OpenCms - Interconnect communities of learners

Interconnect communities of learners: what it may look like in the classroom

Students go to an "Ask and expert" site to get information from an expert in a particular field. (Eg.: CIESE Ask an expert page ) or find a volunteer with whom students can communicate at different stages of their project. (eg.: Québec Roots, The Future Wave of Volunteerism)
They exchange data with other classes studying the same problem or issue. (Eg.: Spring Acid Rain Watch, The Flat Classroom Project)
They work collaboratively with groups in other classes to develop solutions to one or more problems. (Eg.: Canadian National Marsville)
You can give a voice to your students, share productions, give feedback to classmates through the classroom multi-user BLOG (Weblog, Blogs).

Communication and 21st centry skills
People are, of course, a valuable source of information. So they c/should also be factored into a project. They can be valuable at the exploration stage, or later, when gathering data, or discussing ideas. Besides gaining access to otherwise unpublished information, students can become part of a learning community by using communication/collaboration tools.

Locating partners and projects with the Connected Classroom
21st Century Learning: Meeting the challenge of developing 21st century literacies in class
Resources used to support the session given at the IDC conference in Laval, Québec on February 13, 2007.