Global project design
Designing curriculum to collaborate
Designing a global collaborative experience involves transcending the obvious real time linkup, fostering higher order thinking and providing opportunities for cultural understanding while usually making a product that impacts others in a positive way.
(Lindsay, 2014, June 16)
Project design relationships
- Start with the project idea – curriculum-based or co-curricular
- Use a foundation of design essentials e.g., Project name, outcomes, timeline, tools, alignment with standards, website, Twitter hashtag, team expectations and so on. These are typical requirements for curriculum development anyway.
- Scaffold with the 'seven steps' design principles – these ‘super-charge’ the collaboration.
Seven steps to flatten the classroom – super-charging global collaboration
(Lindsay & Davis, 2012)
Step 1: Connect
- How will you connect with partners and sustain these connections?
- What is the 'handshake' activity for introductions?
- Are all tools accessible to all partners?
Step 2: Communicate
- What are the communication conduits for teachers and for students?
- Will students be free/encouraged to connect personally as well as through class portals?
- How will students be put into workable teams for future collaboration?
Step 3: Citizenship
- What is your agreement on digital citizenship approaches?
- Who can view student work? Are students aware of this? What are the agreements about using full names online?
- What Creative Commons preparation has been done?
Step 4: Contribute and collaborate
- How will student (and teacher) contribution be encouraged and measured?
- What are expectations for students to continue work outside of the actual class?
- Who else will be part of the collaboration – advisers? judges?
Step 5: Choice
- What choices will be given to students to allow them to bring their interests into the collaboration?
- Are there different leadership options for students?
Step 6: Create
- What is the final product(s)? Does everyone understand this?
- How will higher order thinking be supported with this collaboration?
Step 7: Celebrate
- How will students and teachers reflect and share their learning?
- What will be the culminating celebration?
- How will you share the best-practice and results of the collaboration