Dear Faculty,You are warmly invited to attend a unique event at MICDS. Under the leadership of Upper School Coordinator of Instructional Technology (CIT) Elizabeth Helfant and withthe ready support of Middle School CIT Pat Woessner and Lower School CIT GregStevens, we will be conducting a video conversation this

Wednesday, April 30 from 4p.m. to 5 p.m. (or so) in Olson Hall Presentation Room

involving Elizabeth's FlatClassroom compatriots from around the world. One of emerging technologies' mostsignificant contributions to learning and teaching early in the 21st century has been toincrease our access to a wider variety of voices--to the insights, the experiences, theexpressed hopes and fears, the wisdom, and the complexity of a rich tapestry of others.Our conversation this coming Wednesday is an example of precisely that kind of accessand richness.

What is the premise of the conversation, and who is involved?

Using some readily and publicly accessible technologies, including Ustream, we willbring together the following panel of students and faculty:+ from MICDS: students Anthony Chivetta and Porsche Poole; CITs Elizabeth Helfant,Pat Woessner, Greg Stevens and Learning Specialist Kathy Karigan+ from Scotland: 2 Flat Classroom students+ from Seoul, Korea: a Flat Classroom teacher + from Virginia: a K-12 CIT+ from Canada: a Flat Classroom college teacher + from Hawaii: 2 Flat Classroom students

What will be the focus of the conversation and how will the conversation beorchestrated?

Our conversation, which will be structured by a very simple protocol (that is, a set of guidelines that give space to each participant's voice), will focus on the followingessential questions:

Round 1 question: "How can educators and students effectively bridge out of school technology practices with in school 1:1 laptop learning?"Round 2 question: "What is the change in education that makes laptops (andother emerging technologies) such critical learning tools?"

+ Using a "fishbowl" protocol, all of the above-mentioned participants will have apermanent seat in the fishbowl.+ In Round 1, each student member of the fishbowl will have up to 2 minutes to offer his/her thoughts in response to the question.+ Following student reponses, each adult member of the fishbowl will have a chance toask a question or make a follow-up point based on the students' responses.+ Following the adult commentary, members of the audience will have a chance to ask aquestion or make a follow-up point based on what they have heard.+ Round 2 will follow the same process as Round 1, only with a focus on the Round 2question.