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I am excited to be sharing global pedagogy in the world language classroom with educators from NJAIS (New Jersey Association of Independent Schools). How do we make world language teaching more relevant for our students in the US? How do we move, as Jason Cummings pointed out, towards oral fluency and interpersonal communication through global connections?

"Surely, online interactions can be shallow, but it's no certainty. I've spent over a decade in different online spaces-primarily as a member of various web fora where sub-communities exist-and I cannot say that what I've witnessed and experienced was anything less than a human desire to connect with others. Sometimes these online spaces offered, for those who felt lonely or isolated by their interests in their physical environments, a place to belong. In other words, for many people I've encountered, these are not places for leading a shallow existence."

"I set out to answer these questions through a study of attitudes, which compared digitally literate students' to digitally-challenged teachers and visa versa. In this study being undertaken at Swinburne University and sponsored by the Wesley College Institute for Innovation in Education, 321 students in years 9 and 10 and 100 educators were surveyed about their attitudes to digital literacy and the use of digital technologies. The schools were co-educational independent schools with laptop programs and significant differences were observed in student and educator attitudes towards each other's digital literacy. The hypothesis, "that there is a disconnect between the digitally capable students and digitally challenged educators in schools with laptop programs, limiting effective use of digital technology in the classroom" was supported in the findings. This has repercussions for educating "net generation" students and implications for the implementation of the National Secondary Computer Fund and National Broadband Network. The disconnect was revealed in terms of attitudes towards technology in the classroom, teaching pedagogy, internet use, adoption of cutting-edge technologies and limitations placed on school laptops and networks. In this study 57 statements were provided to research participants, who were then grouped into four groups: digitally capable students, digitally challenged students, digitally capable educators and digitally challenged educators."

"This is a study well worth reading and thinking about because it focusses on teaching and learning. It demonstrates clearly that the use of social networking can be used successfully in the processes of learning. Designing for Learning: Online Social Networks as a Classroom Environment provides a model for schools to consider as a starting point for using social networking in pedagogy. "

Unesco Paper on the changing nature of pedagogical practice for the 21st Century learner

Another article for gauging where schools, educators' pedagogies sit in relation to using technologies. Do we offer students opportunities to develop good citizenship behaviours using technologies? Is education and learning in a rut in some schools? A real thought provoking article?

Always model responsible digital citizenship - your students will do the same.

One of the better articles I have read about the flipped classroom or flipped learning.

This blog post succinctly explains what happens when we 'dump' resources on colleagues rather than curate them in a useful way.

Using curation to build higher order thinking skills. Has a great definition of curation and links curation with the Framework for 21st Century Learning.

Create a Digital Artefact with Prezi video?

Schools have significantly different needs and ideas regarding on-line safety, much of it dependent upon their experience and comfort on the spectrum of users of digital media to promote student success. It is necessary for schools and communities to work together to demystify the potential uses and abuses of digital media within and outside the school setting. Understanding the potential for cyberbullying, sexting, or other inappropriate consumption and planning for responsible reactions to such is a priority for the community that wishes to harness the potential of the tools while also keeping children safe.

This is so important Alison - thank you for sharing. I have also been reading up about TPACK (Koehler and Mishra, 2006) - the intersection of content knowledge, pedagogy and technology.