This morning, I attended the

May 30, 2001

This morning, I attended the annual meeting of The Cleveland Foundation, which has a $1.6 billion endowment and is a prime supporter of the cultural and community life of Cleveland. Alan November spoke. He’s an inspiring speaker about educational technology, and he really got the crowd thinking about the role of technology—computers, the Internet and even old-fashioned paper and pencil—in the classroom today. His main point: we’ve got a lot to unlearn. Schools, he said, were designed to keep parents out, and to train children for skills for the industrial revolution. But we’re no longer in the industrial revolution. The real revolution, he said, is about information and communication. There are three skills children need to succeed in this digital age: self-disciplined and self-directed learning; an interdependency with a global audience and the ability to work in teams; and critical thinking skills and an ability to understand the subtleties among the avalanche of information. An amazing talk by November. How do you think we should revolutionize learning in America? Post your ideas in the Forum.

Anton Zuiker ☄