Nearly 200 Organizations Participating in Connected Educator Month

Washington, D.C. – October is Connected Educator Month, providing educators with opportunities to participate in online events and activities to enhance their skills and build personal learning networks. The American Institutes for Research (AIR), on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology, operates the Connected Educators project, which is coordinating the event.

Nearly 200 educational organizations are participating in the second annual Connected Educator Month. These organizations will provide a variety of interactive online professional learning opportunities, such as webinars, live chats, open houses, contests, projects, and digital badges for connected educators to earn.

“One of the most important things we can do to support teachers and students is to put modern tools in their hands, and give them access to the limitless knowledge and connections that the Internet makes possible,” said Education Secretary Arne Duncan in video remarks shown on the Connected Educators website. He invited “every educator across the country” to participate.

Last year, the event reached over 4 million people around the nation and the world. This year, Connected Educator Month seeks to encourage districts to promote outcomes-based professional learning and recognition through digital tools.

Online communities and learning networks help hundreds of thousands of educators share effective strategies, reduce isolation, and provide “just in time” access to knowledge and expertise. However, many educators are not yet taking advantage of all the benefits of connected learning.

“Participating in Connected Educator Month is a way schools, districts, and states can dramatically enhance their professional development efforts,” said Darren Cambridge, a principal consultant at AIR and project director of Connected Educators. “They can integrate learning through online communities and social networks into their formal professional development and teacher quality efforts.”

Activities and events will range from a design challenge, in which educators will develop strategies for helping kids develop creative confidence, to a webinar in which five U.S. organizations will team up with UNESCO to share insights about mobile learning around the globe. State and locally-focused activities will also engage communities of educators across the nation.

The Connected Educator Month calendar can be found at ConnectedEducators.org/events/. You can also follow the conversation on Twitter using the #CE13 hashtag. For more information about Connected Educator Month, visit ConnectedEducators.org.

About AIR
Established in 1946, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance both domestically and internationally in the areas of health, education, and workforce productivity. For more information, visit www.air.org.

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