Are you interested in creating and running your very own global collaborative project?
Do you have an idea, but are not sure where to start?
Are you struggling to find global collaboration partners?
Need a professional mentor?
Then why not explore the possibilities with Global Classroom 2012-13?
Over the past few years, we’ve “built the collaborative spaces, resources, and community to enable teachers and students to share, learn and collaborate globally” … and we’ve succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.
After several months in the making, it’s time to formally launch the new Global Classroom Mentors project, fulfilling a key goal of Global Classroom 2012-13.
We know what it’s like to get started with ICT and global projects … It can be a very difficult, challenging road; yet almost all of us have been informally mentored along the way.
Connecting and working with an experienced mentor makes a HUGE difference, and this is something we are hoping to share more widely through our new Mentor Teacher Contact Directory; helping teachers new to ICT and global projects find a source of support and guidance as they embark on their global journeys.
The directory, which can be accessed via our project wiki, is designed to help teachers find a mentor who works in a similar grade level and time-zone. You can connect with a mentor through email, Skype, Twitter; and request advice or assistance in areas where you need support. It could be a one-off contact, or the start of a long-term relationship – it depends on your learning needs and preferences.
We are also delighted to announce the addition of an online mentoring community group, run by Keith Tompkins from @Groups4Schools, which you can join here.
Do you have skills, or need support in these areas?
Global Connections & Collaboration
Designing Global Projects
Digital Handshakes
Project Management Tools
Personal Learning Networks
Digital Citizenship
Project Celebration
ICT Skills
Use of ICT in Early Childhood
Multimedia (Video, Audio projects)
Skype / Video-Conferencing
Blogging
Wikis
Edmodo
Can you help?
If you’d like to become a Mentor, please register your interest here. All you need is a little experience, and a willingness to share.
We’d really appreciate it if you’d help spread the word through your social networks, and you are most welcome to add our Mentor’s Badge (above) to your blog / website. Please include a link to this post, or the permanentGlobal Classroom Mentorspage. Thank you!
Do you need some advice or support to get started with global collaboration?
We’re here to help1 You can join the @Groups4Schools community, and access our Mentors Directory via our Global Classroom 2012-13 wiki – following the instructions here. (You will need to join the wiki to access!). You can contact a potential mentor via email, Skype, or Twitter, and go from there.
If you have any questions, please send us an email at globalclassroomorganisers AT gmail.com.
This year, we’re doing something different. We’re working to build better connections & participation in the #globalclassroom community through the launch of “The Handshake Space” for K-3, 4-6, and 7-12.
What is it?
For those unfamiliar with the concept, a “digital handshake” is an opportunity for teachers and students to join our online project spaces (find out more here) andintroduce themselves to the community.
Traditionally, these handshakes feature individual students or whole classes; however, in Global Classroom 2012-13, we are experimenting with a mix of classroom AND individual teacher handshakes.
The #globalclassroom handshake has three distinct parts. Teachers and students are welcome to contribute to one, or all components.
1) The introductory voicethread.
Teachers, we hope you will take this opportunity to introduce themselves, tell us where you come from, and share a little about why you connect and collaborate globally.
The Global Classroom 2012-13 wiki now hosts K-3, 4-6, and 7-12 “handshake spaces” for teachers to post class introductions.
How you choose to create and share your handshake is up to you, but we’d love to see links to your class blog / websites, and a few pictures of your classroom learning spaces! You will find instructions, video tutorials, and classroom examples on our wiki.
“The Handshake Space” will run for the duration of the 2012-13 project, and new additions will be showcased on the project blog over time.
Check out this fantastic example:
3) Teacher Introductions on our Google Groups
If you are a member of our email list, you will receive the kick-off email this week.
If you are NOT receiving emails from The Global Classroom Project, and you would like to be involved in informal planning discussions, project brainstorming, and receive news updates like this, please apply to join here (with a note telling us who you are, and what you teach).
