NEWS Update
Vicki and Julie were very busy at ISTE last week with various presentations and sessions including a 7-hour DigiTeacher Workshop, Flat Classroom ‘Birds of a Feather’ and the ‘Seven Steps to Flatten your Classroom’ presentation that was attended by over 200.

Flat Classroom Workshop, St. Louis
St.Louis. July 13-14, 2010
http://flatclassroomworkshop2010.flatclassroomproject.org/

Special announcement! The Flat Classroom Project 10-3, running from September - December 2010 will be our 20th global collaborative project since joining classrooms together using Web 2.0 tools in 2006. We are delighted to announce David Warlick, one of our main sources for inspiration and a supporter of our projects and events, will be creating the keynote for this project. Consider joining your classroom today, applications close September 1, 2010.

Flat Classroom Conference 2011, Beijing, China February 25-27, 2011

The NEXT Flat Classroom Conference is in Beijing, February 25-27, 2011. Join us at the W.A.L.L. - We All Learn and Lead in China!

The Flat Classroom™ Conference is a unique limited-seating conference including students and educators to envision the future of education as they use leading technology tools such as wikis, blogs, social networking and multi-media storytelling. The conference is diverse in participation while allowing smaller groups with leading world-class presenters in a "flattened" environment where virtual participants join in the conversation from remote corners of the world.

Educators will leave the conference understanding how to collaborate globally and with contacts in hand to start projects. Students will leave the conference with leadership skills, technology skills, presentation skills, and a better understanding of diverse cultures and collaboration.

Educators come and join the Leadership Workshop! Teachers apply to bring students to the Student Summit and allow them to be challenged to find a voice while collaborating with others from around the world.
Early Bird registration until September 15! All details, including online Registration at http://www.flatclassroomconference.com/.

Are you interested in sponsoring a Flat Classroom Workshop or Flat Classroom Conference? A range of sponsorship opportunities are available to ICT and education vendors as well as other companies and individuals interested in supporting the event. See http://www.flatclassroomconference.com/sponsors.html.

Announcing New Projects

We are delighted to announce the re-opening of applications for the Digiteen Project 2010-2011. Each project is offered three-times per year and runs for 8-10 weeks. The Digiteen™ Project is a global hands-on project for middle and early high school students, (typically Grade 6-9, 11-15 year old). This project studies digital citizenship with students researching current topics, writing a collaborative report on a wiki, and performing and documenting offline action educational projects to promote effective digital citizenship at their local schools. Topics of study include digital: access, communications, literacy, security and safety, etiquette, rights and responsibilities, law, health and wellness, and commerce.

One of the main goals of the project is to 'flatten' or lower the classroom walls so that instead of each class working isolated and alone, 2 or more classes are joined virtually to become one large classroom. The project is designed to develop cultural understanding, skills with Web 2.0 and other software, experience in global collaboration and online learning, awareness of what it means to live and work in a flat world, while researching and discussing the ideas developed in Friedman's book, ‘The World is Flat’. Projects are constructed with an international set of classrooms (as mixed as we can make it depending on applications). Students also have the chance to interact with expert advisers and other classroom teachers and sounding board classrooms in a true flattened learning mode.

Information about the project can be found at http://tinyurl.com/flatclassroomguide
Application form found on the Apply tab of http://flatclassroomproject.net. Read more details on the New Projects Wiki.

Information about the project can be found at http://tinyurl.com/digiteenguide

Application information is found on the Apply tab of at http://www.digiteen.org/

Applications close September 15 for the Digiteen 10-2 project.

Watch this space for further announcements coming about:

• Eracism Project: A global collaborative debate, to be offered Semester 1, October-December 2010
• NetGenEd Project: Another Flat Classroom Project that joins students to research emerging technologies in an increasingly digital world

Read more about this award winning set of projects and live events http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/About

Download our 2-page brochure to share with others http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/file/view/Flat_Classroom_Brochure_July2010.pdf

What are others saying about Flat Classroom Projects, Conferences and Workshops?
http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/Flat+Classroom+Participants+Speak+Up

Is there a Flat Classroom in your future?

“We are building bridges between students that our future can walk across”.