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"About Our Motivation: Challenges and opportunities, created by our global society, invite teachers, administrators, and students to rethink the way they teach, lead, and learn. The rise of social networking, the ease with which information is shared, and the growth of our global economy are just a few factors that have made it obvious that the 21st century is a much different world than the 20th century. And yet, when we take a good, hard look at the culture within our schools, do we see that much has changed from yesterday to today? We may see more technology used in the classroom and maybe more discussions on the "content vs. skills" debate in the faculty rooms. But underneath it all, have things really changed? Have we successfully forged a culture where life-long learning, personal growth, and collaboration are valued and practiced among all members of the school community? In Richard DuFour's article "Why Look Elsewhere?: Improving Schools from Within," he states that "it is context-the beliefs, expectations, behaviors and norms that constitute the culture of a given school-that plays the largest role in deciding whether a professional development program will make a difference in that school." If a school's goal is to improve student achievement, and a school considers learning to be the crux of its community, then effective professional development-where teachers and administrators themselves become learners-is the bridge to achieving that goal."

Colllabo is a sharing and collaboration community for educators. As technology improves, access to quality resources and information does not need to be limited to inside your school. Educators around the globe are doing amazing work with students every day, and we need a place for this work to be shared, discussed, and developed.

Student talks about the value of having a laptop and its use throughout her high school years. She mentions blogs, Ning, and online discussion and collaboration.

Sammy Garey, a recent graduate of Burlingame High School in Burlingame, Calif., is a devoted user of Twitter. She's used the website with her classmates for online book discussions for her AP English class, in which they post and share feedback, analysis, and questions about novels such as Crime and Punishment. Garey also turns to the website to check breaking news and feed her interest in science by following the tweets of specialized Twitter accounts such as MedUpdates and DrugInfo.

Once considered just a portable music player, the iPod now is making a splash in many K-12 and college classrooms. Discover how this popular new technology is being used for teaching and learning. Included: Case studies, information on podcasting, lesson plan ideas, and discussion groups.

Gnooks is a self-adapting community system based on the gnod engine. Discover new writers you will like, travel the map. of literature and discuss your favorite books and authors.

Interactivate is a set of free, online courseware for exploration in science and mathematics. It is comprised of activities, lessons, and discussions.

The mandate of Edge Foundation is to promote inquiry into and discussion of intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and literary issues, as well as to work for the intellectual and social achievement of society. Edge Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit private operating foundation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

In Babelyou you can find new friends, learn languages together and keep the contact with them. Show your photos and videos to others, practice languages with a language buddy, and discover the culture of the countries you are looking forward to visit. Connect yourself with the whole world and create interesting groups of discussion. Ads and events will help you to find a job abroad as well as to be informed about activities worldwide. Students will be able to know everything about their universities before they start a degree abroad. Babelyou is already available in 75 countries and 45 languages.

The Partnership created a Mile Guide Online Assessment to help educators and administrators gauge their school's effectiveness in integrating 21st century skills into the learning process. The 23 question assessment will help you measure the progress of your school or district in defining, teaching and assessing 21st century skills. As a result of the Online Assessment, you can initiate discussions with staff, administrators, technology directors, school board members and community leaders about improving your school's plans for 21st century skills.

In a learning community, ice breaker activities loosens the group dynamic with an engaging activity that pertains to the topic being studied or a topic that is completely irrelevant to the learning material. It causes people's shoulders to relax, mouths to grin, and warms up the room and provides a segue to the task or topic for discussion. Whether you are in a traditional classroom setting, or an online learning community, ice-breakers play a vital role in developing a sense of community in a learning environment

Art-Bab-ble [ahrt-bab-uhl] noun; verb (used without object) -bled, -bling 1. free flowing conversation, about art, for anyone. 2. a place where everyone is invited to join an open, ongoing discussion - no art degree required.

"In collaboration with my colleague Mike Hutchinson, I have begun to introduce the tools of the Read/Write web to my students. Specifically, my class is now blogging and podcasting. Blogging and podcasting has allowed me to create a forum where my students discuss current events connected to our social studies curriculum while developing language arts skills like critical thinking and persuasive dialogue. It has also given my students the opportunity to be creators-rather than simply consumers-of online content. Finally, blogging and podcasting have given my students an audience for their ideas, which has increased levels of interest and motivation."

"People to People International's School and Classroom Program is a free service that connects teachers and their students with classes in other countries for pen pal exchanges and projects that improve cultural understanding and encourage friendship. Classes are matched according to similar age and number of pupils to form partnerships. Students interact by exchanging traditional paper letters or email messages supervised by their teacher, who receives a program manual for guidance. Teachers may form partnerships with classes in multiple countries and work together for one or more school years. Primary, middle and secondary-school classes and youth groups (grades kindergarten-12) from all countries are welcome. To join, we ask teachers or adults, who supervise students, to register. Registration is open during July - October. Registrations submitted before or after this time will be held for the following semester or school year. We will contact you to discuss options."

Collaborize Classroom™ allows teachers to extend their classroom discussions to a structured and private online community.

The International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education (IJMCE) publishes cutting edge research and substantial in-process reports and theoretical accounts of mentoring and coaching in educational contexts, including schools, colleges and universities. IJMCE provides overviews of how mentoring and coaching are evolving as well as circulating critical engagement with theoretical and practical issues. It enables insights into variations in mentoring and coaching on a global platform, evidencing their situated nature and generic characteristics as well as reporting on emerging issues in mentoring and coaching theory and practice. This unique journal highlights what is recognised as effective practice in specific contexts, as well as evidencing why this is so and discussing possible transferability to other contexts.  IJMCE regularly features informed reviews of mentoring and coaching publications and provides conference reports from events that have global significance.

The Teachers Engage section is the main hub for the community and where you will find general discussions and resources focusing on effective uses of technology in the K-12 classroom.

A discussion of the rapidly changing world of technology and the great potential it has to transform how teachers teach and students learn.

"On October 29, 2014 the Alliance for Excellent Education hosted a webinar in its Project 24 leadership series. Project 24 is a systemic planning framework around the effective use of technology and digital learning to achieve the goal of college and career readiness for all students. This webinar focused on the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which was passed by the U.S. Congress in 1998 to protect the online privacy of children. More than fifteen years later, as digital learning constitutes a critical component of education both in and out of school, COPPA has become yet another hurdle between teachers and connecting students to digital learning opportunities. The webinar explored what educators need to know about this law, and how they and school administrators can successfully navigate COPPA to ensure that students are afforded the full benefits of online and blended learning opportunities.  It showed how teachers can provide consent for students to register for online websites.  It explored whether or not students who are under thirteen years old can even use Web 2.0 resources without running afoul of the law.  And it dealt with how school districts assume the duty of COPPA compliance. During the webinar, Mark Cheramie Walz gave educators straight-forward answers on how to comply with COPPA without sacrificing the potential that digital learning and online resources afford. Tom Murray from the Alliance moderated the discussion. Mr. Cheramie Walz and Mr. Murray also addressed questions submitted by webinar viewers from across the country."

Question stems can be a powerful part of that process no matter where the learner is. Assessment (pre-assessment, self-assessment, formative and summative assessment), prompting and cueing during discussion, etc. In that light, the following 25+ question stems framed around the early, non-revised Bloom's Taxonomy are worth a gander.