalcitizenship education prezi Web 2.0 Tools that Promote Higher Order Thinking Skills | Digital Learning Environments tags: dle Web2.0 education NMC Horizon Report > 2014 Higher Education Edition | The New Media Consortium tags: nmc education highered Don't stalk your kids online "An interview with danah boyd, author of It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens." tags: digitalcitizenship education interview cybersafety Chaos to School in the Cloud tags: sugatamitra education virtualclassroom The Awkward 'Privacy Talk' Parents Should Have With Their Kids | Wired Opinion | Wired.com Data permanence and responsible use of technology - great themes in this article and the new book available called The New Digital Age. tags: privacy digitalcitizenship education 10 Major Technology Trends in Education -- THE Journal According to the latest data, video for homework is on the rise; mobile computing is "beyond the tipping point"; and most kids don't use traditional computers to connect to the Internet at home. Those are just three of the major trends revealed in the 2013 Speak Up Survey from Project Tomorrow, which CEO Julie Evans revealed at the FETC 2014 conference last week. The 2013 results represent more than 400,000 surveys from 9,000 schools and 2,700 districts across the country. Respondents included 325,279 students, 32,151 teachers and librarians, 39,986 parents, 4,530 district administrators and, new to this year’s survey, 1,346 community members. Read more at http://thejournal.com/Articles/2014/02/03/10-Major-Technology-Trends-in-Education.aspx?Page=1#xdDhiZ2SqcbqTopz.99 tags: education technology trends elearn Magazine: Augmented Reality: A new way of augmented learning tags: augmentedreality education Personal Learning Environments in Smart Cities: Current Approaches and Future Scenarios | Open Education Europa tags: PLE education digitalcitizenship What The Data Says About Students' 21st Century Readiness tags: research data education 21centurylearning 2015-2020: The Rise Of The Teacherpreneur tags: teacherpreneur education An Interview Series with Today’s Leading Thinkers and Innovators in Education | Skoll World Forum tags: wise social_entrepreneurship education A Quick Guide to Using Diigo with Your Students From Educational Technology and Mobile Learning tags: diigo prezi education socialbookmarking Announcing Our Free iBooks Textbooks! | Common Sense Media tags: ibook textbooks education commonsensemedia digitalcitizenship free 2015-2020: The Rise Of The Teacherpreneur tags: teacherpreneur education leadership Teaching in the Connected Learning Classroom eBook Now Available : Educator Innovator Network tags: connected_learning education Core Knowledge® Foundation tags: education curriculum Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

#TeacherTuesday is an initiative of UNESCO to raise awareness of different education systems and challenges across the world.The updated map below shows the teachers and countries we will be blogging about.This week we focus on Afghanistan and a teacher named Nahida.In a recent EFA (Education For All) global monitoring report an attempt was made to identify which countries lacking data are likely to have more than 1 million children out of school, using estimates of the primary net attendance rate from household surveys carried out between 2008 and 2011. These calculations add six countries to the eight known to have more than 1 million children out of school. Afghanistan is among these. Despite improvements over the decade, Afghanistan has the highest level of gender disparity in primary education in the world with only 71 girls in primary school for every 100 boys. It is likely to remain very far from the target of gender parity in primary education by 2015. No girls were in secondary school in 1999 in the country. By 2011, the female gross enrolment ratio rose to 34%, which meant there were only 55 girls in secondary school for every 100 boys.  Details in the Gender Summary provided by the UNESCO EFA initiative show that over 100 million young women in low and lower middle income countries are unable to read a single sentence. And 31 million girls are out of school, with half of them unlikely ever to set foot inside a classroom. It provides FOUR main recommendations for supporting education for girls.Equity must be the focus of new education goals after 2015.The best teachers must reach the learners who need them most.Teachers need gender-sensitive teacher education.Curricula must be inclusive. "The Gender Summary also demonstrates the importance of investing in girls’ and women’s education, not just for individuals but for the whole of society. Education reduces women’s poverty and boosts their chances of getting jobs that pay as well as men's. It has enormous benefits for women’s health, as well as their children’s, saving millions of lives through better knowledge of disease prevention and treatment. Education also empowers women to make better life choices, helping to avert early marriage and childbirth."  