I just got an email announcing a talk to be given next week in Malaga by Juan Luis Cebrián, the founding editor of El País, the grand Madrid daily that was so important during Spain's transition to democracy. He'll be talking about the future of journalism, certainly an interesting topic, as newspapers are going out of business all over the place. (This morning is classic Carlisle grey; I wish I were in Malaga.) In any case, it got me thinking, not about internet, but rather about the future of education, and this is one of the reasons I'm an optimist, in spite of it all. It's easy to be a pessimist: people read less, everyone seems to be geographically illiterate, kids are on one electronic device or another all day, blah, blah, blah... But these same technologies are going to make high quality, more individualized instruction available to all. A pipe dream? Perhaps, but it can be imagined, and eventually we'll get it right. Teachers will spend less time informing and more time mentoring. (The other day on tv I heard a little girl say this: "When I grow up I want to teach people how to learn." Exactly! That's what I want to do, too, when I grow up!) In the photo, Cebrián. Don't speak Spanish? You can see, of course, that "sociedad" is an easy cognate. Society in red? No, "red" means "network" or "web". The forum is on the topic of Society and the Internet. That is, you might say, the topic these days. Twenty years ago was before the internet age. Today we are in it. A lot has changed.1.22.2010
An email got me thinking...
I just got an email announcing a talk to be given next week in Malaga by Juan Luis Cebrián, the founding editor of El País, the grand Madrid daily that was so important during Spain's transition to democracy. He'll be talking about the future of journalism, certainly an interesting topic, as newspapers are going out of business all over the place. (This morning is classic Carlisle grey; I wish I were in Malaga.) In any case, it got me thinking, not about internet, but rather about the future of education, and this is one of the reasons I'm an optimist, in spite of it all. It's easy to be a pessimist: people read less, everyone seems to be geographically illiterate, kids are on one electronic device or another all day, blah, blah, blah... But these same technologies are going to make high quality, more individualized instruction available to all. A pipe dream? Perhaps, but it can be imagined, and eventually we'll get it right. Teachers will spend less time informing and more time mentoring. (The other day on tv I heard a little girl say this: "When I grow up I want to teach people how to learn." Exactly! That's what I want to do, too, when I grow up!) In the photo, Cebrián. Don't speak Spanish? You can see, of course, that "sociedad" is an easy cognate. Society in red? No, "red" means "network" or "web". The forum is on the topic of Society and the Internet. That is, you might say, the topic these days. Twenty years ago was before the internet age. Today we are in it. A lot has changed.
