The real benefit of technology in our schools is that it “softens” the walls…allowing learners (students and teachers) access to a huge, wide world of information, ideas and opportunities. One of the real focus’ of my job lately has been to identify and support opportunities for classes to participate in collaborative learning opportunities with learners in other corners of the world.

Not only does this satisfy the eagerness of our digital natives to “reach out and touch someone”, it also provides opportunities for learners in different cultures to work together to create knowledge. They learn much more than what they start out to produce. For example, one of the conversations taking place among those participating in various projects around the world is one of language. As people work together, they begin to understand that English isn’t so common, even among english-speakers. And these differences in language have much to say about our culture and history.

One of the real gems among the many projects out there is Clay Burell’s 1000 Flat World Tales Project. Based loosely on the Arabian Nights idea, this international writing project was incubated at Korea International School in Seoul and several schools took part from around the world this year in the Elementary, Middle and High School workshops. For instance, students at our school wrote and peer edited creative short stories with students from Malaysia, Serbia and the USA. You can check out the project wiki here.
As most schools wind down for the year, Clay and some others are already planning for next fall. They are recruiting interested high school teachers to develop and expand the project to more schools. Schools are already in fron Korea, Kuwait and Hawaii. This is an amazing opportunity for teachers and students. Check out the details on Clay’s Blog.

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