Dr. Yong Zhao Podcast

Dr. Yong Zhao, from Michigan State University, was the keynote speaker at the Building Learning Communities Conference in Boston, MA. (July 2007)   The title of his keynote is Digital Citizenship in a Global Economy: the Internet Revolution and its Implications for Education.  The audio from this keynote was published by Alan November this past week.  His message is clear:  we need to rethink how we are preparing our students for the global marketplace.  In the USA, we're making some strides in reading and mathematics, thanks to NCLB.  However, even if we are doing as well as or even a bit better than other countries, it is doubtful that our students will earn a job if competing with students from India or China, because it is cheaper to hire workers from these other countries.  Therefore, we must nourish new talents that involve creativity, and we must use up-and-coming technology tools in the process.  He mentioned the need for educators to read Daniel Pink's book, A Whole New Mind: Information Age in the Conceptual Age. 

This podcast is one that I want to re-listen to in the near future, as it is very thought-provoking.  It certainly worked as a pep talk for me today. 

You can listen to the podcast through iTunes by searching for the November Learning Podcast Series, and then selecting the Nov 21, 2007 episode.  If you prefer to not use iTunes, click here. 

Technorati Tags: YongZhao DanielPink AlanNovember