Focus

Time's Person of the Year: You
Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2006 By LEV GROSSMAN
The "Great Man" theory of history is usually attributed to the Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who wrote that "the history of the world is but the biography of great men." He believed that it is the few, the powerful and the famous who shape our collective destiny as a species. That theory took a serious beating this year.

To be sure, there are individuals we could blame for the many painful and disturbing things that happened in 2006. The conflict in Iraq only got bloodier and more entrenched. A vicious skirmish erupted between Israel and Lebanon. A war dragged on in Sudan. A tin-pot dictator in North Korea got the Bomb, and the President of Iran wants to go nuclear too. Meanwhile nobody fixed global warming, and Sony didn't make enough PlayStation 3's.

But look at 2006 through a different lens and you'll see another story, one that isn't about conflict or great men. It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

The tool that makes this possible is the World Wide Web. Not the Web that Tim Berners-Lee hacked together (15 years ago, according to Wikipedia) as a way for scientists to share research. It's not even the overhyped dotcom Web of the late 1990s. The new Web is a very different thing. It's a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter. Silicon Valley consultants call it Web 2.0, as if it were a new version of some old software. But it's really a revolution.

And we are so ready for it. We're ready to balance our diet of predigested news with raw feeds from Baghdad and Boston and Beijing. You can learn more about how Americans live just by looking at the backgrounds of YouTube videos—those rumpled bedrooms and toy-strewn basement rec rooms—than you could from 1,000 hours of network television.

And we didn't just watch, we also worked. Like crazy. We made Facebook profiles and Second Life avatars and reviewed books at Amazon and recorded podcasts. We blogged about our candidates losing and wrote songs about getting dumped. We camcordered bombing runs and built open-source software.

America loves its solitary geniuses—its Einsteins, its Edisons, its Jobses—but those lonely dreamers may have to learn to play with others. Car companies are running open design contests. Reuters is carrying blog postings alongside its regular news feed. Microsoft is working overtime to fend off user-created Linux. We're looking at an explosion of productivity and innovation, and it's just getting started, as millions of minds that would otherwise have drowned in obscurity get backhauled into the global intellectual economy.

Who are these people? Seriously, who actually sits down after a long day at work and says, I'm not going to watch Lost tonight. I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguana? I'm going to mash up 50 Cent's vocals with Queen's instrumentals? I'm going to blog about my state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street? Who has that time and that energy and that passion?

The answer is, you do. And for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you.

Sure, it's a mistake to romanticize all this any more than is strictly necessary. Web 2.0 harnesses the stupidity of crowds as well as its wisdom. Some of the comments on YouTube make you weep for the future of humanity just for the spelling alone, never mind the obscenity and the naked hatred.

But that's what makes all this interesting. Web 2.0 is a massive social experiment, and like any experiment worth trying, it could fail. There's no road map for how an organism that's not a bacterium lives and works together on this planet in numbers in excess of 6 billion. But 2006 gave us some ideas. This is an opportunity to build a new kind of international understanding, not politician to politician, great man to great man, but citizen to citizen, person to person. It's a chance for people to look at a computer screen and really, genuinely wonder who's out there looking back at them. Go on. Tell us you're not just a little bit curious.

From: JSWski 12/12/2004 12:42 am
To: motcha121 (4 of 5)
36.4 in reply to 36.3

Yes, she was in therapy. You probably didn't notice that I wrote that message 4 1/2 years ago. As follow-up:

She made it through the next school year with therapy and support, but she quit the following June due to her anxiety. After some time recuperating and then getting married, she attempted to find a job outside of teaching. With the economy problems and being told "you're over-qualified" she had a terrible time finding work and went back to teaching. She lasted less than a week. She's now working selling tickets for a performing arts theater.

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From: motcha121 12/12/2004 12:54 am
To: JSWski (5 of 5)
36.5 in reply to 36.4
Gee. Sorry it didn't have a happy ending. I'm worried about me teaching too.
Well good luck.

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Teacher Education Issues - Teacher Education Discussion Forum notify me whenever anyone posts in this discussion

From: Dr K (TECHNOBO DelphiPlusMember Icon 6/30/1998 9:10 am
To: ALL (1 of 4)
1.1
Well, this is an attempt to generate some lively and interesting discussion about the subject of teacher education. There are a great deal of differing opinions about how teachers are best educated. This forum is intended for faculty who teach in schools of education, as well as education students to express opinions, share information, air gripes and differences, tell what works, or just about any other topic dealing with the education of teachers. It is intended that the information here be real, honest, and even provocative. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and post something.

