IN
a world of change, do you have the skills and In the trenches is Matthew Braun, a 7th-grade math
tools to keep up? When more than 17,500 fu- teacher in the School District of Philadelphia. It’s not just
ture-minded educators converged in Denver about the students, he says. “A teacher with 21st-centu-
last June for the International Society for Technology ry skills and tools is one who integrates strong commu-
in Education (ISTE) annual conference, ISTE 2010, nication skills with manageable technology skills,” he
they heard from opening keynoter Jean-Francois said at ISTE 2010. It’s “someone who can creatively prob-
Rischard, a former vice president of the World Bank lem solve both people- and equipment-related obstacles
and author of High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to learning.” Such a person “fearlessly seeks out meth-
to Solve Them, a best-seller about nongeopolitical alter- ods and tech tools that will enhance student learning as
natives for solving the world’s largest problems. well [as his or her] own personal growth,” he says.
“We indeed need two things on this beleaguered Lucy Miller-Ganfield, president of Students Work-
planet,” says Rischard. “One, a new methodology for ing to Advance Technology, Inc., a Raleigh, N.C.-based
global problem solving—that is, one that will help us student community service organization, believes 21st-
navigate the very challenging decades ahead—and two, century learning must involve a remix of multiple lit-
a new mindset in the next generation, one rooted in a eracies that fuse with tech tools and critical thinking
strong sense of being foremost a global citizen.” skills to stimulate authentic, relevant learning oppor-
Rischard notes that, with the global credit crisis not tunities for all learners anywhere, anytime. “The tools
yet over, society still has more than 20 burning global must allow individuals to be collaborators and creators
problems on our hands that must get resolved within the of authentic solutions to global problems as they emerge
next 20 years “if we are to avoid the massive and adverse over time,” she said.
planetary consequences many of them bring in their tow.”
VOICES FROM ISTE
To that end, ISTE 2010 attendee Ted Fujimoto, an ed- 21st-Century ...
ucation strategist involved in the charter school movement
and an integral player in launching the successful New WEBSITES
Tech Network for high schools, says that “the ability to http://tomorrow.org
http://p21.org
thrive as an individual and to create environments for oth-
ers to thrive in” is a key 21st-century skill. “That means www.iste.org www.centerforpubliceducation.org
thriving in all dimensions: health, happiness, and person- www.gatesfoundation.org/annual-letter
www.inacol.org
al fulfillment—in addition to economic sufficiency.”
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September/October 2010 MULTIMEDIA & INTERNET@SCHOOLS 11
INTERNET @ SCHOOLS
LINKED LEARNERS to work together in resolving major issues through for-
Indeed, “global” is an integral concept to 21st-centu- mation of groups, petitions, and other constructive ac-
ry learning. With our current level of technology, the tions and projects. The community’s founder, Jennifer
world has become much smaller. For example, throw a Corriero, was on hand at the ISTE conference in Denver,
question out to your colleagues on LinkedIn, the pro- moderating an innovation and excellence panel and en-
fessional networking site, and you may get an instan- suring that “21st-century skills” weren’t just buzzwords,
taneous response back—from someone in the U.K. “To but that participants such as Karen Cator, director of the
ready the citizens of tomorrow,” says Trupti Gandhi, an Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department
information and communication technologist at Dame of Education, or Shaun Koh, a student from Singapore,
Alice Owen’s School in Enfield, U.K., “we need to align were regarding such skills as a global imperative.
the curriculum to Generation 2.0. The technology and
tools they use during their school life become almos