Connecting Classrooms is an innovative online program that brings together classrooms around the world to create learning opportunities, dialogue and debate around key global issues.

Groups of students collaborate together to create focused, high-quality content that helps to shape youth viewpoints on issues like global health, food and agriculture, and climate change. Students’ contributions reflect their realities, hopes and fears and give them a long-overdue voice in shaping their future.

Connecting Classrooms revolves around two key ideas: connecting students and teachers in countries around the world; and enabling children to communicate effectively about major challenges they face and about strategies that they think could bring relief and resolution.

The Connecting Classroom syllabus currently focuses on themes around the upcoming COP15 conference on climate change and the Young African Forum focusing on food and agriculture that runs parallel to the African Union Summit in 2010. Students collaborate on the curriculum to coalesce and present their ideas and opinions to world leaders through their work on the site. A growing network of diverse partner organizations ensure that viewpoints are contributed from all over the world and that methods of presenting and distributing information remain varied and thought-provoking.

Through continual, collaborative action, students gain:

• Increased knowledge and awareness of the principle thematic issues affecting young people around the world;

• A greater sense of empowerment and understanding of how to advocate for social change;

• Improved web literacy, cultural sensitivity and communication skills.

• An awareness that the work they produce will help to guide future policy decisions at both community and country-wide levels;

• A greater understanding of mobile and web-based technologies, and how to use them to affect change.

If would like to learn more about how to involve a classroom in the Connecting Classrooms program, please see Joining Connecting Classrooms