Sunday, December 26, 2010

Acoss My Desk (weekly)

  • "Teaching 2.0: Emerging Technology Meets Progressive Pedagogy"
    Check out this new online course at the University of Osh Kosh

    tags: acrossmydesk educationaltechnology online

  • "The 4th edition of the “ICT for Language Learning” conference has the aim to promote and share good practice and transnational cooperation in the field of the application of ICT to language learning and training.
    The conference is also an excellent opportunity for the presentation of previous and current language learning projects funded by the European Commission and by other sources.
    Florence, Italy
    10 - 11 November 2011"

    tags: conference acrossmydesk education language

  • The International Conference “The Future of Education” will take place in Florence on 16 - 17 June 2011.

    The aim of the Future of Education Conference is to promote the sharing of good practice and transnational cooperation in the field of the application of innovative education and training strategies, methodologies and solutions.

    The Future of Education conference will also be an excellent opportunity for the presentation of previous and current projects and innovative initiatives in the field of education.

    The Future of Education conference focuses on the following topics:

    - Innovative Teaching and Learning Methodologies
    - Education and New Technologies
    - Media Literacy Education
    - E-learning
    - Distance Education
    - Human Computer Interaction
    - Learning Games
    - Art Education
    - Music Education

    The Call for Papers, in the Future of Education Conference’s framework, is addressed to teachers and experts as well as to coordinators of projects and initiatives in the field of education and training.

    Teachers and experts in the field of education and trainers are invited to submit an abstract of a paper to be presented during the Future of Education Conference. The abstract should be written in English (300 – 500 words) and sent via e-mail to edu_future@pixel-online.net no later than 14 February 2011.

    tags: conference acrossmydesk education futureofeducation

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Sunday, December 19, 2010

Acoss My Desk (weekly)

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Sunday, December 12, 2010

Acoss My Desk (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sunday, December 05, 2010

Acoss My Desk (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Elementary School Classrooms embrace 'A Week in the Life...."

Press Release: December 5, 2010

(Cross-posted with Elementary Flat Classroom Blog - this you must read!, and Flat Classroom Projects Blog)

Co-founders of the Flat Classroom™ Project, Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay are excited to announce the first ever Elementary School Flat Classroom Project. As a pilot project, eight schools and 9 classrooms from five countries have joined about 170 students together to develop an appropriate global collaborative experience within a curriculum framework for students in Grades 3-5 of ages 8-11.

"It is something we have been wanting to implement for a while as flattening the classroom walls is not defined by an age group or school section.", states Julie, "We have a team of excellent educators working furiously together to make this the best global experience possible, using Flat Classroom and other accepted methodologies."

The project is called "A Week in the Life....." and centers around sharing what life is like for students in their respective schools and countries. It encourages students to connect and communicate to build an online learning community and to collaborate on a common set of guiding questions and objectives. For this project we are using the tool Edmodo which provides flexibility for group creation and file uploading. It also supports development of multimedia collecting and sharing skills, and awareness of collaborative learning environments through the practical application of the project wiki. Topics for the project include School Time, Languages and Clothing, Housing and Transportation, Leisure Time, and Food and Celebrations.

We encourage interested teachers and supporters of global collaborative projects to review the developing wiki material at http://aweekinthelife.flatclassroomproject.org/ This project will run until the end of January, but which time students will have created celebration material based on their collected multimedia.

Applications of interest are being taken now for future projects. We plan to run the next project, after review of the current pilot, starting in late February 2011. See details at http://tinyurl.com/fcpesapplication

Flat Classroom Projects are award winning projects that have been running for the past four years for middle and high schools students. The original project, The Flat Classroom Project, is based on the concepts found in Tom Friedman's book, 'The World is Flat', and subsequently has been included in the reprint of the book in 2007. Other projects include Digiteen Project (raising awareness of digital citizenship) and NetGenEd Project, run in conjunction with Don Tapscott (looks at emerging technologies and netgen norms of behavior). We encourage all educators and global collaborative project supporters to join our Flat Classrooms network to receive further updates on all Flat Classroom Projects. http://flatclassrooms.ning.com More information about Flat Classroom Projects can be found on the website http://flatclassroomproject.net

