Technology and Globalization Alan November, Thomas Friedman, Will Richardson

1. Technology and Globalization Alan November, Thomas Friedman, Will Richardson • Task: Use the statement at your table to spark discussion about how we can prepare kids to help them succeed in the 21st century. • What are we already doing at Kinard to address the statement? • What could we do differently to prepare kids for the 21st century?

2. Alan November: Key Questions • Are we producing students that are globally competitive? • How do we produce students that are globally competitive?

3. Alan November: The Global Learner • “Schools in America do not operate as if the internet is the dominant media of society. Instead they consider paper as the dominant media of choice.” • Are you paper trained? :) • Are you a “digital immigrant”?

4. Alan November: The Global Learner • “Stop worrying about your school being the center of learning. Gear up for a web-based curriculum that supports families with innovation and creativity in education 24/7.”

5. Alan November: The Global Learner • “It’s nuts that a white supremacy group has a more sophisticated website to influence young people than our schools in America. As a teacher, are you doing everything you can to get your school’s message across?” • Reference: http://www.martinlutherking.org/ • A site with videos, podcasts, rap lyrics, and discussion forums for kids providing negative misconceptions about MLK. This site is created by Stormfront (a white supremacy group).

6. Alan November: The Global Learner • “The revolution of the printing press is everyone gets access to the books and learns to read. The revolution of the internet is that every student becomes a publisher and does more than just read…they participate.”

7. Alan November: The Global Learner • “A young person today can get their own website today for free in less than 60 seconds. It isn’t a question of if a student will get their own website…they will. The question is will the schools teach the ethics and social responsibility of using this powerful global tool.”

8. Alan November: The Global Learner • “What worries me the most about this country is we continue to build new old schools. We continue to do things the same way we always have.” • Kinard is an beautiful, new, state of the art OLD school.

9. Alan November: The Global Learner • “The motivation of students increases when you tell them that they will write the internet rather than only read the internet. This idea is very different than our current classroom expectations.”

10. Will Richardson Key Points • “The significance of the Read/Write web is still just starting to be realized. We are no longer limited to being independent readers or consumers of information. We can be collaborators in the creation of large storehouses of information. In the process, we can learn much about ourselves and our world. In almost every area of life, the Read/Write web is changing our relationship to technology and rewriting the age-old paradgims of how things work.”

11. Will Richardson Key Points • “The Read/Write web holds transformational changes in store for teachers and students of all stripes. But, as is often the case, education has been slow to adapt to these new tools and potentials. In other areas of our lives, however, we can see some of these transformations happening right now, right in front of our eyes.”

12. Will Richardson Key Points • “In reality, the Read/Write web has created millions of amateur reporters who now have their own digital printing presses. It’s also created millions of amateur editors who are ready to check your facts whenever a major story breaks.”

13. Will Richardson Key Points • “Today’s schools are faces with a difficult dilemma that pits a student body that has grown up immersed in technology against a teaching faculty that is less facile with the tools of the trade. The national Technology Plan released in January 2005 went so far as to admit that “today’s students, of almost any age, are far ahead of their teachers in computer literacy.”

14. Thomas Friedman: The World Is FlatKey Points • “While we were sleeping, something really big happened. The global economic playing field has been leveled and Americans are not ready (Kinard students). The world is now flat.” • Bangalore, India is the outsourcing capital of the world. American jobs are disappearing. Technology has provided equal opportunity for anybody to: • Do your taxes • Write software programs for your business • Track your luggage for Delta Airlines • Read your medical X-Rays • Etc. etc. etc.

15. Thomas Friedman: The World Is FlatKey Points • “The world is changing very quickly making the planet seem smaller and more connected.” • 3 Great Eras of Globalization (According to Friedman) • Web 1.0 (1492 - 1820s): Going global through your country. • Web 2.0 (1820s - 2000): Going global through your company. • Web 3.0 (2000 - present): Going global through individuals. • The world is changing and connecting quickly. What are we doing to accommodate this change with our students?

16. Thomas Friedman: The World Is FlatKey Points • “In my opinion, one of the most important days in western civilization happened on August 9th 1995. This is the day that a small company in California called Netscape went public” • The Netscape browser allowed the first individual commercial internet access for all people. • Netscape insured that the internet would have open standards and not be governed by any one company. • This triggered the “.com Boom” and led to a ridiculous trillion dollar investment in fiber optic cable in a 5 year span. • All of this accidentally made China, Europe, India, and the USA next door neighbors without anyone planning for it to happen.