Connected Educator Month: Worldwide Free Professional Learning Every Day in October

Connected Educators Month Starter KitWhat is Connected Educator Month?

Connected Educator Month was started in 2012 by the U.S. Department of Education as a way to get educators proficient with social media to improve their practice, help schools integrate connected learning into their formal professional development efforts, and stimulate and support innovation in the field of education. This year, more than 350 educational organizations, schools, and school districts are participating in Connected Educator Month, and more than 750 free, national professional learning events and activities are scheduled around connected education.

Get involved

Here are our top 10 ways to get involved with Connected Educator Month in 2014, whether you’re an individual educator, a school or an organization.

1. Download your free Starter Kit

The Connected Educator Month Starter Kit is loaded with helpful links and embedded videos. It takes a 31 days approach for this special month, giving you one simple way to get more connected every day.

2. Get to know our 2014 themes

Learn more about this year’s themes, chosen by the people, for the people. The themes cover everything from blended learning to the maker movement and are led by top educational organizations.

3. Create a calendar profile, find and add events

The Connected Educator Month calendar is packed with more than 750 events. Create a free personal account, and then make a custom schedule that you can integrate with your own calendar system. Learn more here and watch tutorial videos. You can also add your own events to the calendar.

4. Earn graduate credit

The University of North Dakota is offering 1 or 2 graduate credits for participating in Connected Educator Month activities and events. Learn how you can earn graduate credits and how to register.

5. Listen to Connected Educators Radio

Tune in to Connected Educators Radio to hear the latest developments on connected educator initiatives around the globe, highlights from connected events and the back stories on the people and programs involved in the drive to connect the entire education community worldwide.

6. Support the cause

From donating prizes that can be awarded in our weekly crowdfunding contests to starting a crowdfunding team and raising funds, there are lots of ways to get involved. Find out more about our crowdfunding campaign, and how we’re encouraging individuals and organizations to own a piece of Connected Educator Month this year.

7. Blog, Tweet, and help spread the word

Want to show your support for Connected Educator Month and what it stands for? Check out the supporter toolkit— where you’ll find a large collection of graphics, written copy, Tweetables, and other promotional tools to help spread the word through blogging or social media.

8. Join a Book Club

The Connected Educators Book Club is an opportunity to read books about or related to connected learning and online communities. You can discuss the books with your peers and authors through self-paced dialog and get involved in other scheduled activities such as Twitter chats, webinars and more.

9. Make connections with edConnectr

edConnectr is an app that uses tags and maps to make it easy and fun to create profiles to collaborate, get help, or just connect.

10. Make friends with Connected Educator Month

Follow Connected Educator Month on these social networks:

@edconnectr on Twitter | #ce14 | Facebook | Pinterest | Google+

We can’t wait to learn with you

Connected Educator Month 2014 is already bigger and better than ever before thanks to our partners, participating organizations, and most of all, thanks to you! However you can get involved—whether it’s attending a Twitter chat, watching a free webinar or leading an event—we can’t wait to learn with you!


Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach has been a classroom teacher, technology coach, charter school principal, district administrator, university instructor and digital learning consultant. Sheryl is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Powerful Learning Practice, where she works with schools and districts from around the world to re-envision their learning cultures and communities through the Connected Learner Experienceand other e-learning opportunities. She is the author (with Lani Ritter Hall) of The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age and serves on the executive board for ISTE (The International Society for Technology in Education).

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