VSR08: Flat Classrooms

In this episode we talk with Janet Barnstable from Oak Park, Illinois and Sharon Peters from Montreal, Quebec. Both Janet and Sharon are leading proponents of collaborative online learning projects.



Flat Classrooms are about removing the boundaries of geography and time, and enabling students to work with other students wherever they might be in the world. Both Janet and Sharon are leading proponents of collaborative online learning projects, getting their students to work on projects with kids in other countries by leveraging the power of the Internet. The term Flat Classrooms derives from Thomas Friedman’s book “The World is Flat”.

Some links relevant to this episode…

• Percy Julian Middle School
• Lower Canada College
• Sharon’s Blog
• Thomas Friedman - The World is Flat
• Thomas Friedman talking at MIT (Video)
• Time Magazine - How to Bring our Schools out of the 20th Century
• Global Virtual Classroom
• Thinkquest
• Global Dreamers
• Cyberteen E-zine
• Cyber Dictionary Project
• CUSeeMe Video Conferencing
• Skype IP Telephony
• Oz Teachers Travel Buddy Project

As always, your feedback is more than welcome! If you have any tips or additional links that might be useful for collaborative projects please share them by dropping a link in the comments below.