EduCon 2.9

Teaching in the Connected Learning Classroom, a new ebook published by the MacArthur Foundation, is edited by a group of National Writing Project (NWP) educators and takes examples of practice that teachers have shared online at the NWP Digital Is website and curates them into a larger collection looking at the principles of Connected Learning woven throughout classroom work and practices. Unique in its focus of in-school examples of connected learning, this ebook does not focus on the idea of “best practices” but instead acknowledges the emerging nature of this work and invites inquiry and exploration into the ways that teachers are working and why. Connected Learning itself — a set of design and teaching principles that have emerged by watching how youth learn in digitally rich and networked environments where they are supported in pursuing their passions and interests — arguably also provides a pathway for increased teacher-as-learner agency in teaching. In this conversation then, five urban educators whose work is highlighted in this collection (including three from Philadelphia!), invite you into a conversation about Connected Learning through the lens of our own passions and practices and consider the possibilities and potentials of this work and framework.