It used to be that connecting with students involved face-to-face conversation, visual instruction, and personal encouragement. We now live in a connected age, where interactive classroom tools and digital books allow students to create their own personal learning networks.

The evolution of personal technology and instant access to knowledge is reshaping education for today’s students, who have far more experience writing text messages than essays. How will today’s education leaders work differently to engage with this new connected generation?

To address this critical question, GETideas.org welcomes the latest contributor to our GETinsight blog: Janice Mertes, authoring a weekly series entitled Generation C: How Leaders Can Prepare for the Connected Generation, providing trends, tips, and tools to help educators implement long-term learning strategies for “Generation C.” Janice is a U.S. National Board-certified Social Studies teacher who has spent the past 17 years in the Sun Prairie School District in Wisconsin. She is also an award-winning technology integrator–recipient of the the Wisconsin Kohl Fellowship Award, member of the USA Today Teacher Team, winner of the Liberty Mutual National award for technology integration, and twice-selected twice attendee of the Microsoft Innovative Teacher Forum.

Janice’s first post is “Becoming a Connected Educator: Forming Your Personal Learning Network.” Please share your thoughts, comments, and questions on her posts!