This past Friday morning I had an interesting web journey. In my inbox was an email from Sagus International indicating that they were following me on Twitter. Curious to find out more about a company I didn't recognize, I clicked on the Sagus link to discover it was a Chicago furniture company focused on transforming environments and improving results in the 21st century school. Their site contained links to presentations, papers and videos, including, with a second click, an interview with Darryl Rosser, Sagus CEO. Responding to the interviewer's questions, he described his personal commitment to the 21st century school, and in particular, to the JV Martin Junior High School in Dillon, SC, the same school President Obama mentioned in a speech after being contacted by Ty Sheoma Bethea, an 8th grade student who described the poor condition and plight of the school. Rosser had come to South Carolina as co-sponsor of an educational campus symposium focused on establishing a blueprint that would incorporate a wide range of educational, health and community needs for tomorrow's school, but along the way, he visited JV Martin, saw their need, and enlisted employees and sponsors to donate and transform the interior of the dilapidated school with new furniture.
A third click and I was watching the video, produced by ETV South Carolina, of the symposium that Rosser attended. The one-hour video brought together key players in the discussion of private and public partnership on what and how to move our public schools into the 21st century in Dillon, SC and in the United States, covering a wide range of community, health, economic, sustainable and education issues. In the discussion, two people caught my attention, Dr. Oscar Lovelace, a rural family practitioner, and futurist David Houle. I'll leave you to watch the video and see what you think.
Intrigued by David Houle's comments and perspectives on the future of education, my fourth and final click took me to his article, America's Future in Global Education in SEEN Magazine. In the article, David spins through the history of major societal changes bringing us through the Information Age to the Shift Age, which he defines as the radical changes in technology, connectivity and globalization occurring today. Relating connectivity to education, he highlights its positive and negative impacts, and identifies the first true wave of digital natives who know only the Shift Age, in contrast to those of us from the Information Age who are merely digital immigrants.
My journey of four clicks, provided just the rapid and relevant learning experience Houle attributes to connectivity.
When you think about it, “Search” is a fundamental aspect of education and the acquisition of knowledge and the attainment of understanding.
I may only be a digital immigrant but I keep searching.