Source: Gender summary turns spotlight on girls' education.Nahida graduated from Kabul university and became a teacher in 1989. She eventually became Principal of an all girl high school in Kabul - where there are more female teachers than in most areas. The school is supported by the French government, has 35-50 students in each class, and runs in 2 shifts each day. Nahida was supported by her government for a unique opportunity to travel to Japan, UK, Germany, South Korea, India and later to Pakistan for training.Nahida has an important message contained in her story, so I am copying her exact words here: "In the last period of time when Mujahidin came to power, different portions of Mujahidin started fighting in Kabul and other provinces. Schools closed because of security, especially girls schools. Schools become a target for Mujahidin.  Slowly when stability came to Afghanistan and Kabul for me it was priority to encourage girls and their families to come back to school.   I gave the message to their families and asked them to send their daughters to school again. Also I made a council of elder people and religious people, and gave a message to them to help my school. Also I gave a message to the mosque because you know in Afghanistan, mosques help with all these things to encourage families and parents to send and to attend the female students to schools. Also I asked different NGOs to support us especially getting uniforms for the girls and school books, and to support orphans and poor students. All of it was to encourage the families of the female students to send them to school. When the Taliban came to power, it was their policy to close all the schools for females. For me, it was difficult to go to school to teach. When I went to my school, the principal of the school was a Mullah and he didn’t allow me to enter the school and asked me after that not to come to school.  But for the boys, school was open.  I was a teacher every day and I was sad for the girls. When I understood the policy of Taliban was not to allow girls and female teachers to go to school, I started a home school for girls because families and their parents asked me to teach their daughters. Families trust me because I was a well-known teacher in my school. I decided to continue my job and my responsibility for my people and my female students especially to help them. It was a very strict time. Very difficult. I was afraid. The home school was very secret, not official. In one day there were three shifts, two classes of 25 girls. It was a very difficult situation because the Taliban was very strict in their rules. The Taliban thought I ran a class for the holy Koran - a religious class but I taught not only the holy Koran, but also all the subjects that were in school - the complete school curriculum. I did not receive any salary for this.Today it has changed. When the Taliban fell and under Karzai, everything changed. Schools opened for the girls and boys. I was the first female teacher who went back to my school and organized my school. When I went to my school I can explain you how, what the condition was. The school was completely destroyed. The buildings had no windows, no doors. The surrounding wall of the building of our school was destroyed. Schools didn’t have any chairs, tables, blackboard, chalk, totally no school materials because the school was a Taliban location. When I went to my school first I cleaned the classes with the help of my female teachers and my labour. I made the surrounding wall in mud and stones. Fortunately I had taken all of the documents of the school and they were saved with me in my home. Once again I gave messages to their families, parents, mosque and asked families to send their daughters for attend school. The girls came back slowly, slowly. I encouraged families, asked their parents to school, encouraged them, talked with them.  Also I sent my female teachers to their homes. I announced it in different mosques. Female teachers started coming back to school and I started my teaching, and female teachers started teaching again. The government and thanks to the support of the international community, thousands more schools were built not only in Kabul but in different provinces, and destroyed schools were rebuilt, equipped schools with chairs, tables, good chairs, good tables. Also more than 47, 48 different countries which are involved now in Afghanistan to support different schools in the country, in many provinces. Now in Afghanistan, war continues every day. Here there are suicide attacks, bombs. The insecurity, and instability, is a big challenge for families, for our people, especially for girls attending the schools. You know, Afghanistan is a special country with special rules that must be followed by girls and women. When they want to go to school their parents are afraid about the lack of security, because suicide attacks happens, there are bombs and bad events in the city, many female students don’t come to school. For me as a director of this school, I have organized special transportation for my students. It’s a good solution to prevent absenteeism of girls from school. It’s a big problem. You know when a bomb explosion happens in a city, how will the morale be of the students, especially female students? After each bad event that happens in our country, it has a very bad impact on their morale. When a suicide attack happens, families don’t allow their girls to go to school for one or two days. Also for boys, but especially for girls.  