Flat Classroom in conjunction with Taking IT Global scheduled sessions for Connected Educator Month, August-September 2012. Highlight: Flat Classroom Book Club with TIGED - starts Wednesday August 22, 5pm EST

Tom Whitby writes a provocative blog post about Connected Educator Month, August 2012. He states: "No, to be a good teacher, one does not need to be connected. However, the question is if you are a good teacher and unconnected, could you be a better teacher if you were connected? Shouldn't we strive to be the best that we can be? It's not only an Army thing. Being connected offers not only exposure to content and ideas but also the ability to create and collaborate on ideas. Being connected fosters transparency and debunks myths of education that have been harbored in the previous isolation of the education profession. This is the stuff of a true learner's dreams, and, as educators, are we not all learners?"

Article by Andrew Churches, http://edorigami.edublogs.org/, talking about the benefits of global learning, and gives a great wrap for Flat Classroom. "Our classrooms are not limited to the four walls of the physical building we teach in but can encompass the entirety of the planet. Technology-much of which is free-has enabled us to push back the classroom walls and stretch our virtual arms across the globe to shake hands with classrooms and students almost anywhere."

Some excellent tips from Jennifer Carey. I know classrooms CAN move beyond the central control of a school imposed LMS - the students are ready, let's get the teachers ready!

Published by Action Stations authored by Anne Mirtschin, my Australian friend and colleague and Flat Classroom enthusiast. Congratulations on your excellent book!

Slideshow by Silvia Tolisano @langwitches. Excellent!

I agree with some of these reasons - there are two mains issues - 1) lack of good quality e-books (in other words 'e-books' that are really PDF format with limited hyperlinking, interaction and social media 2) a lack of vision amongst teachers to encourage students to write their OWN text books.

Add your name to this Twitter list, and find other educators to follow.

Thanks to CEM organisers for setting up our Flat Classrooms Global Network on the Connected Educator Month website. We invite educators globally to come and join our network NOW and tell us, via this website form, what you like about this connected community.

Join Flat Classroom and TigEd at 8pm EDT August 1 for a Mega Meet and Greet - share ways to make global connections and find partners for sustained projects!

Produced by Violet Lindsay from media taken at the Flat Classroom Workshop @ASB Unplugged 2012. The next Flat Classroom Conference will be in Germany, December 6-8 2012. http://flatclassroomconference.com

Interesting comparison between ISTE NETS and IB Learner Profile by @seantm

It is all very well to provide resources to learn about digital citizenship, but the BEST way for students to learn is to actually be online connecting and collaborating with others globally. This is where the Digiteen Project is SO powerful. It not only uses resources such as this one, but gets students putting expectations into practice. http://digiteen.org

"ISTE is proud to introduce the white paper, Technology, Coaching, and Community: Power Partners for Improved Professional Development in Primary and Secondary Education."

Interesting artclce supporting the use of wikis for higher order thinking in education.