AISHnet Survey - Academy for International School Heads

wonderful resource. There are many telecollaborative project sites (see box) that
teachers can review or join.
Nurturing the 21st Century Student
As educators, we often reflect on whether we are choosing the instructional approaches
that best serve our 21st century students. Are Internet-based learning projects the
answer to providing our students with opportunities to construct and apply knowledge?
Are they worth it?
Real-life experiences provide the best answers to these questions. In our most recent
North American-wide project, called Museum Connections
(http://projects.cbe.ab.ca/ict/2learn/mmspeight/museumconnections), children in my
class had the opportunity to connect with students in Chicago, Ill. At one point in the
project, the students swapped digital snapshots of one another. Daniel, the only African
American student in our school, broke into tears when he received his photographs. "Miss
Speight, they have dark skin like me!" he exclaimed. "They have dark skin like me!"
It's moments like these that underscore the importance of giving our students
opportunities to meaningfully construct knowledge through global collaborative projects.
In these moments, it becomes clear that such projects are, indeed, worth it.