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From: Dr K (TECHNOBO DelphiPlusMember Icon 8/1/1998 4:22 am
To: Guest unread (3 of 4)
1.3 in reply to 1.2
Raul:

I think that values education and values clarification would be a good topic for this forum, especially as it relates to teacher education. This forum is relatively new, but I think it will increase in activity, as the topic of teacher education is becoming important.

Best regards,

Bob

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From: Albainuria May-22 12:24 pm
To: ALL (4 of 4)
1.4 in reply to 1.1

Hello!
We are two girls studying for the Teacher Education degree and we would like to know your opinion about the following question:
"How can we promote multicultural education in the English classroom?"

We look forward to receiving some answers.

Thank you very much.

Alba and Núria.

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Discussion Forum

eimanshalash
Senior Member of Shell LiveWIRE

Registered: Feb 2005
Location: London
Posts: 482
Organising an exhibition for a niche market

This isn't about hiring a space for an exhibition ..this is about actually organising the whole event and making it an annual event!.

I'm currently working on a project that encourages more pupils into science, technology ,engineering, and maths (or STEM). I have contacts within each organisation that has a vested interest in this area. Am looking at bringing together industry/private sector businesses to inform on a grand scale schools in our region (to begin with London and South East) what is available for pupils.

It's like a careers event but am looking to make it more interactive.

Where would people even begin to bring such an idea to the fore? I'm currently looking ot bring together a team with a vision to help the student community gain access to the STEM industries and understand them.

Comments or feedback about this idea at all?

__________________
Mrs Eiman Munro

Loop Card Games
"Making learning fun"

eimanshalash is offline Old Post 23-02-2008 12:37 AM

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go4it
Senior Member

Registered: Feb 2006
Location: Sheffield
Posts: 226

Hi Eiman, we've chatted a few times before as I'm looking at starting an education / leisure related social enterprise.

I'm really interested in your careers card games. This year I had to teach a 4 week 'careers' block to Year 9 as part of PHSE. We had to use a resource called 'The Real Game' - lots of photocopied sheets and pretty dire. The students had to create a 'dream cloud' and cost up what they wanted in life, they were then given a job (no choice, we allocated them) with a set wage and they had to work out whether that job covered 'living the dream or not'. The class also completed Kudos as well, which is a very outdated computer programme that tells the students what jobs it thinks they will like.

The 4 weeks went OK, but for many students it was pointless. They had no idea what most of the jobs entailed, and had no concept of what they needed to do to get those jobs.

We also had 'Aim Higher' come in to do a talk / show, trying to get students to think about going to University. The show was OK but again it was nothing specific, most just saw it as 2 hours off their normal lessons.

I agree more needs to be done, it may be worth talking to Connexions as they seem to coordinate most of this stuff. One idea I can think of is a SMET show / day. It is common now for schools to select 10-30 students to take to an event for the day.

The best idea I saw was from a very 'out of the box' thinking media technician from a school. She printed out loads of posters around the time of A-Level Options choices. One had a picture of Jordan saying 'Want to be a plastic surgeon and get your hands on Jordan, then you need A-Level Biology, speak to your Science teacher NOW!'. The poster got taken down after a day but it got many students talking!

__________________
New social enterprise coming soon

go4it is offline Old Post 24-02-2008 08:04 PM

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eimanshalash
Senior Member

Registered: Feb 2005
Location: London
Posts: 482

go4it..thanks for your really helpful response. I was pleasantly happy to see someone called 'go4it' respond to the idea

Providence!

I'd love to chat further with you about the games. Though the project will go beyond just games...I'm looking at various things at the moment.

As always, research and funding is the main issue at the moment...not to mention time!

Although I set up originally as a social enterprise (or rather won a social entrepreneur award) the business has become a limited company by shares to attract investment as well as generate a profit.

__________________
Mrs Eiman Munro

Loop Card Games
"Making learning fun"

The Guardian Social Entrepreneurship Awards
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We're giving away £500,000 to social entrepreneurs
Earlier this year we teamed up with UnLtd, the foundation for social entrepreneurs, to give awards worth £500,000 to individuals around the UK who had innovative ideas to tackle social and environmental issues.

118 winners have each received a package of cash, plus individually tailored support to give their projects the best chance of success.
Award winners: Big Boost
Award winners: London and the south-east
Award winners: London and the south-east (continued)
Award winners: the north and Midlands
Award winners: Scotland
Award winners: Wales

More about the awards
UnLtd has been supporting thousands of exceptional social entrepreneurs for the past three years. This exciting collaboration with the Guardian will enable us to reach social entrepreneurs throughout the UK on an unprecedented scale.

