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20 Ideas for Engaging Projects via @edutopia http://t.co/YXTP9kdk

"The mission of ePALS Classroom Exchange is to offer safe, innovative ways for learners to make contact with other cultures. They currently connect over 4.5 million users from 191 countries, speaking 136 languages, by providing built-in Webmail language translation and safety features such as monitored e-mail and profanity filters. All of the tools and resources on the site are free to anyone with a computer, anywhere in the world. The site also offers collaborative projects that students can join, as well as tools for creating projects and contacting students in remote locations."

ePals is the social network optimized for K-12 learning. Over half a million classrooms in 200 countries and territories have joined the ePals Global Community to connect, collaborate and exchange ideas. ePals now translates in 35 languages! The benefits of the site are that the students can connect with other students and classrooms around the globe. You connect with them by the projects that you are working on in the classroom. This gives the common ground to talk about back and forth. The possible pitfalls are if you get a classroom that is not as involved as yours. It could be a let down and you may have to find another classroom that you could connect with.

This site is free and connects you with other educators seeking to connect classrooms for global projects. It has great safety features and has a variety of projects for all content areas and grade levels. You can form e-mail pen pal connections with classrooms around the world. Very cool!

Global SchoolNet's mission is to support 21st century learning and improve academic performance through content driven collaboration. We engage teachers and K-12 students in meaningful project learning exchanges worldwide to develop science, math, literacy and communication skills, foster teamwork, civic responsibility and collaboration, encourage workforce preparedness and create multi-cultural understanding. We prepare youth for full participation as productive and effective citizens in an increasing global economy.

Global SchoolNet partners with schools, communities, and businesses to provide collaborative learning activities that prepare students for the workforce and help them become literate and responsible global citizens. The Project Registry has more than 800 online projects providing teachers a chance to collaborate and share learning experiences. The most recent partner programs include "Mosaics of Life" (a global art project culminating in the creation of eight collaborative glass tile murals made up of original art and expressing understanding, concerns, and insights in themes that affect and shape lives both locally and globally) and the U.S. State Department-sponsored "Doors to Diplomacy Competition" (an educational challenge for middle and high school students about the importance of international affairs and diplomacy, with prizes including scholarships, cash, and a trip to Washington, D.C.).

The topics are standards-based and of global interest. Each project is designed to be used as is or customized to your classroom's needs. An easy way to find a classroom with which to partner is to check the "Connect with Classrooms" forum on the project index page for posts by interested classrooms. Topics include holidays and festivals, digital storytelling, spanish, global warming, habitats, weather, and natural disasters.

List of projects that make use of global connections to study various topics for late elementary to middle school aged students. I love how the project calendar lays out a specific timeline for when to introduce concepts and exchange emails. The website provides a forum to find cooperating classrooms. The possible pitfall could be not finding a class to exchange ideas.

The Global Classroom Project wiki is a collection of resources for teachers who want to collaborate globally. There are several big ongoing projects for all grade levels, as well as a huge directory of teachers you can contact on your own if you want to find a collaborator for a project.

This global collaborative project at http://ciese.org/curriculum/squareproj/ -- Registration closes SEPT 30 Driving questions: Why HERE and not THERE? Presents students with a world map and two animals/insects from different areas (EG Monarch butterfly and Australian stick insect specimens). Pose a challenging question: Why here and not there? Why there and not here? How can we find out? Register class on Square of Life, an Internet-based collaborative project that has students investigate their local environment and share information with students from around the world. Students examine a square yard of local ground and organize what they find into categories they define themselves: living and nonliving, plants and animals. Through close examination, they organize small creatures into groups by shared characteristics, and learn to discriminate between classes of animals, including insects and isopods. Theorize about the role of habitat and niche in insect distribution. Share their findings with Australian students (or students from around the glove) and report their conclusions about Why here and not there? Why there and not here?

