Seth Ruef 'Get's with IT'

The ISD ES Choir conducted by Mr. Ian Thompson performed these two pieces:

Colors of the World
Make Peace

After this musical introduction, Neil McWilliam, Director of ISD opened the formal part of the conference with an overview of the realities of a fast moving world and the relevance of content that is growing and evolving.

Keynote speaker at the ECIS IT07 conference today is Seth Ruef from the International School of Luxembourg. Seth gave a sincere and passionate talk about how he sees teaching and the role of IT in this ever complicated world.

Notes from Seth's keynote:
Seth ponders his contribution to the educational field. He speaks about the globalization of education and a celebration of teaching. Appropriate technology to assist us in learning. "Communication is one of the best impacts of modern IT"

IT natives: use of terminology, speaking a new language, new experiences

Digital divide between young people today (born post 1987?) and us as (more mature) educators. Historical perspective is different now for our students.
IT has had a tremendous impact on teaching and learning...Seth relates 'before' and 'after' scenarios. eg Before students who missed school, missed school, NOW students logon. Before, students were given knowledge, NOW they create it!
We teach WITH technology now, not ABOUT it.
The great schools today never stop looking at themselves. Evaluation and re-evaluation is essential.

Ethics is what remains when creating global citizens. Never let them think technology is an excuse or reason to do wrong things...plagiarism, bullying, theft is wrong online or off.

Issues such as online music being free(?), use of digital literacy tools.

Define your passion: what gets you out of bed before your alarm goes off in the morning??
The challenge is to find yours and follow it.

Teachers follow a noble cause and we should celebrate this.

Seth's Keynote complete Speech Notes (pdf)
Seth's Speech - LoFi mp3 stream

Technorati Tags: ecisit ecisit07 sethruef