(Editor’s Note: Julie Lindsay, currently Head of Information Technology and E-Learning at Qatar Academy, Doha, is an enthusiastic, global-minded education leader and innovator. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, over the past few years she has been teaching and leading the use of technology in schools in Zambia, Kuwait, Bangladesh and Qatar. As co-founder of the Flat Classroom Project, Horizon Project and Digiteens, Julie is recognized worldwide for her innovative programs using a wide array of Web 2.0 tools to transform learning for the emerging digital, “world-is-flat” educational landscape. More information can be found on Julie’s digital portfolio, her blog, or on her Net Gen Ed page.

The Flat Classroom Project is currently working in partnership with Don Tapscott on the Net Gen Education Challenge, linking students, educators, parents and business leaders around the world. Check out the joint initiative at netgened.grownupdigital.com.)

This blog post is in response to an invitation from Jeff Plaman at International School Beijing’s 7 Steps Towards 21st Century Education Ning, to write about global collaboration in order to raise awareness of possibilities and to share my enthusiasm for making connections and working across boundaries and borders. I often write about connective living as an educator, eg A Day in the Life, and try to emphasise the need to develop a personal learning network in order to make these connections happen. It is through connections and communications using Web 2.0 and other tools that collaboration opportunities can emerge.

I am often asked how I got started in global collaborative projects, and I am then asked how others can come on board as well. My history in classroom Internet-based, global goes back about 12 years with Global SchoolNet and Cyberfair, iEARN, and now more recently co-developing Flat Classroom Projects. However let’s not drag up the past, let’s focus on NOW and how the reader of this blog (You!) can get involved by joining and/or creating a 21st century global project, and all that entails! Continue…