In girls school it’s the rule the teacher has to be female. In my school, which I direct, of the 105 teachers, only 2% are male. I only need three more female teachers for next year in my school, but in all Afghanistan it’s the big challenge for education, especially in the provinces for the girls’ schools. You’re faced with difficulties and challenges because of the lack of female teachers. Day by day the number of girls decreases especially in the high grades classes like 10, 11 and 12. In the provinces especially in the unstable provinces like the south of Afghanistan the lack of the female teachers causes schools difficulties. Only in the big cities - the capital - we have in school a high number of female teachers. The Government and also the Ministry of Education are planning to do more to educate and hire female teachers, but it is hard to send teachers to the provinces because of lack of security. It’s Afghan tradition and our religion doesn’t allow female teachers to go without their husbands anywhere. In provinces it is possible to recruit female teachers locally but in unstable provinces, the government is faced with difficulties recruiting. But in a stable province and in Kabul, we don’t have any problem about the job of female teachers. It’s also a big problem especially for all of Afghan students who have graduated from schools and university to get a job as there is a lack of jobs. This decreased the number of students. I am a realistic person and optimistic about our future of education and learning programmes in Afghanistan. Now our people, after three decades of war, completely know about the importance of education. People and families work hard and get money and spend more for their children to learn English, computers, to go to school. In fact they spend more investing in their children to go to school - like stationary, uniform. In Afghanistan now there is big competition between Afghan families of knowledge and learning.  The families are lucky if their children go to school, if they learn more, graduate from high school and university, because now they know when a boy or a girl graduates from university he will be able to work not only in government, but with foreign NGOs and get a good salary. Good salaries can bring big change, fundamental change in their life. Because of that I am optimistic about the future of education in our country. One thing that is more important is that the international community support the future of education through our Government. Educated people don’t take guns and don’t destroy their country and their schools."   This blog post is a contribution to Week 3 of #TeacherTuesday, a UNESCO and EFA initiative.I invite you to also read from my blog:Week 2 - Honduras: Teach Students in the Language of their thoughtsWeek 1 - Malawi: The Struggle for Literacy#TeacherTuesday - background information  Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Just over two weeks ago I was in Mumbai at ASB Unplugged 2014 co-running the Global Social Entrepreneurship Summit with Sharon Peters and Karishma Galani. The design and development for this summit came from two main influences: the successful Flat Classroom Workshops in 2010 and 2012 at ASB Unplugged, and the service learning work Sharon had been doing in Africa and India in conjunction with the goals and objectives the American School of Bombay to take this to the next level. In this case, after initial joint discussion, the next level was to run a summit where students and teachers could come together to explore social entrepreneurship and, in the context of a city such as Mumbai, work in a challenge-based capacity for 3 days to create and share new ideas for global implementation. The ProcessIntegral to the success of this summit was the design cycle and design thinking based on the Henry Ford Learning Institute. Suzie Boss opened the summit for us - and was an inspiration - encouraging everyone to consider problems that adults still have yet to solve, and delivered three challenges:1. Prepare to CARE2. Prepare to DARE3. Prepare to SHAREIn mixed classroom teams (6 classrooms from China and India - local and international schools), as well as one teacher team, participants were introduced to the design thinking process through a simple 'wallet' making activity. This was very hands on and utilized the 'maker space' recently set up at ASB.  