Reflections on an innovative, pioneering conference -  the Flat Classroom Conference 2013 at Yokohama International School, Japan.

The goal: To provide ‘flatclassroom’ experiences for both physical and virtual conference attendees  across the globe with the innovative use of cutting edge technology.  To truly flatten walls across oceans, hemispheres, time zones etc is largely unchartered territory.…

(See the youtube video created by Violet Lindsay after a collaborative effort of sharing images, feelings, a google hangout etc by some of the virtual participants.)

The final day saw a later start and altered timetable for the Flat Classroom Conference 2013 in Yokohama, Japan. Our most active virtual participants gathered in the backchannel chat and shared conversations. Live…

I think this concept of virtual communities is so interesting and potentially very powerful- I came across a google hangout that happened last night with a group of students who call themselves the "Fellowship of the Ning" - if you haven't heard of how they came together and their process of collaborating it is interesting to watch:

This morning at the flatclassroom…

After two days of amazing collaborative work and enthusiastic web development, Team Yellow (1) (yeah, not a very creative name, let's call us Brendan, Sam, Alex and Christina) presented

CONTACT FOR AID…

I remember seeing a tweet from Julie Lindsay about joining the Flatclassroom Conference virtually.  How cool I thought - plus it gave SUNY credit and seemed to be a great connection with my COETAIL course.  I set everything up, got familiar with the tools, invited a friend to join in beijing and waited in anticipation for it to begin.

My expectations were high and I was super pumped to make it work. It didn't go as I…

As the state that I live in enjoys its hottest March on record, I worked as quickly as possible to  water some of my garden before the conference started.  In a split second of anxiety, I thought I would miss it altogether as I was about to step on a snake! Luckily it was not a snake but a blue tongue lizard.…

Even though things did not go as planned I feel  that I still got a lot out of my experience and attendance as virtual participant. Often we have ideas and visions of things and experiences that will come to us, however when these initial ideas change into something different we end up disappointed and discouraged. I would like to say that staying positive and looking into what was actually accomplished rather than not accomplished is the key to success in situations like that. We need to…

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Taken by Alan Levine - It's meant to be me welcoming everyone to the conference

Welcome everyone! A special welcome also to our virtual participants at the…

I've been trying to check in from my classroom, including describing the conference to my grade 4 class and watching some of the live video together.

You can add my experience to the list of people experiencing tech problems, however I haven't found it to be frustrating since I'm not trying to participate actively.

However, it appears that the technical problems are almost all related to the 'live' elements of the collaboration, ustream & backchannel in my case. When I have…

Our fond love for Julie and your work with the Flat Classroom Project conference.

I developed an educational digital storytelling Ning platform for UNESCO Power of Peace Network for African youth called "I am African This is my story...". This is now an international platform. Feel free to leverage this platform for setting up class groups, personal pages and downloading curriculum on digital storytelling. There is also a…

Flattening My World in Yokohama, Japan

My name is Alicia and I'm from the American School in Japan. I am attending the Flat Classroom Conference to broaden my views on different topics regarding our planet, in order to achieve a wider perspective. Based on what I have seen from the Ning, I suspect that many students will approach the question "how do we help each other out?" with technology. Technology is a vital tool to use for communicating in this age. Although, I believe that helping the people in Tohoku is a wonderful…

Hi! Jim from ASIJ here! I look forward to meeting all of you tomorrow! We have a series of events dedicated to the earthquake & tsunami happening from now through March 14th called 3.11 - In Focus. Here is a link that you will really enjoy - very powerful!! Voices from Japan

Hello, my name is Eojin Lee, and I am a student at Tokyo International School. I am attending this event because I want to develop my skills of thinking and collaborating. I would like to accept this as a great learning opportunity of…

Hi!, My name is John Christian B. Tinio. Just call me JC. I am 13 years old and I am going to be grade 8 in the next school year. This Flat Classroom Conference is a great opportunity for me. I can meet many people, make them my friends and I can learn a lot of things. I am so glad I will be joining this fantastic conference.



The topic for the conference is "How do we help each other". For me this topic is like "Collaboration with Communication Technologies". It doesn't mean that…

Hello, my name is Sheenin Bey, and I am a grade 7 student in Tokyo International School, Japan. I am attending the summit because I want to learn how to collaborate with other people in different places. I want to be able to take advantage of the new technologies available, and use it to enhance my learning experiences.

In FCC 2013, I think that we will be discussing about the issues around the world, and what we could do to help those who are suffering. It may…

Hey! My name Ahnaf Al Wahed, and I am a student from Tokyo International School. I live in Tokyo although I am from Bangladesh. I want to be a part of the FCC because I want develop my communication and collaboration skills, also I would…

I am delighted to be here at the Flat Conference Conference in Yokohama. Currently I am the HS tech coordinator at the American School of Bombay. Previously I was at the American School of Mozambique, but most of my teaching career has been in Montreal Canada. I have been facilitating global collaborative projects with my students for over ten years and it has been a very exciting facet to my teaching career. Looking forward to meeting you all!…