Global Projects

Become empowered and plan to build bridges between global learners today!

Flat Connections provides managed global collaborative projects for students in K-12 across the world.

Project features:

Core content objectives united between classrooms,
Unique, individual, personalized learning experiences for each student,
The ‘merging’ and ‘flattening’ of classrooms for learners to get to know each other and work together,
Innovative implementation of modern learning skills supported by Web 2.0 tools,
Customizable components based upon the unique situation of each classroom’s curricular objectives,
Supportive Project Managers and lead teachers.

Please contact Julie to discuss our current global projects opportunities and the options for your school or organsation!

Image: Students with their teacher. Title: Global Projects

Explore our Portfolio of Global Projects below:

Windows to the World

The Windows to the World global project is an intercultural ‘penpals’ experience where students in Grade/Year 3-6 (8-12 year old) write, respond, and communicate with peers, and develop online learning and digital citizenship skills. Tools like FlipGrid and Padlet are used for communication and interaction between students leading to collaborative outcomes.

The Windows to the World project focuses on developing literacy and online communication skills while connected beyond the immediate classroom. The topics shared and discussed are real-world scenarios that aim to pique interest among students as to similarities and differences between classes and cultures.

Friends for Sustainability

The Friends for Sustainability project is for students in Grade/Year 5-8, of approximate ages 10-14. Students connect, communicate, explore global topics and issues and share ideas and solutions through co-created digital artifacts.

The Friends for Sustainability Project curriculum focus is Interdisciplinary, including concepts for how we live, how we communicate, cultural understanding and global awareness and uses the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a focus for global issues. The project also uses Design Thinking as a model to foster better understanding of the process of collaboration.

Global Youth Debates

Global Youth Debates is a global collaborative project created around research and formal debating. It uses Web 2.0 tools to join students from diverse cultures for authentic debate. It fosters global competence and international mindedness and online communication skills.

Global Youth Debates joins school debate teams in a community of learners around a theme and debate topic. Asynchronous formal debating supports communication of local and global situations and priorities.

Global Youth Debates is adaptable for all learning environments and is designed for students of age 10-18. It opens eyes and hearts as students debate on an issue that will bring together diverse ideas, develop transferable skills and create lasting friendships.

Endangered Animals

The Endangered Animals project is for Grade/Year 3-6 (approximate age 8-12). It is an exciting, challenging and unique experience that allows young people (and their teachers) to work with other schools and explore the global issue of endangered animals and create digital artifacts together that share outcomes of the collaboration.

The Endangered Animals project has a focus on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals with special reference to SDGs 13, 14 & 15.

The global collaboration will explore and share understandings and research around the following:

Interdependence of living creatures
Sustainability of animal environments
Evaluation of past and current practices on animal survival
Design of possible solutions for future action

Building Bridges to Tomorrow

The Building Bridges to Tomorrow project is a global collaborative project that joins together students at the lower elementary level (typically grades K-2, 4-7 years old). It is an exciting, challenging and unique experience that allows very young people (and their teachers) to connect and collaborate.

The Building Bridges to Tomorrow Project uses Web 2.0 tools to support communication and interaction as well as collaboration and creation between students and teachers from classrooms around the world. The topics shared and discussed are real-world scenarios that aim to pique interest amongst students as to similarities and differences between classes and cultures.

Poetry with Passion and Performance

Turn all your students into successful poets!

The Poetry with Passion and Performance project is for Grade/Year 3-6 (approximate age 8-12). It has been created by the award winning Australian educator Chris Trimnell, a Flat Connections Global Educator and Project Manager.

Poetry with Passion and Performance is designed to ensure student success by using carefully scaffolded poetry examples. Students will enjoy having a genuine audience as they are allocated to teams representing students beyond their own classroom walls. The final challenge will be to use any multimedia of their choice to co-create new versions of the poems with fellow team members.