After a Reality tour of Dharavi Slum in Mumbai and further input from Rikin Gandhi at Digital Green teams started the brainstorming and 'defining' process where they had to come up with a problem and start to formulate a solution.Ideas were shared around the room and teams honed in on how to present these through verbal pitching using simple images and key words (after some explanation of where to find creative Commons images).After pitching on a rotation basis and receiving feedback from other educators and students teams then worked on their 'Media Marketing Plan' that included creating a digital story around their idea and focusing on social media as a tool to promote and market.Final presentations included their multimedia material as well as a verbal clarification of their business plan and intentions to gain support in the future. Esteemed judges from organisations in Mumbai, including Suzie Boss, determined the best ideas and presentations.Use of TechnologyAlthough not as technology-infused as past Flat Classroom workshops at ASB sharing of resources was done through a closed Facebook group - in conjunction with a Facebook Page. Students were at liberty to use any tool they needed to communicate and create their multimedia presentation. They had access to laptops and other digital tools.Student Leadership TeamASB, under the direction of Sharon and Karishma, prepared a capable student leadership team who prepared a lot of the material to lead the summit teams through the design thinking process. They capably supported all teams and kept the summit upbeat and moving towards a conclusion. They are to be commended and congratulated on taking on this role.Examples of summit team proposals This summit was a valuable experience for both teachers and students:It showed the power of developing empathy for social entrepreneurship thorugh direct experience and contact with NGO's and non-profit organisations, and learning from their experience and enthusiasm.It showed the value of joining both teacher teams and student teams in the one summit - to work alongside each other in a collaborative learning environmentIt reinforced the need for technology tools to connect participants and to provide a vehicle for communication and sharingIt raised awareness and boosted confidence in the area of not only identifying global issues but being able to provide viable solutions, and design these solutions through a carefully led process This style of summit is relatively new to schools and it does have a positive place in learning and global education, including community and service and the IB CAS programmes around the world.   Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

Twitter for Beginners in Education | LinkedIn tags: Twitter education socialmedia Handshake from Frederica Academy Gr 1 Students in Gr 1 at Frederica Academy, Georgia USA introduce themselves to partners in the K-2 Building Bridges to Tomorrow, Flat Connections project http://flatconnections.com tags: handshake k-2 education globalcollaboration Organising my Studies with Evernote | Miss Spink on Tech Great blog post by Australian educator who uses Evernote for workflow. tags: evernote education workflow curation information Educator as a Social Networked Learner - YouTube Jackie Gerstein created this short upbeat video about being a professional networked educator tags: connected_learning networkedlearning education That Time When SAMR Gets Us Into Trouble - Drape's Takes tags: samr education technology SAMR Model Explained for Teachers ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning tags: samr education Collaboration - On the Edge of a New Paradigm. on Vimeo Moving into the age of collaboration tags: viralvideo information knowledgenetworks education collaboration Verbs and Nouns - Marc Prensky "Verbs and Nouns" is a useful concept that Marc offers to help educators better understand the role of technology in education, as well as to help them balance the past and the future in their teaching. tags: marcprensky education Recipe to flatten your classroom simple steps to go global #OZeLIVE Feb2014 - YouTube My presentation from the recent OzeLive online conference tags: jul ozelive conference global education QITE Gold Coast PD Day - Connected Learning - Global Understanding I am keynoting this event on March 22 on the Gold Coast, Australia. Hope to see you there! tags: education conference keynote Jeff Brain on Using Comics and Digital Storytelling to Teach Digital Citizenship | Common Sense Media tags: digitalcitizenship education digitalstorytelling comic commonsensemedia So-Called "Digital Natives" Not Media Savvy, New Study Shows - ReadWrite tags: education media literacy digitalliteracy digitalcitizenship How do inquiry teachers teach? | Inquire Within tags: inquiry education This is how inquiry teachers teach… | Inquire Within tags: inquiry education TES Australia Information Centre for the Australian Curriculum - Resources - TES Australia tags: Australiancurriculum education TuvaLabs | Data Literacy Skills For a Brighter Future tags: data literacy education Personalize Learning: UDL for All Learners tags: udl ubd education Educator as a Social Networked Learner - YouTube Lovely short video by Jackie Gerstein as a primer for connected and networked learning globally. tags: connected_learning network PLN education Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration

According to the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2011, in that year 57 million children were not in school, having fallen from 60 million in 2008. Children in conflict-affected areas make up 22% of the world's primary school population yet they comprise 50% of the children who are denied an education - and this figure has risen from 42% in 2008. There has been a decline in humanitarian aid in education and refugees often flee to neighbouring developing countries, putting strain on already weak education systems.The EFA report also states, "Governments identified conflict as a major barrier towards getting all children into school when they signed the Dakar Framework for Action in 2000. They recognized that children in conflict- affected countries are robbed of an education not only because schools may be closed and teachers absent, but also because they are exposed to widespread rape and other sexual violence, targeted attacks on schools and other abuses. Mohammed is from Syria and now lives in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan and has been there for 8 months. He has been teaching there for 4 months. These are his words about the conditions for schooling in this camp.    "Our main problems are the shortage of text books, we need boards and markers.  There’s a big deal of coordination with foreigners. There are problems as teachers are dealing with children who have become aggressive because of the situation and the parents are not following up with their children in the school. There is a lack of textbooks and stationary. Because the schools are run by the Jordanian Ministry of education the teachers must be Jordanian and the Syrian teachers are only assistants. It would be better if all the teachers were Syrian. All the children in the camp are Syrian. If teachers were Syrian too, we’d be of the same culture, and the children accept the Syrian teachers more than the Jordanian ones. But I praise the Jordanian people for their efforts in the school. The Syrian teachers also have lots of experience in teaching. I was teaching for 12 years in Syria and there are many teachers from Syria who have high qualifications and who are well educated, but they are marginalized in the camp. We should be using their expertise in teaching in the camp. Save the Children had a recruitment for schools and I applied for the job four months ago and they hired me because of my experience and because I have my own university degree and have been teaching for 12 years. I passed the test with full marks. I teach in school number 3 where there are two schools in one. A primary and secondary combined. Girls in the morning, boys in the afternoon. 800 students in primary from 1st to 4th grade and 400 students in secondary school from 5th - 11thgrade. The school doesn’t look like a school. I want a yard where children can play. We want our school to look like other schools. The principal is Jordanian. I want to do something better in the school, to have my name officially in the school because I am Syrian like the students. There are 25-40 in each class at my school, school 2. In school 1, there are from 80-120 in classes because of its location in the camp, it’s in one is in the most densely populated area. This is why there are so many students. And it’s in the oldest area of Zaatari, which is a massive, massive place. It takes a couple of hours to walk across the camp. All children are welcome to register for school and are encouraged through the ‘Back to School’ campaign with Save the Children. We go to their caravans and tents and ask if there are students out of school. We called their parents and encouraged them to register in the school. The majority of children in the camp are in school though. There are 50,000 children in the camp in total. Half of them are school aged children and 20,000 are currently registered with a school. Some have missed up to three school years. It’s important they are enrolled into school. We are engaging with the students through the curriculum, but we still need support for that. We have a plan for the whole school year. We have to use the Jordanian curriculum and it can be hard for the new students. There’s not a big difference between the two curriculums, as the last version of the Syrian curriculum was similar to the Jordanian one. The problem is not for us as teachers, the problem is for the children as the learning style is very different. In Syria we start with letters and then give the words, in Jordan they give the words first and then the letters. We have received training how to teach the Jordanian curriculum. UNICEF also gave us a course on how to be a good teacher. They are training other teachers at the end of March. It’s a good course. Every day the World Food Program distributes high nutrient biscuits to the school for the children and the teachers help hand them out. Education is very important for children here. We are as Syrian teachers, role models for our students and try all the time to support them and give them attention because sometimes they drop out and we encourage them to stay at school. We have extra lessons for the children and their parents about ethics and morals in order not to be bad people because of the situation. Some of the children are still scared of