Participating Schools in 'A Week in the Life...." 2010
American School of Bombay, Mumbai, India - Waciuma Wanjohi and Erica Barclay (supported by Kevin Crouch)
Denton Avenue School, New Hyde Park, New York, USA - Lisa Parisi and Lauryn Tiedemann
The Falcons School for Girls, London, UK - Nick Hitchen
International School of Prague, Prague, Czech Republic - Nancy von Wahlde
Mill Creek School, Geneva, Illinois, USA - Donna Roman
The Phoenix School, Salem, Massachusetts, USA - Betsye Sargent
Yarmouth Elementary School, Yarmouth Maine, USA - Cathy Wolinsky and Rosie Lenehan
Yew Chung International School, Beijing, China - Heather Davis

********
Further comments from me:
I am totally impressed with the dedication of the teachers in this project who have not only spent hours working through it, but also hours working it out!  by that I mean it has been a collaborative effort to actually pull it together and shape it into something that is suitable, appropriate, relevant and rigorous for all classrooms globally. We meet just every week online and discuss progress and situations and issues. It is these meetings, the real time connections, that provide the essential cement to the project. Actual project management and the importance of this can not be underestimated.

I encourage everyone to listen to the Global Education Conference presentation by Kevin Crouch, technology integration teacher at the American School of Bombay, who is supporting two of the school’s elementary classrooms through this project. He talks about how the technology supports learning in a variety of ways and how global education and development of technical awareness and skills in communication and collaboration are so important as 21st century objectives for all curriculum areas. – Flat Classroom A Week in the Life.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Acoss My Desk (weekly)


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Acoss My Desk (weekly)


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Acoss My Desk (weekly)


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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Flat Classroom™ Presents at the Global Education Conference

Co-founders of the Flat Classroom™ Project, Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay, are excited to share the following presentations that will be offered by Flat Classroom educators at the forthcoming Global Education Conference, to be held totally online in Elluminate, November 15-19, 2010.
This event is unique in concept and implementation and is cutting edge in many aspects, including running 24/7 over 5 days and including presentations from all over the globe.

Co-chaired by Steve Hargadon and Lucy Gray, with Julie Lindsay as the chair for the Educator Advisory Board, the conference is a collaborative and world-wide community effort to significantly increase opportunities for globally-connecting education activities and initiatives.   
All details can be found on the website: http://www.globaleducationconference.com/ Make sure you fully explore the Sessions and the Schedule (available in ALL time zones).

How to experience the Global Education Conference
There are numerous sessions that can be viewed in your time zone by selecting from the schedule.
In addition there are opportunities to get involved as a Mentor or to find someone to mentor with you to help develop better global experiences for you and your students.
If you have time and experience with Elluminate we also invite you to get involved as a Moderator.

Most importantly however we need an audience for sessions that people have put time and effort into preparing. So, spread the word! Encourage your colleagues and students to listen in and interact with as many sessions as they can during the week.
Press releases, flyers, graphics and badges are available.  Please post these where appropriate.

Flat Classroom™ Presentations and Partners
Note: Sessions below are listed in GMT timezone. For YOUR timezone refer to the Schedule

Keynote by Vicki Davis, Westwood Schools, USA
Flatten Your Classroom: Move to Global Collaboration One Step at a Time
Time: Thursday November 18, 11pm
Global collaboration can seem daunting to many.  Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay, co founders of the Flat Classroom projects (including Flat Classroom, Digiteen, NetGenEd, and Eracism projects) have created a series of steps for connecting and flattening the classroom on a global basis providing a simple progression for teachers and schools to globalize their work.  Join Vicki for a lively conversation about the steps to globalize and share your own experience in the backchannel.