An opportunity to learn, share and connect and globally
The “handshake” is an important, and vital first step for teachers engaging in global collaboration. We hope you will take this opportunity to make yourself known, and introduce your class to the wider #globalclassroom community. Through this process, we will be able to learn more about you, and better enable teachers to explore new ways to connect, learn, share, and collaborate globally.
Do you enjoy meeting teachers around the world? Are you interested in global education or global collaboration? Have you heard about global projects, but don’t know where to start? Would you like your students to have opportunities to practice their language skills with authentic speakers? Are you on Twitter?
If you answered yes to any of these questions,why not join us for the the monthly #globalclassroom Twitter chats in 2012?
How It All Began …
The monthly #globalclassroom chats were born out of the Global Classroom Project: 2011-12, and first ran in November 2011. Proving to be the first of their kind, the chats generated significant excitement in the #globaled community; and covered topics relating to global collaboration in education, ICT, and authentic cultural connections. You can find our archives here.
Where to from here?
The unexpected interest in a global education / collaboration themed chat has forced a rethink of our chat times, which were (and perhaps still are) very American-centric. Over the course of 2012, we hope to enable teachers around the world to connect, share, learn and collaborate globally via our Twitter chats.
For our January chat, we will be trialling a third time – targeting teachers in Asia (e.g. India, Russia, China, Japan, etc), and Australia (depending on DST). If you haven’t already voted in our Asia/Australia poll, please do so ASAP – http://twtpoll.com/4wb9of.
We are painfully aware that many European teachers find it difficult to participate in the chats as the times currently stand, and we hope to address this later in the year.
We appreciate YOUR suggestions & support!
The #globalclassroom Twitter chat is a work in progress, and we’d sincerely appreciate YOUR feedback and suggestions for future topics. We are also keen to involve guest moderators from the #globaled community. If please leave your details here if interested!
Dates and Times for the January 2012 chats will be published HERE on January 8, and they will commence on Jan 14/15th, depending on your timezone
Well, we are finally in a position to announce our inaugural Global Classroom Project Twitter Chats. Thankyou to everyone who voted in our Twitter polls!
We will be running two monthly chats using the #globalclassroom hashtag. These chats will be held at different times to try and cater to as many of our teachers as possible. Don’t worry if you can’t attend in person! The chats will be archived on our wiki for future reference.
The Topic?
The theme of the inaugural #globalclassroom Twitter Chats will be “Connecting Teachers”
Participant teachers will have the opportunity to introduce themselves, and share their teaching backgrounds, interests, projects, blogs, etc with the #globalclassroom community and the world!
We expect future chat topics will be nominated and voted upon by our #globalclassroom teachers.
When and Where?
Are you in Europe, Africa, or the Americas?
The inaugural #globalclassroom chat will be held THIS Saturday (November 12), at:
12PM Los Angeles, 3PM New York, 8PM London, 10PM Cape Town
Are you in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and the Americas?
The second #globalclassroom chat will cross the day/night meridian, and will be held on a Monday night in the Americas, which will be Tuesday morning in the Asia/Pacific.
This inaugural Asia/Pacific chat will be held on November 14/15, at:
4PM Los Angeles, 7PM New York – Monday night 8AM – Beijing, 11AM Sydney, 1PM – Auckland – Tuesday morning
Can you help with moderation and archiving of the #globalclassroom chats?
We are still looking for people to help moderate and archive our Twitter chats over the coming months! We are sharing the load across an international group of teachers, and no experience is necessary! We’ll provide you with all the information & training you need!
We plan to use The Archivist – Desktop Version (Windows) to archive our chats, and export tweets to an Excel file – which we will edit & share on the Global Classroom Project Wiki. If you are able to keep a backup archive on our behalf, please email it to us!
In this post, we’ll explore the aims, guidelines, and ideas for the Global Classroom 2011-12 wiki; sharing how our participant teachers and students can share their ideas, projects, and learning with the #globalclassroom community and the world.
To provide a central platform for teachers to share project ideas, students’ learning products (e.g videos), and insights into their classrooms (example).
