Flat Classroom Project Expands Its Reach

Vicki Davis came to national attention in 2005 when New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman included details about her online wiki teaching program in his bestselling book about technology and globalization, The World is Flat.

Such widespread attention for a young teacher just four years into her career could have beckoned complacency, but Davis has continued to try to find new ways to expand the reach of her "Flat Classroom," in Camilla, Georgia.

"I've slowly added one to two major components a year to my courses so that everything could be done well," says Davis. "It was my personal commitment to explore new tools three times a week for 15 minutes at a time that was the true transformational practice for me."

This school year Davis will take eight students to the Flat Classroom Conference in Mumbai. There, the students will use Skype to connect the students in India with those back in her United States classrooms. Davis and Julie Lindsay, co-planner of the Flat Classroom Project, are also merging their ninth grade classrooms for the entire year on an Edublog, and Davis' junior and senior students will connect with graduate students at the University of Michigan for an Arab-Israeli Conflict/ Middle East simulation project.

"My ultimate goal is that every class will be "˜flattened' this year and will link up and interact in meaningful ways with a variety of audiences from a variety of locations," says Davis.

The important thing to remember about using technology in the classroom, cautions Davis, is that the lesson isn't about the technology, but what that technology lets you do.

"¨"It always starts with the curriculum and what you're trying to accomplish. Then you add in the interests of your class and their learning styles," Davis said. "Effective teachers should have a bit of "˜teacherpreneurship' in them so that they can select the appropriate tools for the curriculum and the unique students that they teach."

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