Breaking down the walls of the classroom and having students connect with the world is one of the powerful learning opportunities afforded by Web 2.0.

Fredericton native Brian Jones is taking his concern for the environment and for student learning to a whole new level in a couple of months when he embarks on a grand adventure – skiing to the North Pole!

Not only will Brian ski to the Pole, he wants to take you and your class along with him! The Ski For Green initiative has resources for students, teachers and other, as Brian teams with Science East to bring awareness to environmental issues and connect with young people.

You can read the CBC News story on the launch here.

tags: technology, education, whipple, skiforgreen, scienceeast

A little over a year ago Korean educator and edublogger Clay Burell and myself were playing around with a number of collaborative tools together online. It was interesting to connect with someone around the world, a full twelve hours away. From there both he and I have gone on to develop vibrant and connected personal learning networks.

A short while later Clay proposed an intriguing new project; use these collaborative tools (specifically wikis) to have young learners connect, write and collaborate. The idea was both simple and powerful. It became the 1001 Flat World Tales Project.

Year one of the project saw several elementary and high schools connect to share writing and feedback, including a small group here at Nashwaaksis Middle School in Fredericton. As the project went ahead both youth and adults became learners – about how to connect in a digital, global environment. It was great.

Planning is now underway for year two of the project, which will start later next month. With separate elementary, middle and high school projects, there is still room for schools who are interested, but you’ll have to act now!

I am particularly hoping to find one or two international schools to join the five North American schools. As the idea is to write creatively about your own culture (details are on the wiki), it would be great to have a more global view.

If you are interested, go to the wikispace, join up and add your name to the participating schools. Then email me to let me know you’re interested. Details will follow.

tags: technology, education, whipple, clay burell, 1001fwt

I can be guaranteed to get a reaction from students, colleagues or parents when I talk about learning in the new digital landscape. With ever-increasing connectivity and digital spaces, I have no doubt that going to a physical “school” on a daily basis for an education will be an option for many students. Virtual (and very real) spaces will allow students to join increasingly disparate learning communities, interacting with learners and learning leaders through digital connections.

As a 1:1 laptop school, many of our teachers have created virtual classrooms of varying degrees, mostly based on wikis, blogs and pods. The fact remained that the primary interaction between students and teachers continued to be daily direct interaction within the walls of the school.

That was true, until now.

Just before Christmas one of our Grade 8 students, Lauren, accompanied her parents as they moved temporarily to New Zealand, where her dad, an Engineering professor, was seconded to teach at a university in Christchurch. She will be there until the end of March.

With New Zealand schools out for summer vacation for most of that time, Lauren and her parents wanted her to remain enrolled and connected to her class at Nashwaaksis Middle. While certainly full of questions as to the logistics, her teachers committed themselves to the idea of “teaching” Lauren through the miles.

We’ve only just begun, but the results so far have been impressive. Armed with her own laptop with webcam, Lauren connects with her teachers on a daily basis, selecting her assignments off her teacher’s wikispaces – Chad Ball’s is here – and completing / returning her work on her own private space developed just for this purpose.

Her teachers have taken up the charge, and so have her classmates. Two classmates tape selected classes (Language Arts so far!) and post the podcasts on the wiki for Lauren to watch daily class activities – even if it is the next day!

More plans are in the works. We are hoping to have Lauren work in a group at some point, connecting directly with her group members to produce web-based content in an a yet-to-be identified project. She will also do her public speaking presentations through her webcam and we plan to start weekly video conferencing between Lauren and her classmates/teachers. We’ll connect last period in New Brunswick (mid-afternoon) and Lauren will be up at 6am the next day to connect synchronously. Should be a blast!

What are we learning? Mostly that the significance of geography as a barrier to connection and learning continues to decrease and that the real barrier in the 21st century is time – and time zones.

tags: technology, education, whipple

I am excited about tomorrow….and not just for ANOTHER dump of snow that most teachers and students hope will cancel school.

On Sunday noted edublogger Karl Fisch, who calls Arapahoe High School in Littleton, Colorado home, finally made mention of a kewl new project involving two 9th grade honors Language Arts classes at AHS and Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind.

So….why am excited? Well, I have been invited to participate (thru Karl).  Over the next several weeks, I will have the opportunity to participate in a live blogging exercise with the two classes as they read and discuss AWNM in their classroom. They are actually going to let me join their class virtually, discussing Pink’s book in a whole new way.

Frankly, I feel kind of intimidated by the company, both invited and resident. The list of participants, including many noted edubloggers, school administrators and other creative minds, were pulled together by Karl. Tomorrow morning I am excited to be joined in the first session by my friend Sharon Peters from Montreal.

I read AWNM last summer, and am re-reading it now as I prepare for this opportunity. It is my recommended read for my staff this year.

Of course, we are all excited for that Friday in a couple of weeks when Mr. Pink himself joins the students as we become spectators to their discourse. This is VERY exciting and truly flattening. The lines between learner and teacher are extremely blurred here.

You can read more about this project on Karl’s blog.

tags: technology, education, A Whole New Mind, daniel pink, karl fisch, sharon peters, whipple

I am never sure just how to feel when we return to school in January.  The Christmas Break was much different for me this year – I hardly “worked’ at all.  I spent the break enjoying time with my wife, our kids, my new “wiki” (see previous post) and reading about trains and travel in Europe (my wife and I are looking at three weeks next summer).

Returning to school is always exciting.  It seems that the fall months are just a warmup.  Getting teachers and students up to speed, planning, etc.  Now the real fun starts.  We have five months of pretty much uniterrupted time to actually get some real learning done.  We have several collaborative projects seeded and a couple of others on the table.

Off to the races.  It will be over before we know it.