From, "Change Agents," in the Macalester Today: Macalester alums take the college’s lessons of civic engagement into the workplace and out into the world.

It was an assignment from anthropology professor Jack Weatherford asking students to learn and locate every country in the world that first got Ann Jolicoeur Thomas ’93 thinking about how to build community across cultures. That’s now one of her goals for SEEdebate.org, an online classroom tool she and a partner launched recently, which allows students to discuss and debate current events with classrooms across the country. Although she spent 10 years running her family’s paper business in Massachusetts, the 2004 election prompted her to make a change: “I wanted to get young people interested in politics and voting, and engaged in the world around them.” Though SEEdebate.org is still in its infancy, more than 2,500 users have already found the site and used it to share their varying viewpoints. The discussions about gun control between students in Montana and in Queens, New York, “have been just awesome,” says Thomas.

Excerpt from the September 2008 Cable in The Classroom article:

Meghan Connelly, president and curriculum director of SEEdebate, uses current events to instigate student commentary and exchange. “Students are exposed to current news and empowered to learn more about each topic with online background resources. They respond to the news and to each other in writing,”says Connelly.

The site will have weekly online debates on election issues, online discussions of the debates as they are televised, and a SEEdebate user vote on Election Day. In addition, he site provides multiple articles on the same subject from different sources, asking students to compare and contrast the presentation. “This is a wonderful way to develop media-literacy skills,” says Connelly.

Happy 2009 from SEEdebate

SEEdebate had an incredible 2008, and I want to share just a few exciting highlights:
- 2008 began with a flurry of new members in response to our presentation in San Diego at the National Council for the Social Studies annual conference.
- A regional conference in March (New Haven this time: easier trip!) brought us not only new users at the site, but also some incredible support and contacts from some amazing educators.
- The summer was spent preparing for the U.S. presidential election and culminated with an appearance in "Cable in the Classroom's" September issue - as a featured resource for teachers interested in new, free tools for teaching the election and beyond.
- Another presentation in CT (Hartford: best yet!) brought the three brainiacs running this org together for the first time in front of a crowd and helped us realize [again] how awesome our web site is. It's free?!?! You should see what they charge for these days...
- We hosted live chat/debates at our site for member teachers and students DURING the presidential and vice presidential debates. While I am sure it was educationally sound and useful, I had a total blast and feel fortunate to be involved with these amazing teachers and students.
- We almost reached the 3,000 mark for number of users at SEEdebate.

Thank you for supporting SEEdebate by being present for us, being curious about what we are doing, and being an advocate for improving education.

Peace, News & 'Net,
Ann
Exec. Dir.

P.S.
Here is our latest Promotional Material.

HAPPENINGS AT SEEdebate FALL 2008

SEEdebate Presented Live Online Session at Tapped In

Tapped In is a wonderful tool for teachers giving them access to an "international community of education professionals." Their summer festival July 23-24 was a great way for teachers to learn about interesting new sites and tools for using technology in the classroom. Tapped In's 2008 Summer Festival theme was Beyond Conflict: Building Peaceful Communities. SEEdebate presented a live 90 minute session on July 24th at 12:30pm EST.

SEEdebate prepares for the Presidential Election

Highlights of the presidential election at SEEdebate:

• Election-specific, international articles and issue overviews in our Election 2008 Forum
• Live Debates: Have your students sign in during the live, televised debates to discuss their ideas and viewpoints.
• New Forums for Ongoing Discussions based on Topics: Students can debate general topics such as global warming, religious rights, gun control laws, etc., in an open-ended forum [unlike the article]. Assign them research to find facts to back up their ideas!
• Weekly Polls and a SEEdebate Election on Election day!

In Development at SEEdebate

• Tutorial: Get the most from our free tool
• >Teacher's Exchange: Find teachers who want to connect classrooms, collaborate, expand their curriculum with you, or just talk about the joys and challenges of being a teacher. DONE! CLICK HERE TO JOIN
• Increased social interaction: Students can show off more of their personality in their viewable profile area
• ...and more!!