Project FeederWatch is a winter-long survey of birds that visit feeders at backyards, nature centers, schools, community areas, and other locales in North America. FeederWatchers periodically count the birds they see at their feeders from November through early April and send their counts to Project FeederWatch. FeederWatch data help scientists track broadscale movements of winter bird populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance. This project gives an authentic reason to learn how to record data using graphs and charts, research, and writing. All of this can be done using technology. Since areas all around North America are involved, it ties into the global community. Teachers within a school or district could work together to promote collaboration. The biggest pitfall would be finding a location that would be appropriate to place the feeder.

global collab The Project Launched at the 2013 Global Education conference, "Out My Window" was born from a quest to have students gain global perspective. "Out My Window" classrooms share their world. Inspired by the five themes of geography, students reveal cultural awareness and understanding through original poetry and photography. The Process 1. Take a photo "out your window". 2. Write a poem incorporating the 5 themes of geography - place, location, human environment interaction, region, and movement. Look below for poetry and 5 themes resources 3. Edit your photo to your liking. Look below for editing tips. -We suggest overlaying the text onto the image like the example shown, but you can also add it separately if you'd like. 4. Share! Sharing 1. Create a Flickr account if you don't already have one. The Flickr #outmywindow group is public and by submitting you agree to the group norms 2. Once you have logged into Flickr and been added to the #outmywindow group, you can start uploading your finished product! 3. Be sure to use our Twitter hashtag - #omw1415 to continue sharing your work!

Here's a great global collabo for Feb mainly 4th-10th grades skype, blog, ... landmark project

The International Education and Resource Network (iEARN) is a non-profit global network that enables young people to use the Internet and other new technologies to engage in collaborative educational projects that both enhance learning and make a difference in the world. iEARN has hundreds of projects to join (some with a nominal joining fee). Some have been ongoing for years, and many have received national/international recognition. An example of a new project is "Proverbs and Idioms." Facilitated by students and teachers in Iran, Pakistan, Nigeria, and India, it is a worldwide exchange exploring the commonalities and differences in proverbs throughout history and culture worldwide.

Awesome post by Kathleen Morris!

There are lots of ongoing global collaborative projects (for elementary) that she has here with dates. It's already created, you can choose to join. 

Description from the site: "Most of us are aware of the issues of pollution and global warming. But what can we do about it? Participation in this project will not only help you figure out what your contribution has been to these issues, it will also help you figure out what you can do about them and how you can help others figure out what they can do, and so on." I chose this particular project because it relates to a project my J2 kids are doing now. They have chosen issues like global warming or domestic violence and are researching and using media to educate their peers. They are writing editorials and using Facebook and creating Web sites. They are VERY into it. This is a similar thing with a built-in audience. A potential pitfall is that it might be somewhat limited. It's not a very long project and might be better as part of something bigger.

This site looks amazing! It connects with us by indicating the Targeted Audience giving the beginning and end dates. What a fabulous resource.

Square of Life: Studies in Local and Global Environments is an Internet-based collaborative project in which students will investigate their local environment and share that information with other students from around the country and the world. Participants will: Identify living and non-living things in their school yards. Revisit this site in mid-August for information about the Fall 2012 run of the project.

Colleen, I love this project. I would totally do this with my 4th grade students. :) It would be fun to post our findings on our blog and try and get others involved too.

This looks like neat project to do. I would be interested having a "Key Pal" through the project to really engage students and introduce them to who will be their audience.

Journey North is a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. Journey North is an online science education project in which students track spring's journey across the northern hemisphere. There are so many great objectives linked to the different studies. This is a great activity for a primary and an intermediate class to work together on. A possible pitfall may be spending too much time on these fabulous activities.

Krystal, What a great project. This would be something great to do with a kindergarten class because I know kindergarten does a whole unit on Monarch butterflies.

Love the global collaborations with learning. The authentic audience really helps with purpose for learning it, and increases the quality and intrinsic motivation of learning. There are several Common Core projects to join.

"The premise is simple; we pick a book to read aloud to our students during a set 6-week period and during that time we try to make as many global connections as possible. Each teacher decides how much time they would like to dedicate and how involved they would like to be. Some people choose to connect with just one class, while others go for as many as possible. The scope and depth of the project is up to you. In the past we have used Twitter, Skype, Edmodo, our wiki, email, regular mail, Kidblog, and any other tools we can think of to make these connections. Teachers get a community of other educators to do a global project with, hopefully inspiring them to continue these connections through the year."

If you are looking for collaborative opportunities outside your classroom walls, these are some fabulous pbls to look into. I love that there are some for HS, JrH and some on Elm all on this site. Let me know if you are interested, or pass this on to your team. Thanks!

Mystery Class starts January 30! This is a fun 11-week project that engages students science, technology and global collaboration.