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Our goal is to transform school systems by developing professional communities of teachers and school leaders with interactive online courses and on-site support programs that enable schools to cultivate the critical learning students need for the 21st century world. Research-Based. WIDE World professional development programs are based on Teaching for Understanding, a classroom-tested framework developed through research at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Online. WIDE World courses are conducted online and are asynchronous. This allows for flexible, adaptive, and convenient learning for all participants, regardless of location or schedule. Job-embedded. Through our courses, WIDE World learners integrate research-based strategies in their own workplace. Online coaches support cycles of learning, applying, and reflecting as teams of educators improve lesson plans, instruction, and data-driven action projects. Team-Based with Coaching. Systemic change requires coordinated effort from all stakeholders. Expert coaches help teachers, leaders, and specialists work in teams to develop a common language for defining and achieving shared goals. Tailored for Local Impact. WIDE World works with you to design professional development programs adapted precisely to address the needs of your school, program, district, or system and build local capacity for continuous improvement. Global Learning. In the online environment, participants collaborate with innovative educators from across the US and around the globe.

Most teachers recognise the potential for collaboration between students and the importance of it as a component of a 21st Century education and yet many do not take full advantage of the opportunities they have for collaboration as teachers.

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Study on the Effective Use of Social Software by UK FE & HE to Support Student Learning & Engagement

Project Based Learning or what is referred to as PBL is a great instructional method . It is considered as the teaching method of the 21st century. As educators , we do need to know what it is all about and how we can impliemnt it in our teaching to better meet the 21st century educational goals such as crticial thinking, collaboration , communication and creativity. check out PBL The 21st Century Teaching Method to learn more.

Thoughtful article on "social capital" Educator Tools and Links for Creating Community (and opportunities for students to develop social capital):

This is the second of the series of four articles about teaching the 4Cs to students. Learn how to teach critical thinking and problem solving.

Meet, collaborate, conduct seminars, conduct webinars, and teach courses over the Web, in a real time, fully accessible environment! IDEAL Conference® integrates data and voice within standard web browsers. This enables people to conduct meetings over the Internet from just about any computer with a network connection and a web browser. Empower your students (e-learning) and workforce (virtual) with online conferencing and collaboration services. Deliver dynamic and interactive presentations to your partners, vendors, and customers. It's easy to conduct an accessible online meeting-and it's just as easy to invite participants and demonstrate products.

"What I want to demonstrate is that it works for a purpose-it engages us," said Dr. Vaughan. Using blogs, wikis, social networking systems, mash-ups and voice-over-Internet-protocol, in the class room, student engagement will be measured with a survey. The survey focuses on five points: how actively collaborative the learning is; the quality of interaction with instructors; is there a sense of challenge or rigor; is there a connection between the assigned task and a future purpose; and the larger campus environment of learning. Dr. Vaughan points to the Maclean's magazine engagement survey, which replaced their unpopular rankings of Canadian Universities, as a way of judging student learning. "What they figured out is that engagement really is the time and effort students are putting into their studies. Its got to be relevant, meaningful learning and its got to be challenging, and-this is where the Web2.0 comes in-it has to create relationships."

"Putting technology first-simply adding a layer of expensive tools on top of the traditional curriculum-does nothing to address the new needs of modern learners."

Wikis are the most popular Web 2.0 tool being used in science and math classrooms. Based on a survey of readers - 43 percent use them to support their teaching and student learning. A Wiki is appealing, encourages participation, supports collaboration, and promotes interaction by students who love to use technology. By the way - this includes most students today!

"To help practitioners integrate skills into the teaching of core academic subjects, the Partnership has developed a unified, collective vision for learning known as the Framework for 21st Century Learning. This Framework describes the skills, knowledge and expertise students must master to succeed in work and life; it is a blend of content knowledge, specific skills, expertise and literacies" (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2009, ¶1).

Last week I spent three days thinking about curriculum and all that it means to teaching and learning thanks to the Australian Curriculum Studies Association's biannual conference. It was three days of deeply thoughtful conversation and learning with just the right mix of academic research and ideas for grounded practice straight out of innovative classrooms and schools. With keynotes by Alan Reid, Dan Haesler, Bob Lingard, Robert Randall and Jan Owen combined with Masterclasses from some of Australia's leading educators there was much on offer. The biggest challenge was deciding which workshop you would attend when every session offered such outstanding opportunities.

A wiki is a website that allows members to easily edit and contribute content. Wikispaces is a teacher and student friendly tool that supports multimedia for collaborative learning. A wiki provides teachers with a platform to design learning experiences that provide students with flexible learning paths to meet their unique learning styles Wiki projects can support project based learning.

This [Buck Institute for Education] rubric describes beginning, developing, and Gold Standard levels for Project Based Teaching Practices for K-12 teachers" (What is it? ¶1, 2016.06.10).

The following is a common question heard around teacher workrooms, teacher lunchrooms, faculty meetings, and science or math conferences. "Why use web 2.0 tools when teaching science or math?" The answer is both simple and complex at the same time.

 If the young people of today are to thrive beyond the walls of the classroom they will need to be able to cope with a world characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. The children of todays Kindergarten will enter the workplace in the fourth-decade of the 21st Century. We debate the merits of teaching 21st Century Skills and what they might be while teaching children who have lived their entire lives in that very century. The challenge is how will schools and individual teachers respond to this drive for urgent change.

"The Framework presents a holistic view of 21st century teaching and learning that combines a discrete focus on 21st century student outcomes (a blending of specific skills, content knowledge, expertise and literacies) with innovative support systems to help students master the multi-dimensional abilities required of them in the 21st century" (¶1).

enables teachers and learners to collaborate through Virtual Classes Online Tests Educational Content Contact Network

"I have access to an incredible wealth of credible resources, and I am given as much time as I need to synthesize information and determine how to best leverage it. I have opportunities to collaborate and learn with, and from, experts all over the world. I have the chance to participate in challenge based learning projects where I work to find solutions to a variety of real world problems, and I do it with individuals in locations that I have never been to." "You may be wondering where this amazing classroom is, and my response is unique given the time of day: at home, the gym, my car, the gas station, a school, a picnic table, a friend's house, my back deck, a restaurant… and that is just a few of today's locations. "