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Inside the halls of West Junior High School, hand-written notes delivered during passing periods are a thing of the past. Cell phones, smuggled into the bathroom or concealed in the pocket of a hooded sweatshirt, trade text messages instead. Kate Welch, 42, teaches English to eighth- and ninth-graders. She says a student without a cell phone is a rarity. “And if they don’t have texting, they have abusive parents,” Welch says.

Kate Welch, 42, teaches English to eighth- and ninth-graders. She says a student without a cell phone is a rarity. “And if they don’t have texting, they have abusive parents,” Welch says.

Text messages, e-mails, instant messages — they’ve not replaced pencil and paper, but they are ways students communicate daily. The modern student has mastered the shorthand, condensed language of electronics by the time teachers introduce classic literature and formal writing.

C-1.1 I show and explain the plan I followed, the information I gathered, or the work I created. (examples: text, images, sound, multimedia presentations, email, tables, spreadsheets, animation, web pages...) sa1.1 logs on and off ICT devices sa1.2 opens applications and files (examples: using Start menu, My Computer, desktop icons...) sa1.5 navigates within an application (examples: using icons, menus, keyboard shortcuts...) sa2.2 manages electronic files and folders sb1.2 recognizes and presses keys on the keyboard (examples: uses one finger, uses both hands, hunts and pecks, uses correct hand position while watching the screen, demonstrates speed and accuracy...) sb2.1 selects and uses peripherals to find / record / manipulate / save / print / display information (examples: microphones, digital cameras, video cameras, electronic whiteboards, digital microscopes, joysticks, touch screens, storage devices, compact flash memory, data projectors, TVs, printers...) C-2.1 I discuss my work with others at a distance by using electronic communication tools. (examples: email, Internet, threaded discussions, videoconferences, chats, instant messages, camera phones, blogs, podcasts, online whiteboards...) sa1.11 sends and receives text messages and electronic files using rules of etiquette (examples: not typing in all capital letters, filling in subject line…) C-3.1 I communicate with a wide audience and collect feedback to improve my work.

Her response blew me away. "I ask my readers," she said. I doubt anyone in the room could have guessed that answer. But if you look at the Clustrmap on Laura's blog, Twenty Five Days to Make a Difference, you'll see that Laura's readers -- each represented by a little red dot -- come from all over the world. She has a network of connections, people from almost every continent and country, who share their own stories of service or volunteer to assist Laura in her work. She's sharing and learning and collaborating in ways that were unheard of just a few years ago.

Welcome to the Collaboration Age, where even the youngest among us are on the Web, tapping into what are without question some of the most transformative connecting technologies the world has ever seen.

The Collaboration Age is about learning with a decidedly different group of "others," people whom we may not know and may never meet, but who share our passions and interests and are willing to invest in exploring them together. It's about being able to form safe, effective networks and communities around those explorations, trust and be trusted in the process, and contribute to the conversations and co-creations that grow from them. It's about working together to create our own curricula, texts, and classrooms built around deep inquiry into the defining questions of the group. It's about solving problems together and sharing the knowledge we've gained with wide audiences.