This week I have been spending time with teachers discussing the use of Twitter for professional learning and as a teaching and learning tool.  We have been discussing ways to be connected learners, educators and classrooms.

A connected classroom is a learning environment that is open to the outside world. In such a classroom, students are engaged in real life authentic learning that opens the walls of the classroom and extends to reach globally, to other learners, classrooms, experts, professionals, organizations, and parents. Connectivity allows for a window into a living classroom, one which allows stakeholders and other global learners a view of learning in progress.

Twitter is one tool you can use to build a connected classroom. Before we delve into the web tools to use to open windows to your classroom for a global audience, let me first share with you some of the academic pluses of using a connected classroom approach.

A connected classroom can help students:

• Connect with experts in the field and let students question and learn from them
• Students get to be exposed to other cultures and develop a sense of global awareness
• Take virtual field trips
• Share to an authentic audience
• Collaborate with each other in the classroom
• Improve communication skills
• Creates partners for future projects
• Teaches to collaborate globally
• Create a global community of learners
• Develop Critical Thinking skills
• Improve Listening, Writing, and Speaking skills
• Improve their leadership skills

Three ways to be a Connected Educator and Classroom:

1. Twitter:  Has huge potential for your students and for you as an educator.  Twitter helps us create PLNs (Professional Learning Networks), connect with other educators, classrooms, and experts.  By learning to effectively use hashtags you can create and follow topics, book studies, and discussion that will support student learning and help others find your classroom.

2. Mystery Skype: Mystery Skype is an educational game in which students from different classes get to meet on Skype and exchange questions about each other's locations. The purpose of the game is to help students guess the location of the other class and in so doing students get to practice a variety of academic skills including speaking, web searching, writing, note taking, map reading, geography and many more. You can use the Twitter hashtag #mysteryskype and Tweet for a connection, or check out Skype in the Classroom to make connections.

3. Blogging: Blog is short for web log. Blogs are a bit like an online diary or journal, except blogs are created for an audience. Blogs are written on all kinds of topics and readers can usually leave comments, which lead to discussions about the blog’s content. Blogs can be used to publish assignments, resources, to help students’ master content and improve their writing skills.

All these methods are great ways to build a connected classroom and to become a connected educator. Consider using all three in your classroom! Together, the possibilities are limitless and Connected Classroom learning can become an extremely rich and rewarding experience for you and your students.