Building a community of collaboration

During my recent Google Teacher Academy in Chicago, I was reintroduced to the idea of networking and collaborating and came to the realization that it's not about how much I know or trying to know everything, but connecting yourself with those who do. Essentially, it's about building a community of learners and specialists who you can reach instantaneously. For instance, if I don't know the Pythagorean Theory, that is not as important as knowing how to get in touch with a person or information who does quickly. This builds upon my belief in information fluency and digital literacy. We need to build a community of learners and build a foundation of strong information and digital literacy.

With that goal in mind, I have co-founded the Austin chapter of EdTech Women set to launch of September 26 at GirlStart. EdTech Women is founded on the belief that we build a network of women educators and technologists to "accelerate the impact of technology in education in learners everywhere." Hence, it is about networking and connecting learners.

Likewise, as part of my Google Teacher Academy action plan, I am developing a site/oasis to help educators connect and to build a community of innovation rather than pockets of innovation. Rather than being isolated districts competing to out match the next, we can build upon each others' strengths to create a globe of innovation. Though this article is over a year old, it still hits on some great themes in educational policy.