Julie Lindsay (China) and Anne Mirtschin (Australia)
Flat Classroom Project Student Summit: The Asian Connection
Time: Tuesday November 16, 4am
Description: Students past and present involved in completing the Flat Classroom Project present via the virtual classroom their ideas and thoughts about living and learning in a flat world. Specific reference also made to learning objectives and outcomes of the Flat Classroom Project and how these experiences have enhanced cultural understanding and global awareness amongst participants.

Kevin Crouch (India)
Flat Classroom ‘A Week in the Life’
Time: Tuesday November 16, 10am
Grade 3 students at the American School of Bombay participated in the Flat Classroom Elementary School pilot project ‘A Week in the life’. The project involved the students learning and bringing together several new skills including social networking on Edmodo, wiki writing and multimedia.

Anne Mirtschin (Australia)
Global Education is not an option
Time: Tuesday November 16, 10am
Global Education is not an Option Comments/Notes: Global education is not an option – it is a necessity! Why is global education of paramount importance in today’s classrooms? How can we help students come to terms with globalisation? In this session, Anne will share answers to these questions including pedagogy that supports globalisation in education.

Julie Lindsay and Madeleine Brookes (both in China)
Inside ITGS: Cyber-Students Share their Connected Learning
Time: Thursday November 18, 12pm
Description: Inside ITGS is a collaboration that started between two schools in China. The aim of Inside ITGS is to join students together in a flattened virtual learning environment thereby providing enhanced opportunities for cultural awareness and global collaboration as well as explore and evaluate IT tools and systems in an authentic and social context. Join Grade 11 Information Technology in a Global Society students from Beijing (BISS) International School and Western Academy Beijing as they present and discuss about what it means to be a connected and collaborative online learner with the ‘Inside ITGS’ community. Topics covered include best tools to support online learning, global digital citizenship perspectives, and challenges to connected learning in a global sense.

Honor Mooorman (USA)
21st Century Literacy and Global Competence Flourish in the Flat Classroom™ Project
Time: Friday November 19, 1am
This presentation will translate theory into practice by demonstrating how the Flat Classroom™ Project helps students develop 21st century literacies and global competencies. Student presenters will facilitate a guided tour of their digital footprints to showcase the knowledge and skills they gained by participating in the project. This student work will bring to life three key frameworks: the National Council of Teachers of English Definition of 21st Century Literacies, the Asia Society Partnership for Global Learning’s description of global competence, and the Flat Classroom™ Project seven steps pedagogy. Participants will learn about effective teaching strategies and tools for helping students communicate, collaborate, and co-create with international peers.
 

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Acoss My Desk (weekly)


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Outside My Window: November 7, 2010 - Autumn

The wind is blowing hard today. We love days like this in Beijing as it blows away the pollution and freshens the air. Today it is also blowing the Autumn leaves to the ground.


Saturday, November 06, 2010

Global Education Conference - Be a Participant!

In just over one week the Global Education Conference will commence (November 15-19). We have OVER 400 presentations, including Keynotes http://www.globaleducationconference.com/

We now need PUBLICITY and an AUDIENCE and VOLUNTEERS to help moderate and mentor and make this event even more remarkable than it already is. So keep talking to your schools, organisations, partners, colleagues and promote and encourage participation.  We need you!

We are also in need of volunteers to moderate sessions. If you are comfortable using Elluminate, please sign up here (http://globaledconmoderating.youcanbook.me/) to sit in on as many sessions as you can handle. This is an all hands on deck moment for us and we need your help!

I will be hosting a 'How to be an effective Moderator' pre-conference session in Elluminate http://tinyurl.com/geclounge on Tuesday November 9, midday GMT. Interested and confirmed moderators are welcome to join in then, the session will also be recorded for future use.

Please visit the Global Education Wiki at http://www.globaleducationwiki.com if you want to contribute to the wiki or participate in the Global Education Mentor program, either to help or be helped by another educator doing global connecting projects. More information is here: http://www.globaleducationwiki.com/MENTOR+PROGRAM.

