What is this FCGP?

Project Overview

The Flat Connections Global Project is a global collaborative project that joins together middle and high school students (typically grade/year 9-12, 14-18 years old).

The FCGP is about ‘flattening’ or lowering the classroom walls to encourage students and teachers to learn how to work collectively and collaboratively virtually. The aim is for all participants to not work in isolation but to be connected throughout the journey of the project. Connections and collaborations will take place using Web 2.0 tools.

The project is designed to develop global competence, cultural understanding, skills with Web 2.0 tools for building networked learning communities and global collaboration and online learning. Intended outcomes include amplified awareness of what it means to live and work in a flat world through researching and discussing new ideas and actions for future learning.

Students have the chance to take on leadership roles, and begin to understand what it takes to build and contribute to an online learning community. They also interact with expert advisers and other classroom teachers in a true flattened learning mode.

Teachers will meet via synchronously a virtual room most weeks to discuss project goals, aims and progress. They will monitor not only their students in the project, but be part of the larger whole and be active across the entire community.

Enduring Understandings

As a result of this global project participants will:

• Understand how to learn in an open community virtually
• Appreciate the potential of connecting and collaborating globally
• Build and interact with a network of learners
• Experience collaborative design and co-creation using Web 2.0 tools
• Gain cultural understanding through connecting with a diverse community

Essential Questions

• What should learning look like in a ‘flat and connected’ world?
• What is the future of emerging technologies and how do they support new approaches to learning?
• How can global collaboration bring the world into our classrooms?
• What products can we make together at a distance?
• What will be the impact of our collaborations on the world?

Project Outcomes

It is expected that each student in the project will be part of the larger online learning community, as well as focus particularly on their teamwork while completing these artifacts:

• Online community contributions:
• An introductory blog post  including an audio or video introduction (if possible), and posted on the project’s educational network (Ning). (This is the ‘handshake’ greeting).
• Forum discussions and ongoing blog posts as required
• Responses to the project keynote
• A post project reflection.
• Social bookmarking and research using Diigo: https://groups.diigo.com/group/fcglobalproject
• Major outcome Part 1: Collaborative Research - Students will use a wiki and Google docs for initial planning and collaborative work.
• Major outcome Part 2: A personal multimedia response (digital story/video) with collaborative content, based on the selected topic and theme.

Student Summit global presentations hosted in a virtual classroom (such as Blackboard Collaborate or Fuze).