What Is School? : Whatisschool September 25, 2014

Bring the Great Story World Mix-Up to your classroom and discover the magic, and science of a helping the world

Today #whatisschool honed into discussing one of the biggest issues on all educators minds. Digital Citizenship and Cybersafety! As usual, the #whatisschool PLN didn’t disappoint with a trend setting display of inspirational tweets and discussion threads based around the 6 weekly questions.

For those of you who are new to Twitter Chats or #whatisschool, we meet every Thursday 7pm EDT to discuss the important issues in Education and this discussion forms an impressive archive of learning for everyone involved. All you have to do is jump on twitter at this time every week and use the hashtag #whatisschool and contribute (or just lurk).

#whatisschool continues to grow and it is an absolute honour to have created this space and to see the development within it. Thank you for being a part of it and please continue to share and engage your PLN as well. It is great to see new people coming along every week and actively participating in what is quickly becoming one of the most engaging chats on the twitter calendar.

As #whatisschool grows, so does our ability to connect, collaborate and network – keep inviting your PLN - It is always a pleasure to have you here! We have done our best to create an edchat space where people can express an unbiased response to questions about schooling, where educators have a voice in shaping the future through their experience, recommendations and interests.

Here is the archive of our chat. Please share and make sure you join the conversation next week. Every Monday we will also share the questions for the upcoming session via twitter and our blogs.

#Whatisschool Thursday, September 25, 2014 7PM

What does it take to be a great leader, thinker and creator in a digital world? Join #whatisschool Thursday 9/25 7PM EST as we tackle the possibilities and pitfalls of opening the classroom to digital global technology.

What images do the words global student bring to mind, how about digital citizen? Do you see a classroom full of students working on PEDs? Or a twitter style PLN where learning continues 24/7? Maybe a glimpse at students on the other side of the world sharing stories about their classroom and what's in their lunchbox; or maybe you see something much more sinister even dangerous? In a world where technology transfers information faster than we can consume it we have realized learning opportunities that amaze and excite both student and teacher in their richness and complexity. We have also seen poor judgement and grievous interaction that has lead to injury, even death. So how can we encourage students to become masters of technology while teaching them to safely share in arenas where information they post lives on forever?

This week #whatisschool tackles the opportunities and problems of opening the classroom to digital media as we explore how to help students become leaders, thinkers, creators and digital citizens in a global arena.

Questions for #whatisschool Thursday, September 25

Q1) What is digital citizenship and how can it encourage students to be great leaders, thinkers and creators?

Q2) How would you set up your class to create ongoing even self-directed opportunities for students to interact with others in their global community?

Q3) What safeguards need to be instilled in the classroom and technology setting to ensure good digital citizenship?

Q4) How could you grow a student driven, twitter style PLN that would be a safe place to learn 24/7?

Q5) How could you teach students to use open (global) or closed (district defined) social media to solve big problems working together?

Q6) What values need to be instilled to eradicate cyberbullying and the attitude that anonymity brings acceptance to damaging, even deadly behavior?

Co-moderated by children's book author and education thought leader Laura Hill @candylandcaper and international educator Craig Kemp @Mrkempnz Please contact either of us with your questions and ideas, we'd love to hear from you!