school because they saw their schools being destroyed because of bombing and think the schools are like those in Syria. Some of them don’t come because they think they are not certified in Jordan but this is not true, they can all come. Some refuse to take the Jordanian curriculum and want their own Syrian curriculum. Sometimes some students don’t come to school because it’s very far away from their tent or caravan and are afraid to be targeted by the bad boys in the street. Because I teach boys some of them are waiting for job to get money because they are very poor here and they want to help their families. They want to continue their education to be in the university in the future but I think they are not accepted in Jordanian universities but I am not sure. The younger ones are wanting to go to school because they love school. In Syria now, some students are still going to school in the safe places but not all the towns are safe. But other schools like my old school is completely destroyed and nobody can go to school. Through the crisis if it’s safe the children can go but if it’s not safe, if there are shootings and bombings around the school they couldn’t go. Some of the schools were occupied by some of the fighting groups. I kept going to school to release the tensions and to support the families there but many children didn’t come because of fear. To help the children we try to tell them that we must go on and all the time give them hope for the future. I got no support from anyone to carry on my teaching in that situation. There were no organizations there. The teachers are there for the students but the majority don’t come as it’s not safe for them to reach the school and the number of students are very little, that’s why you can’t call it an education process. I was teaching in my school until it was completely destroyed, then I move to another school. Once all schools in the area had been completely destroyed, then I left and came to Zaatari. The majority of teachers left Syria to come to Zaatari, but some have stayed doing humanitarian work for families there. And some keep teaching the students in villages. My school was attacked at night time so neither the students nor teachers were there. They bombed the whole village that time and they destroyed the school because it was in the area. Once they stopped paying me my salary in Syria, it was very hard for me. We had to look for bread and everything. We had to start working as volunteers to help families. Because the situation became so bad with the bombing and shooting, we advised everyone to leave and then we left after them. When my salary ran out, my main work was to collect wheat for the families and to send it to the men to make flour so they could make their own bread. I wanted to try to help and support all the people in my village. I have six boys.  They were attending school but they left Syria one year before me but I was able to keep constant contact with my family.  My boys were from 2nd to the 10th grade.  They all go to school again now. Now I get some support. We receive items and can buy items with coupons. And Save the Children pay us 10 Jordanian pounds a day. Syrians aren’t legally allowed to work in Jordan so we work on a voluntary basis so we receive a stipend. It’s not a salary to live on. We don’t pay for rent, and children don’t pay for school and we have food rations. The coupons give us the basic food and to buy other things for the family. On a typical day here, in the morning I get the bread for my family. I wake up at 5.30am. I spend some time with my family. The school start at 11.30am. It ends at 4 pm. There’s a break when I go home for a rest. Then I go to the street and talk to the families about their needs because we want to take the messages from the street, and to hear about their issues. At night I prepare the coming lessons for students. It takes two hours for me every night. Then I spend some time with my family. I advise other teachers arriving to teach like me to be honest. They are dealing with special cases who faced many bad experiences in the crisis and saw many bad things and bad pictures with their own eyes. They have to consider the situation when they teach their children at school. I wish that people keep supporting us here in the camp. The support by organisations like UNICEF and Save the Children in the camp is going very well but we still need more support. I hope we get back to Syria and if it lasts longer than I expect, I hope the standard of the school get better here so that it’s good for our children."All photos credited to Alaa MalhasThis blog post is a contribution to Week 3 of #TeacherTuesday, a UNESCO and EFA initiative. I invite you to also read from my blog:  Week 3: Afghanistan: An issue of Gender Equity the World Should Take NoticeWeek 2 - Honduras: Teach Students in the Language of their thoughtsWeek 1 - Malawi: The Struggle for Literacy#TeacherTuesday - background information "Find out more about theTeacherTuesday campaign: read the blogs and join us for weekly tweetchats with the teachers".  Innovation, Leadership, Creativity, Collaboration