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Jan 15, 2001
Editor's Desk
Citizen's of the Planet
by Susan McLester
Because this month marks the official beginning of the new millennium, it seems particularly appropriate for our cover article to focus on international perspectives in the world of education technology. We all like to speak of how the Internet is shrinking the world at a rapid rate. At last year's Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) conference, it came home to me how European countries are much more cognizant of being part of a world mosaic than we here in the United States. There, representatives from Finland, Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany, and other countries talked about their school networks and their initiatives for education. Their concerns with staff development, partnerships, preservice training, and similar issues demonstrated how much we have in common. On the other hand, their shared goals of using the Internet to promote global cooperation and to create communities of learning among nations also brought up some fundamental differences. I think it's time we placed global citizenship among our top priorities, as well.
The international schools we highlight in this month's feature are just a single aspect of the global view we plan to continue presenting to you throughout this and coming years via our Global Passport column and other T&L departments, articles on techLEARNING.com, and presentations at our SchoolTech Expo conferences in New York and Chicago.
Beginning on page 24, we take a look at schools on four continents: Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. As you'll see, they have unique challenges to face, such as "long and frequent" power outages or the time and expense of transporting software and other supplies to their sometimes-remote locations. But of greatest concern perhaps is the digital divide and the juxtaposition of these relatively well supplied International schools with the public schools just down the road that are without any technology whatsoever.
This month's Picks of the Month and Web Sightings departments present additional dimensions to the international theme, with a review of Southpeak's The Ellis Island Experience and descriptions of several excellent sites for helping kids learn about immigration and universal human rights.
Finally, I'd like to mention the Web site "An End to World Hunger: Hope for the Future". This ambitious site, a collaborative effort of students from the United States, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom, was presented with a Digital Diplomacy Award-the first education award ever created by the U.S. Department of State for the public.
On a different front, a heads-up on changes you can expect to see in T&L this year include a new format for Trend Watch, which we'll be running monthly to provide you with timely updates in a number of areas, and a more robust presence of the print magazine on the techLEARNING.com Web site. Look for our new logo directing you to our site in Web Sightings and other departments this month.
In conclusion, all of us here at T&L would like to wish you a very happy and harmonious new year. We hope to help make it one of the best ever.
Susan McLester
Editor-in-Chief
Read other articles from the January Issue
Send a letter to the Editor in response to this article.
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