To provide a space for students to contribute to class pages / projects
To create a digital repository of our teachers’ global projects – sharing project aims, structure, and final learning products
Who can contribute?
All of our Global Classroom teachers, and students are invited to contribute to our 2011-12 wiki; and we’d love to have you add your ideas to our list below!
Our Wiki Editors, Michael Graffin (Western Australia), Ms Kyle Dunbar (USA), and Kimberley Rivett (New Zealand) have laid the foundations of this wiki community, and we look forward to working with our teachers to bring it to life over the months to come (see our Wiki Guidelines).
Over the past few weeks, we have begun to see some our Teachers’ Global Classroom goals becoming a reality …
1) We are interested in exploring ways to create global dialogue and discussion amongst teachers and students; enabling them to learn together and build cross-cultural understandings and respect
2) We are working together to build an authentic, global learning community; showcasing how teachers can share resources, expertise, and support through global collaborative projects and personal learning networks (PLNs).
Global Classroom Manifesto – Teacher’s Goals
We’ve been making connections … both global AND local …
“His is SOOooooo cool to be sitting here talking with people around the world I would NEVER have connected with – thank you all for existing and being here!” – Launch Webinar Comment
“[I had] A chance meeting with the first Western Australian Global Classroom participant; an encounter which will hopefully lead to the creation of a ‘global geocaching’ project for 2012.” (mgraffin.edublogs.org)
And we come from amazingly diverse community and school backgrounds ….
“Hello everyone. It´t just fantastic to join a global group like this. I´m Stefan from Denmark, Northern Europe. This year I´m teaching 1st graders (7-8Y) and I will follow the class up to 6th grade. I also teach 9th grades and work as school librarian part time. I teach Danish, Music, Religions study and English.”
“Howdy from Texas! … I’m Louise … I teach a lively and diverse group of 2nd graders (7-8 yr olds) and am looking forward to expanding worlds through the Global Classroom. … My goal with the Global Classroom is to open our doors to new experiences and learning possibilities.”
“Bonjour and Hello from France … Hi Everyone! I’m Sarah and I teach English as a foreign language to students in preschool through CM2 (Grade 5 or Year 6) in a small, private school in the suburbs of Paris..”
Google Groups / Email Discussion Lists – Introductions
Through the Global Classroom Project, we are working to enable teachers around the world to connect, share, learn and collaborate on a global stage.
We provide 4 major collaborative discussion platforms for our teachers, run by members of our global management team:
1. Email Discussion Lists (Google Groups)
Simple Sign Up – Email us for the group link
1-2 emails a week
Quick and easy way to introduce yourself, float ideas, and contribute to discussions about ongoing and upcoming #globalclassroom projects
You can join with ANY email account
Highly Recommended
2. Facebook K-12 Teachers’ Discussion Group
Registered #globalclassroom participants can request to join here.
A place to keep in touch with ongoing projects, #globalclassroom news, and teacher discussion
3.Edmodo Groups – For Teachers and Students
Likened to “Facebook for School”, Edmodo is extremely simple to use, and is a safe and secure (closed) discussion platform for teachers and students
Sign up is via group codes (shared via email)
Very popular with teachers AND students
Exciting new K-3, Grades 4-6, and Grades 7-8 Student Groups have enabled global conversations between students in several countries.
4.Monthly Twitter Chat
We hope to announce details of our inaugural #globalclassroom Twitter chat within the next few weeks
We expect to run two chats at different times, to enable maximum coverage of our global timezones.
These chats will be moderated by participant teachers, and archived on our wiki
Watching a Global Learning Community come to life
Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen our #globalclassroom dreams and community come to life. All of those weeks of planning, discussion, and preparation are paying dividends.
Our global management team have been working tirelessly to make our Teacher Discussion Groups, and our first global projects a reality, and we look forward to sharing more details about our latest #globalclassroom projects and happenings over the next few weeks.
If you have any questions about our Teacher Discussion Platforms, please leave a comment below this post, or email us at globalclassroomorganisers@gmail.com. Thanks!