Digiteen Project

The Digiteen Project is an exciting, challenging and unique experience that allows young people (and their teachers) to study and explore global digital citizenship and how to be a responsible and reliable online learner, collaborator and co-creator. This collaborative hands-on project is for students in Grade/Year 5-8, (approximate age 10-14).

Students in the Digiteen Project research current topics to do with digital citizenship, co-write a collaborative report and co-create an accompanying artifact. They also perform and document offline action in the form of educational projects to promote effective digital citizenship at their local schools and in their communities.

Flat Connections Global Project

The Flat Connections Global Project is a fully supported and managed global collaborative experience for you and your students and is the ultimate online experience for middle and high school students (typically Grade/Year 9-12, 14-18 years old). It challenges all learners to connect and communicate beyond their immediate classroom and school. It also encourages collaboration and co-creation of final artifacts as well as student leadership, while exploring emerging technologies and envisioning the future of learning.

Students in the Flat Connections Global Project will work in cross-school teams to research and discuss new ideas and actions for future learning through the use of technology. The topics studied and discussed are real-world scenarios based on the current Horizon Report K-12 2017 on emerging technologies in education (for the 2018-1 project) as well as a variety of influential thought leaders and authors including Yong Zhao, ‘World Class Learners’; David Price OBE, ‘Open’; and Thomas Friedman, ‘The World is Flat’.

Connect with China

The Connect with China Collaborative Project brings together educators, students and community groups with the purpose of making positive change possible in the world through global collaboration and action. Through the use of online technologies the impossible becomes possible, intercultural awareness is developed and learning legacies created.

Connect with China Collaborative is interdisciplinary and cross-curricular learning. It builds bridges between diverse participants and engages the world in authentic and effective 21st century learning. The aim is to connect learners and community groups from within China to those outside of China. Each collaborative has a thematic approach and is digitally infused so that connections and collaborations are made virtually in both synchronous and asynchronous modes.

Participants connect for global discussions and team problem solving.

The Connect with China Collaborative is a partnership between Mandarin Pathways and Flat Connections

What People Say …

It is a tremendous gift to students to help them learn outside the walls of their classroom. This is an authentic learning experience they will never forget.

Jane Boarman, Shorecrest Preparatory School, USA

I was really impressed with the organization. I think we as a group were surprised by how time-consuming it was but the outcome was definitely worth it. Creating the website was definitely very exciting.

Helle Kirstein, British International School, Phuket, Thailand

Students were exposed to a variety of tech tools that may have been new to them. They liked feeling like they were a part of something larger with others from all over. This project also helped some of the teachers from our school learn about collaboration and learn some new tools.

Bonnie Birdsall

Regardless of where we live and how different our environments are, there are many things we have in common

Elena Markowicz-Troy

The asynchronous debate was very exciting for my students – to know they were debating against real teams living somewhere else in the world was very powerful.

Singapore American School, Singapore

We loved hearing our opponents’ rebuttals to our arguments, also the judges’ feedback was very meaningful and helped us to grow.

The International School of the Sacred Heart, Tokyo.

An excellent opportunity to connect and have discourse across geographical distance. A wonderful exercise in critical thinking and cross-cultural dialogue.

MC2 Charter School, USA.

Start early, practice using the digital tools and just have a go! It was a great experience. Support was excellent. The kids loved it!

Michele Rutter, St Paul’s School

For me, it is working with a global team who have a common passion – to flatten our classrooms. Being able to collaborate together, support each other, share ideas, network further and learn how to use the latest in technology together. Viewing the video outcomes of students is also a great time.

Anne Mirtschin, Australia

This project has become an integral part of my courses. It is a great experience for me and the students.

Brian McLaughlin, USA

Best outcomes are self-direction, collaboration in support of tangible outcomes.

Bruce Forsyth, Canada

The handshake activity and becoming part of a team was very exciting for us. Because there are only 7 students in my class it was exciting to all of a sudden have a large class. The student leader meetings were a new and exciting experience.

Ann Rooney, Australia

Let’s work together .. Contact Julie!