by Katie Lovett, Chair of CoSN
So last weekend, I rushed to the airport to catch a flight. After a little angst over traffic congestion in Atlanta, and then more angst over concourse C being shut down at Hartsfield-Jackson and flights being cancelled - - - I finally made it to Finland. After being here a few days, I was quickly reminded that very seldom an opportunity comes my way to be fully immersed in learning with colleagues from across the country and around the globe; keeping in mind that this week we are in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark.
Since last Friday, I have seen the latest technology in mobile devices; I have conversed at length with industry executives about the value of ICT in education; visited schools to see effective use of ICT in Helsinki and Copenhagen; saw support models for ICT through a central support media center; learned a great deal about governance of education in Finland and Sweden and shared best practices in ICT with fellow educators.
One of my first WOW’s was a high tech cell phone that has the potential of replacing the laptop. In the US we continue to look for 1:1 computing devices and in reality, the market is promising other devices that are much smaller, easier to use and cheaper.
Throughout the week, there has been a dominate theme around ICT in education. We all know and recognize that ICT is imperative and we have lots of evidence that there is a solid impact on learning when ICT is imbedded within the learning process. All week we are seeing a common vision for education but how we achieve the vision varies within our different cultures. We can say with a high degree of confidence that there is an ICT value proposition - - - and we must stay focused on our vision for all children, locally and globally. As quoted in a session earlier this week about ICT within education; “The future has already happened, it’s just unequally distributed (William Gibson).
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