American, Chinese Students to Participate in Greenleaf™ Online Exchange Program

STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As a new school year begins, students from Pennsylvania and across the country will have the opportunity to foster relationships with students in China.  Students in both countries will participate in the Schoolwires® Greenleaf International Classroom Exchange Program that partners American schools and classrooms with Chinese counterparts in a safe and secure online academic forum.

"The jobs of tomorrow will require an in-depth understanding of our increasingly globalized world, including key countries like China," said Elizabeth Goreham, Mayor of State College, Pennsylvania. "Greenleaf is an excellent tool allowing students to forge strong relationships with a vital country halfway around the world while developing and practicing 21st century skills. Through the program, American and Chinese students can discover their connections and similarities.  I'm very happy that the first and most active American students in the program are right here in State College."

Greenleaf provides an innovative, user-friendly online platform to facilitate collaboration between American and Chinese students. Online collaborative sessions between partner classrooms will encourage students to discuss key concepts in the curriculum. Among many other topics, students will discuss how their countries are similar and how they are different; how their respective education systems work and their options after high school, including future career prospects; and what it means to be a global citizen. They will also participate in a number of team-building exercises designed to foster long-term relationships. These big ideas in the curriculum align to the ISTE NETS standards for digital teaching and learning that emphasize the need to "equip students with skills necessary to succeed in a globalized world" where digital-age work and learning will be the norm.

"We are excited to promote the international exchange and cooperation of Chinese education," said Yu Yougen, Deputy Director of the China Education Association for International Exchange. "We are confident that this project will benefit Chinese teachers, students and parents in communication and collaboration."

Christiane Crawford, President and CEO of Schoolwires -- which created and markets the Greenleaf program -- agreed with Mr. Yu's assessment. "Greenleaf engages exponentially more students and teachers than traditional, physical, international classroom exchanges.  This protected online environment provides students a real opportunity to improve their knowledge and foster real friendships. The cooperation and partnership between the schools, teachers, and students has been remarkable."

About Schoolwires, Inc.

Schoolwires is a leading provider of community-based solutions and safe social learning environments designed to accelerate K-12 district and student success. Centricity² is its unifying Web content management platform designed to help K-12 districts more deeply connect and engage with their communities. Schoolwires Nimbus™ Safe Social Learning Environment provides a secure environment where teachers can inspire student engagement and interest in developing 21st century learning skills.

Through its numerous, long-term district relationships, Schoolwires works with an estimated 8 million users across the nation. Schoolwires was recognized by Inc. magazine as one of the Top Education Companies on the 2011 Inc 500|5000 for the fifth consecutive year.  Schoolwires Inc. (www.schoolwires.com) is headquartered in State College, Pennsylvania, USA.

SOURCE Schoolwires, Inc.