ISTE 2010--Sunday Evening

After attending a reception in which Learning.com announced its new Sky product (which allows a single sign-in for partner and selected sites), it was time for the true opening of the conference with ISTE's Helen Padgett, who gave a year-in-review report. The ISTE Affiliate Network now includes 81 countries, thanks to the recent additions of India, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Recognizing the limited resources available to the classroom teacher, ISTE has launched the first phase of ISTE Learning, where educator can get what they want how they want when they want: http://istelearning.org. Look for more additions in September!

Ms. Padgett reminded attendees that ISTE's goals are to improve student learning in a world in which all students can achieve their potential. ISTE's goal includes taking the best ideas and making them accessible to others. Maintaining the status quo is no longer an effective strategy. According to Padgett, if we are to make lasting change, educational technology is a non-negotiable.

ISTE’s conference theme is “Exploring Excellence.” Representatives from more than 78 countries are present at ISTE 2010, including the keynote speaker Jean-Francois Rischard.

Caution: Spoiler Alert! Do not proceed unless you are interested in problems of a global nature.

Rischard, former president of the World Bank, offered a presentation entitled Navigating in Turbulent Times, in which he reveals his belief that the world is in fast-forward globalization and that there are 20 problems that must be addressed and that we have little time left to act. These problems are unresolved because our current international system is paralyzed, but Rischard suggests that part of the solution includes improving our global problem solving.

Rischard reports that the change curve, rather than showing slow growth, is now showing dramatic change in areas as diverse as population, trade, finance, economics, and so forth. He demonstrated the change in copper use as an example, comparing the use of copper in the Middle Ages with the change in the past century, which he terms "hyper-change."

Two big forces, says Rischard, are producing this explosion in change and complexity and are testing the limits of our planet: population increases and a new economy. The new economy is based on an economic revolution and a technology revolution. New inexpensive communication technologies have transformed time and distance, and knowledge is the biggest element of production today rather than other raw materials. However, this mindless growth is producing new stresses. Both population and economic forces have combined to produce more change and complexity than we are able to handle. Human mindsets and institutions are not keeping up with these changes, particularly because solutions are being implemented only in what Rischard terms "bureaucratic years," the time required for politics to change.

Rischard lists the following as urgent global problems yet unresolved: dangerous climate change; deforestation, biodiversity loss, fisheries depletion, water shortages, poverty, global financial stability, and biotechnology research.

Rischard is quick to point out that these problems have solutions that aren't really costly. However, he insists that we have fewer than 20 years to act on these problems, especially with these four: the global credit crisis (2007 onward), ageing time bomb (2010 onward), conventional oil depletion (2015 onward), ecological footprint overshoot (2035 onward), and dangerous climate change (2035 onward). Unfortunately, he reports that none of them are being solved at this point:

• Treaties and conventions are too slow and inadequate for most problems.
• UN summits are too off-and-on and confusing.
• G8, G20-type groupings are too reactive and superficial.
• The 45 existing international organizations cannot handle global problems alone even though they are doing reasonable good work separately.

Ultimately, Rischard insists that the key to solving these problems is the cultivation of innovative ideas that are able to be implemented quickly and that would inject new forces that coax nations to become more planet- and long-term oriented. He suggests a three-phase approach, in which GIN (global issues network) committee members from governments, civil societies, and businesses converge--perhaps, Rischard jokes, in an isolated castle in Spain for three to five years--to examine problems and determine norms, or solutions, that could be implemented through a system of naming-and-shaming, in which countries are given medals based on their efforts toward solving these problems in their countries. Brown and black medals would be awarded to criminal states, and this embarrassment might promote spontaneous internal pressure from younger voters who have been introduced to the global effects of these problems in school.

Rischard's book High Noon is used as a teaching tool in many schools. The efforts outlined by Rischard are intended to produce spontaneous sanctions and to be influenced by younger voters. For this to occur, students must leave school with a global mindset, with an understanding that they are global citizens first, national citizens second, and local citizens third.

Perhaps Rischard's speech was too much for the end of a busy Sunday evening and for the opening of ISTE 2010. While Rischard is obviously very intelligent and thoughtful, some of the ISTE crowd voted with its feet. I found Rischard's ideas logical but a bit unsettling, and I couldn't shake the feeling that I was somehow listening to a plan that might include some kind of indoctrination of school-age children. However, Rischard's ideas will no doubt promote much conversation at this conference, especially with the conference's global focus. I might have to read his book to help clarify my own thoughts about his ideas. I look forward to your thoughts!