The Flat Classroom™ Project 2009

For Immediate Release - October 26, 2009
Beijing, China and Camilla, GA USA

The organizers of the Flat Classroom™ project are excited to announce the selection of the 10 participating classrooms for the 2009 project. These schools represent more than 200 students, from 5 countries, and will run from October - December, 2009.

The Flat Classroom™ Project is a global Hands-on project for senior high school students which was founded by Julie Lindsay (Beijing, China) and Vicki Davis (Westwood Schools, Georgia, USA) in 2006 and is now sponsored by Elluminate. This project has won ISTE's Online Learning Award (2007) and included in Thomas Friedman's book, the World is Flat, upon which the project is based. Students will research trends in information technology and globalization, write a collaborative research report, and produce digital videos about their topics.
This year's keynote address to students is delivered via a youtube video (cross posted to Ning) by Dr. Curt Bonk, Professor of Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University, and author of The World is Open: How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education (2009). Dr. Bonk says, "After reading about the Flat Classrooms Project, browsing through the website, and ultimately writing about it in my book, it is a fantastic experience to actually become part of it. The real irony, however, is that a project which analyzes books on the present and future state of business, economics, technology, and education has also become part of them. That is symbolic of the twenty-first century educational experience."

This year's classrooms include (in alphabetical order by country.)

Australia

Anne Mirtschin*
Hawkesdale P12 College
Hawkesdale, Australia

China
Julie Lindsay*
Beijing (BISS) International School
Beijing, China

Germany
International School Dusseldorf
Germany

Qatar
Ray Jones*

Qatar Academy
Doha, Qatar

United States

Brian McLaughlin
Academy of Allied Health & Science
Neptune, NJ

Eric Chamberlin
Carrabassett Valley Academy
Carrabassett Valley, ME

Fred Haas
Hopkinton High School
Hopkinton, MA

Jerry Swiatek
Citrus High School
Inverness, FL

Estie Cuellar*
Spring Woods High School
Houston, TX

Vicki Davis*
Westwood Schools
Camilla, GA

*Project "veterans" - these schools have participated in a previous project.

The project also involves Peer Review Classrooms (Sounding Boards) and any interested teacher is invited to sign up for this Group on the Flat Classrooms educators NIng. Expert Advisors have been sought to advise the students during the project. Judges will be involved at the end of the project to review student work and provide feedback for a Global Awards summit to be held in Elluminate at the conclusion of the project.

"We believe that we are building communication bridges today that the students of tomorrow will walk across," say Davis and Lindsay, the project's co-organizers. "This project is ambitious, however, its success is built upon the fact that the teachers and classrooms that participate are of quality global caliber and have high standards of excellence. We bridge cultural, religious, and public and private boundaries and are always excited to see the students thrive and succeed in this environment. Our world is global and our classrooms should be too!"

Lindsay and Davis also co-plan and manage the Digiteen Project (digital citizenship for middle and early high school students) and the Horizon Project and NetGenEd Project. On November 1st they will be launching a new global project called Eracism that involves middle school students in a global debating event with finals being held in a virtual world later in December. Last January they held the inaugural face to face Flat Classroom Conference in Doha, Qatar sponsored by HSBC bank and Qatar Academy. The next Flat Classroom Workshop and mini-conference will be held in Mumbai February 2010 at ASB Unplugged. Schools are invited to apply for scholarships to attend and bring up to 6 students and 2 teachers to be part of the action-based workshop (applications close October 31, 2009).

More information about the Flat Classroom Project 09-3. In addition review all projects and educational networks linked from the Flat Classroom Project website.
Contact us at flatclassroomproject@gmail.com