Connected Learning has joined #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities and organizations to encourage philanthropy and to celebrate generosity worldwide. Companies and individuals interested in supporting Connected Learning on #GivingTuesday are encouraged to connect with our partnership page www.connectedlearningstl.org/partnerships.

Growing up did you ever have a teacher that made a tremendous impact on your life? A teacher that you could tell truly cared about his or her job, and showed it through the way they taught. Teachers are the people who educate our youth, who in turn become our leaders, doctors, lawyers, police officers, and much more. They give us the tools to prepare us for not only education but also life.

At Connected Learning, we are an organization that engages educators through professional learning experiences that are done differently to elicit a different response. Every dollar we acquire supports education through the development and expansion of professional learning networks. These networks to provide advice, support, ideas, and opportunities to our incredible community of learners and supporters. All of these avenues make our connected community stronger to give teachers the tools they deserve.

About Connected LearningConnected Learning supports those who desire to learn more, are willing to take risks, and think differently about the problems we face in education today. Connected Learning does this by hosting, sponsoring, and supporting events.

Connected Learning is able to maximize its mission of supporting a deeper level of connected learning through these tasks:

• We released our first podcast available on itunes (for free).
• We expanded our board of advisors from 3 to 5 seen here: http://goo.gl/BAhEoH
• We secured an accountant to oversee our finances through quickbooks online.
• We expanded our volunteer leadership team from three to twelve leaders of our program seen here: http://goo.gl/BAhEoH
• We expanded our programming to include events like Playdate, BreakoutEDU, Urban Design Challenge, Chromecamp, Edcamp Leadership and Edcamp Express.
• We’ve developed new relationships with: Cambridge Innovation Center, EdSurge, Pattonville School District, Fox School District, Ferguson-Florissant School District and the United States Department of Education.
• We’ve established a working relationship called “The Edcluster” which includes other organizations supporting teacher and education development such as MoreNet, Education Plus, Google Education Group, Educational Technology Association, and TeachSTL.
• Our mailing list has reached over 2200 emails and subscriptions to our newsletter.

We want to continue doing this great work for teachers and we will do it free of charge. We are fortunate to get funding from amazing sponsors and donors like yourselves. o please, participate in #GivingTuesday by supporting us today!