Digital Thoughts ibrary.com

The single most important thing we can do is to create an "empowering environment" where we transform "students having to learn" to "students wanting to learn". Read One Parent's Perspective!

Our 150 year old educational delivery system that was built for the" printing press", not the "internet"

There is a "Digital Disconnect" and Generation Gap between the "Digital Natives" (our kids) and the "Digital Immigrants (parents). I would suggest we have a "Digital and Information Literacy" crisis...read Marc Pransky's "Engage Me or Enrage Me" and "Digital Natives and Digital immigrants".

The true need is a complete overhaul of the legacy educational "delivery system"

Billions of dollars are spent (wasted) on text books, which are dated the day they come off the printing press. We hand our kids an "etcha sketch" (an old book) when they want a "playstation" (an internet learning device "ILD")". "Digital Enablement" is disruptive to educational delivery and becomes an enabler to move from "teachers teaching" to "students learning". Web enablement transforms the role of the teacher from the "sage on the stage" paradigm to "guide on the side"....bringing best of breed information to the classroom in all subject matters, real time. Our kids are ready for it...all in the name of a new paradigm...the enabling of "engaged student learning". See The Report of 21st Century Literacy Summit

Change is going to take bold leadership, vision and communication

Most importantly, change is going to be driven by parents who want to be involved are going to need to take the time to invest in their thoughts and opinions...and it can't be based on what it was like when "we went to school". For things to change, parents are going to need to be passionate about learning about best practices, the global competitive challenges and what life will be like for our kids in the 21st century. See Partnership For 21st Century Learning Skills.

Candid Statement From College Student

"Honestly, the only reason any one of my college friends use the library is for group meetings."

A Great Analogy

For their grandparents, the bicycle was a symbol of childhood independence. Today, for many kids and young adults, it is the Internet.

Today's Student

Children who were born when Netscape Communications went public are now 10 years old and have been raised on a steady diet of digital technologies that have fundamentally shaped their notions of literacy, intelligence, friendship and even the anxious adolescent process of learning who they are.

Does this Culture Exist at Your School or School District?

"So, let's not just adopt technology into our schools. Let's adapt it, push it, pull it, iterate with it, experiment with it, test it, and redo it, until we reach the point where we and our kids truly feel we've done our very best. Then, let's push it and pull it some more. And let's do it quickly, so the twenty-second century doesn't catch us by surprise with too much of our work undone. A big effort? Absolutely. But our kids deserve no less. (Marc Prensky)

Western Academy of Beijing Vision Statement!

"WAB is a school with a wonderful atmosphere and energy. It has a real passion for teaching and learning and is driven by beliefs in what is important in education for young people in the 21st century, and that the international experience and living in China provides a unique opportunity to develop intercultural understanding".

Industrial Age Curriculum

"If there's only one way to find or read a book, to a child it doesn't make any sense," said Allison Druin, associate professor of the university's College of Information Studies and director of its book project, which was started in November 2002. "Our traditional educational tools limit how children access information to learn or fit us into one way of learning things.