Julie Lindsay is based in Australia as a consultant, presenter and workshop leader, is Director of Learning Confluence, Founder and CEO of Flat Connections, co-author of Flattening Classrooms, and author of The Global Educator. 

I am fortunate to have known Julie for many years and been lucky to have deep discussions with her at several conferences about global education.  I really enjoyed our conversation and learned new things about Julie that I didn’t know. Below are excerpts from the podcast along with links, resources, and videos. Enjoy!
 
About you, your background, and your journeys
I started as a music educator. I was a jazz player, have a master’s degree in research and composition. In the 1990s, I did a lot with music technology so that was my bridge into educational technology by doing music composition through technology in an independent school in Melbourne. The internet came in then and it was so exciting to have that availability. I was doing Internet club after school and entered my students into one of Yvonne Andres CyberFair projects where they got an honorable mention. I went back to school to get my post-graduate degree in computer education. Right after that my husband and I decided to teach overseas. We ended up in Zambia exactly 20 years ago with our three-year-old daughter. I became a computer teacher in a lab with no internet and were there for 2 ½ years.
As a teaching couple, we went to a teaching fair and found a job in Kuwait and the middle east for 2 years. Then we went to Bangladesh for 4 years, back to the middle east to Qatar for 2 years, and then to China for 3 years. That’s where my daughter graduated, and we decided to come back home to Australia. We live in Northern New South Wales near the capital city by the beach.
 
Why you are so passionate about Global Education
It is my life. I was at the Learning2 Conference for international educators in China recently. I’ve seen the power of it and how it changes the whole learning paradigm. I see how the sparks fly, the engagement increases, and students’ curiosity about the world as an amazing thing to harness to do projects that connect to the world.

“Develop curiosity to learn about the world with the world.” Julie Lindsay

The whole thing about curiosity puts the ownership for learning back on the learner. Both the teacher and the student have to be curious and interested. We have to provide the stimulus so teachers are curious just like students.
 
The Global Educator

That first section of my book, The Global Educator, published by ISTE last year, defines a global educator from what people were telling me and my experiences as well. A Global Educator connects to the world. An educator can use different types of media to connect, communicate, collaborate, and share what they are doing with the world. Some schools are using an LMS to connect but it doesn’t allow educators to connect to the world.
My book had the full 36 case studies which made the book too long so the book is actually half what I wrote. Each case study is a short summary describing the study. The full case studies are in the eBook that is available through ISTE. I’m actually blogging each case study one a week on my website so all will be available on my blog. Section 3 on Global Collaborations can actually stand on its own. It is about design and planning how to embed this into the curriculum.
 
Learning Confluence and Flat Connections
My consulting company is called Learning Confluence. When you think of a confluence, it is the coming together and blending of ideas and influences. I work with schools across Australia which is similar to the USA. Every state has a different education department and rules.