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"I've heard about (and been lucky enough to have seen her present at Learning 2.0) the amazing work that Julie Lindsay does with Flat Classrooms and Flat Connections again and again. There's a good reason her name comes up: flat connections are actually choppy connections." Tricia Friedman shares her ideas about connected learning with reference to Julie Lindsay and Flat Connections.

'The Connected Classrooms Program is a NSW Government initiative to provide the department's staff and students with new opportunities to connect with each other across enhanced technology facilities for sharing resources and data collaboration.' TLs applying for jobs in NSW will need to know about this, and will be at an advantage if they have some experience with it, it seems.

"In a recent post I described how Social Media is About Nodes and Connections and explained "the importance [of] the network effect, with a growth in the number of nodes (the bloggers, the contributors, the Twitter users) leading to a growth in the number of connections (the posts, the comments, the tweets, the retweets) which help in the development of new insights and new ideas". But whilst many users of social media, including those working in higher education, are making use of such network effects to support their professional activities in legitimate and ethical ways others are seeking to exploit network effects in ways which may be considered unethical."

"Education 2.0: Social networking for your class. Diipo connects you the teacher with your students by making it easy to communicate with your class. Diipo also connects you with other educators and your class with other classes. Featuring an easy-to-use and familiar user-interface similar to Facebook and Twitter, Diipo helps students stay connected and engaged."

"From cyberbullying and photo sharing to digital footprints and online safety, the Connecting Families program helps parents and kids address important topics and have meaningful conversations about making great choices in their digital lives. This free, year long program includes everything parent facilitators need to encourage their schools and communities to use connected technologies in ways that are both fun and safe. Our resources include a step-by-step hosting guide, conversation topics, and printable resources to share -- all carefully researched and crafted by Common Sense educational technology experts. Get started with the Program Overview, and then follow the steps below."

Excellent slideshow by @langwitches sharing new curriculum objectives to support globally connected learning.

"Subscribers should be cautious about using free wireless hotspots. In particular, you should avoid sending sensitive or personal information over these untrusted networks. Free wi-fi hotspots can be found in coffee shops and public establishments, offering convenient internet access over a wireless connection. You can connect to these hotspots using devices such as mobile phones or laptops with wireless capabilities. However, it is important to be aware that most of these hotspots are unsecured, meaning that all the information you send across them is vulnerable."

School systems are still being far too reactive in their social media policies (some do not even have one). Outside of schools, students are 'on and connected' to virtual environments and social networks. Teachers must embrace these technologies inside and outside of the classroom to have a meaningful connection with their students and promote collaboration amongst students. Too many improprieties are occurring because the rules of collaboration are unclear and the power of online collaboration and communication goes untapped. Parents, teachers, and school leaders have a responsibility to guide students through understanding the characteristics of a global digital citizenship. "

"Connect.ed is an innovative, self-paced cybersafety education program offered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) as part of Cybersmart. Connect.ed provides teachers with the flexibility of a self paced environment to learn about current online behaviours of students, potential risks involved in these activities, a teacher's and school's duty of care and the appropriate tools, resources and strategies to help students to have safe and positive experiences online."

"Twitter, without a doubt, has become the social network for educators to take their professional development into their own hands. Twitter allows teachers to connect with other educators from around the world, join discussions related to their interests and have a steady stream of resources (to help them teach and learn) available to them whenever, whereever and however. Creating a network on Twitter has catapulted educators to be part of a connected world where learning happens anytime, help is only a tweet away, collaboration partners meet and communicate, conversations that directly or indirectly impact their physical lives take place 24/7. Twitter is helping educators gain many 21st century skills and literacies which could easily transfer to their classrooms."

"The online environment is an integral part of modern economic and social activities, and a vast resource of education, information, communication and entertainment. Further, the evolution of new technologies is diversifying the ways in which Australians connect with each other and the world. As part of the Government's comprehensive commitment to cyber-safety, the Australian Parliament established this Committee in March 2010. This report focuses on how young people can be empowered and connect to the Internet, and use new technologies with confidence, knowing that they can use them safely, ethically and with full awareness of risks and benefits. The facilitation of safer online environments requires government, industry and the broader community to work together to realise the benefits of the online environment while also protecting Australians from dangers and enabling them to use existing and emerging tools to mitigate risks.  

"Since the 1990's educators have leveraged the power of the Internet to forge online global collaborative learning. More recently global competency and intercultural understanding in conjunction with cross-border collaboration and digital fluency have emerged as 'future ready' key capabilities. However, learning environments struggle to embed authentic real world learning and build capacity for global connection and collaboration. Julie shares new perspectives on developing a Global Collaborator Mindset and implementing Online Global Collaborative Learning (OGCL) as a pedagogical approach. "

Hi All, A very generous and proactive educator Eleni Kyritsis has been a strong advocate for connecting students to outside experiences and learning. Eleni shares here in this blog post about different ways she has provided those opportunities for students. Worth a read https://elenikyritsis.com/connecting-classrooms/ Cheers Raff

As with all social media, Twitter has the potential to be useful and a distraction. This article from edutopia outlines the useful and also contains links to other resources that can be used even if, like me, you're not yet ready to take the plunge into Twitter.

Shares a set of principles around connected learning

Blog post on the ISTE Connects blog on communication between different cultures when collaborating globally

One of the DML Research Hib videos. Mimi Ito discusses the move to connected learning in the digital age. A must watch for ETL523 students.

This is a digital book published in February ,2104. It is about the connected classroom and how to use it to engage students both locally and globally.

Sesame Workshop and The Joan Ganz Cooney Center today released the report Always Connected which examines the media usage patterns of young children. Findings include: * Nearly 80 percent of young children (ages 0 to 5) use the internet at least once a week and just under half of all 6-year-olds play video games. * Almost nine out of ten children over age 5 are TV viewers -- at least three hours daily. * A gap remains in access to technologies, especially among low income and ethnic minority children and also notable differences in usage.