Collaboration opportunities for students (and their teachers)

The opportunity for students to collaborate with others across the globe is one that adds depth and authenticity to their learning, and supports the development of key communication and collaboration skills. Three opportunities that are currently commencing/in existence that you may wish to explore for your students are:

1. “Life round here – our digital storytelling project” is a project (managed by Chris Craft) for 10-13 year olds, and to participate you will need to publish at least six stories by October 31, 2007, using a template available on the wiki. More details are also available on the wiki and in Chris Craft’s blog.

2. “Skoolaborate” is a teen SecondLife project with huge potential that is just getting off the ground (terrific time to get involved!) It is currently being managed by Westley Field at MLC Sydney, and has some great guidelines regarding participation that allow you to decide if this is a project for you. Westley’s email details are listed on the blog as the best way to contact him for more information.

3. Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay did an amazing job with their Flat Classroom project last year (and were recognised for their excellence with a range of awards and accolades.) They will be blogging soon about how to get involved for 2007 (as they are looking for a few new “technically proficient classrooms” to help investigate our changing world with them) - keep an eye out for details.

To finish, here is an event for you to participate in and support your own professional learning: the K12 Online Conference 2007 will be held over the first two weeks of next term (with a pre-conference keynote in the week of October 8.) Twenty different presentations will be posted in each week, supported by live events, podcasts and more. “Teaser videos” on some presentations have started to be posted – what a great way to see if they fit your learning needs!

Until next week …