The CONNECT project is a collaborative international initiative of educational, cognitive science and technology experts, and psychologists at 17 institutions from 9 countries who are researching the use of advanced technologies to facilitate learning through innovative partnerships with a wide range of schools and informal science learning environments. The aim of the project is to explore, test, refine and demonstrate a cutting edge approach that connects these varied learning experiences, bridges theoretical and applied research and introduces innovative ways for teachers and students to communicate and learn together. This will be accomplished by designing, creating and piloting a learning environment that weds effective informal (free-choice) learning strategies with exemplary formal curricular activities, utilizing cutting edge information and communication technologies. Specifically and practically the project will document the evolution from the wired virtual learning environments of today to the wireless learning environments of tomorrow. The Institute for Learning Innovation (the Institute), the only U.S. partner in CONNECT, is critical to project success because of its role in designing the educational framework that forms the basis of the project, in developing the educational evaluation, and in the dissemination and reporting of the project's outcomes and impact. In the CONNECT project, the Institute's primary role will focus on three aspects of the project: 1. Design of the educational framework underlying the CONNECT project, (including ensuring that the CONNECT project stays focused on the theoretical underpinnings of the educational framework during the technical design and implementation stages) 2. Design of strategies and research methodologies to evaluate the framework, and 3. Dissemination of the project's approach and outcomes in the United States. The projects complex design (joining technology experts, psychologist, educational researchers from 17 institutions in 9 countries), the ambitious goals that entail simultaneous technology end educational framework development, and the tight timeline, make this a particularly challenging and risky project.
