Wendy

=**Wendy Drexler**= =**wdrexler@gmail.com**= St. Petersburg, Florida**
 * [|Shorecrest Preparatory School]

Networked learning is difficult to explain to educators, let alone parents. This CommonCraft style video used with permission from Lee LeFever, puts networked learning in "plain English".

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The availability of free Web 2.0 conferencing tools such as [|Skype] make it possible to link to experts all over the world. An important 21st century skill will be to identify and locate experts that can become part of a learning or professional network. Here are some tips for helping students identify experts and respectfully request assistance.

> [|AllExperts > Ask the Experts] [|ExpertClick]
 * There are a number of expert sites that are designed to help you find contacts on a variety of topics.
 * Another great way to find experts is to search for scholarly articles on a topic. This is now much easier to do with [|Google Scholar.]
 * Once you find a scholarly article it's fairly easy to track down an email address for the expert. Most articles list the University with which the expert is associated. Simply do a Google search under the name and University. Chances are the email address will pop right up.
 * Newspaper articles are another resource. If the contact information is not listed, you can often contact the reporter.

Be sure to ask respectfully for the expert's help. The worst thing that happens is the person says no. It's been my experience that people are always happy to bend over backwards to help a student. [|Skype] is the perfect tool for a video conference because it's free and easy. However, if your expert is not comfortable with this format, you can also do an "old fashioned" conference call or even email some questions.

Happy Expert Hunting!!!