Further Updates and Reminders
The conference will take place in a video conferencing tool called Elluminate. Presenters share web links and slides while participants listen to an audio feed and chat in the accompanying chatroom. All sessions will be recorded and archived, so if you miss a session you'll be able to view it at your leisure. We'll also have an open Global Education Lounge in which participants can drop by to network with others or to receive help.

Here are a couple of things you can do in preparation for this event:
  1. Review the conference schedule according to your time zone and add your selections to your Google Calendar. (No need to register for any sessions, by the way... just show
    up online. URLS will be provided as we get closer to the start date.)
  2. Download our conference guide with basic links to Elluminate Support, time zone converters, and other useful web sites.
  3. Join our Flickr group and upload a picture of yourself as an introduction to other conference attendees.
  4. Join the conference group here in the Global Education Collaborative to discuss the conference with others.
  5. Run the self-test for Elluminate and familiarize yourself a bit with the platform.
Please publicize the conference!
Finally, we need you to spread the word about this event as far and as wide as possible. Please forward this information on to colleagues,and post to Twitter and Facebook. You can also follow the conference proceedings in Twitter using the hashtag #globaled10. We're on Twitter and Facebook, too.

Press releases, flyers, graphics and badges are available at http://www.globaleducationconference.com/press-and-promotional-materials-web-badges.html. Please post these where appropriate.

Julie Lindsay
Global Education Conference
Educator Advisory Board Chair
lindsay.julie@gmail.com

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Acoss My Desk (weekly)


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Acoss My Desk (weekly)


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Presenting: The K12 Online Conference!

This past week was the first of TWO full weeks of presentations and excellent professional development opportunities through the K12 Online Conference 2010.


I have been madly downloading and watching video presentations (mostly on my iPad, love it!) and gathering new ideas and inspiration. The schedule is rich with variety from this week focusing on Leading the Change and Student Voices. Don't forget ALL K12 Online Conference presentations can be downloaded/subscribed to from iTunesU


In this blog post however I wish to feature the two videos that I was involved in co-producing.


Create the Future: Think, Learn, Create!
Presented by Kim Cofino and Julie Lindsay
K12 Online Conference website link
K12 Online Conference Ning link - Join the discussion!
Over the past three years, international educators and global collaboration experts Kim Cofino and Julie Lindsay have together run workshops within schools that are designed to open doors to new modes of teaching and learning and focus on the learner (teacher and student) as a communicator, collaborator and creator. A hands-on approach is emphasized in the workshops with opportunities for learners at all levels to explore, discuss and model 21st Century pedagogy using digital tools. The focus of the workshop is for participants to design an engaging, technology-rich, collaborative project to implement in their classroom. This presentation will share via video the methodology of the ‘Create the Future’ workshop and focus on participants as they work through the challenges presented during the two days.



Discussion questions:
  1. How can we meet the demands of 21st Century learning and professional development for educators and embed action into process?
  2. Is effective professional development about the tools or the learning or both? Why?
  3. How can we take the methods outlined in this workshop and apply them to our classroom pedagogy?


Inside ITGS: Cyber-Students Share their Connected Learning
K12 Conference Ning link - Join the discussion!
Inside ITGS is about classrooms globally coming together to form an online learning community for the IB subject Information Technology in a Global Society. Madeleine Brookes from Western Academy Beijing and Julie Lindsay from Beijing (BISS) International School, both in China, explore the impact of virtual communication and collaboration and feature the students from pioneer classrooms in a rare face-to-face meeting. It is through their eyes, as cyber-students, that we will learn more about how to use emerging technologies and build stronger more effective learning communities.


Discussion questions:

  • In what ways are we able to provide for each individual student? Are we able to differentiate to cater for all needs? 
  • In what ways does a collaborative environment such as this provide wider opportunities for our students?
  • What does it mean to be part of a global community? What are the challenges? 
  • What do you see as some of the impacts of virtual communication and collaboration?
Looking forward to feedback from readers on these presentations!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Acoss My Desk (weekly)


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.