We're looking to support a broad range of social entrepreneurs to help us maximise the impact created by the awards.

The five categories of awards are listed below. Individuals are not limited to these categories, which are for guidance only:
· Emerging young activists
· Transforming people's health
· Passion for the environment
· Bringing communities together (including working with refugees)
· Making profits for social purposes

What we're offering:
· Around £400,000 of awards of up to £5,000 (with an average of £3,000) for people who need help getting their project off the ground (Level 1)
· Approximately £100,000 of awards of up to £20,000 for individuals whose projects can be scaled up to create a sustained impact within their community (Level 2)
· Consultancy support for selected award winners from ?What If!, the world's leading independent innovation company

Entrepreneurs' diaries

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who will buy
Boo Armstrong, managing director of Get Well UK, imagines what the future may hold for her business.
Boo Armstrong - my life support
Boo Armstrong - with complements
Walk on
Jamie Wallace, founder of walkit.com, dreams of the day his critics eat their words.
Jamie Wallace - best foot forward
Jamie Wallace - two legs good

Exciting times
In his third diary report, Rajeeb Dey explains how his award marked a new phase of development.
Rajeeb Dey - all together now
Rajeeb Dey - my eureka moment

About UnLtd

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why social entrepreneurship?
Social entrepreneurs have the capacity to transform society in a way that resonates at a grassroots level.
What is a social entrepreneur?
What social entrepreneurs say
What is UnLtd?
UnLtd - the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs - is a charitable organisation founded on the belief that social entrepreneurs can be a powerful source of renewal in our society.
UnLtd resources

What is ?What If!
?What If! is the world's largest independent innovation company.

More about Everyday Legends
Everyday Legends tells the personal stories of 20 of the UK's leading social entrepreneurs and provides the reader with practical insights to take away and apply to their own challenge.
Buy the book

Funds promised to end skills shortage

Jessica Shepherd
Wednesday June 25, 2008
EducationGuardian.co.uk

The government addressed Britain's skills shortage today with a promise of £300m to train workers for jobs in construction, hospitality and manufacturing.
The innovation, universities and skills secretary, John Denham, has said Britain needs to train nearly two million workers in these and other sectors to remain globally competitive.

The £300m will be spent over the next three years and comes from Train to Gain, Labour's programme to persuade employers to improve workforce skills.

Its budget was £520m for 2007-08 and will rise to £1bn by 2010-11.

The construction industry will receive £133m of the sum, hospitality £112m and manufacturing and processing £62m.

The construction industry's training body, ConstructionSkills, said the funds would help beat "major skills shortages". It said it needed over half a million new entrants in the next five years.

It will use the money to, among other things, create 8,500 apprenticeships.

The government is expected to announce similar funds for other sectors with skills shortages, such as IT and engineering, in the coming months.

Denham said: "Industries such as construction, hospitality and processing are key to our future prosperity, but there is a need for more highly-trained people if we are to continue to lead the world in an increasingly competitive global economy.

"The success of our country will depend on doing even more to increase people's skills and their ability to gain jobs in growing and successful industries, such as these.

"If we're going to skill people for the jobs of the future, then we must work closely with employers to identify those needs and ensure that training providers are ready to deliver. We've listened to employers and taken action to remove barriers to training. Now we must take it one step further."

Web 2.0: boon or bane for universities?

For some the advantages are limitless but the very strength of the technology also poses inherent risks. Harriet Swain weighs the pros and cons

Monday May 12, 2008
EducationGuardian.co.uk

To find out what the interactive communication tools known as web 2.0 could mean for universities, it is worth looking at the YouTube clip "A Vision of Students Today".

Created by students and faculty in cultural anthropology of Kansas State University, it opens with a student eye view of an empty lecture theatre, before presenting the findings of a survey into the student experience through placards held up by individual students.

These findings, drawn from responses by 133 of the 200 students surveyed, are interesting in themselves. They show that on average respondents expected to read eight books, 2,300 web pages, and 1,281 Facebook profiles that semester. While they would write 42 pages for class, they would write another 500 pages of emails.

But the clip is revealing in other ways, too. First, created from an online text edited 367 times by 200 students, it involved students surveying themselves, demonstrating how useful web 2.0 can be for universities in market research. At the same time, it is an example of how effective web 2.0 technologies are in projects involving collaboration.

It then shows how much more interesting it can be to present survey results through these technologies than through a traditional paper-based report - something worth passing on to any learner graduating in the post web 2.0 era.

All this marks a revolution in the way higher education is organised and delivered. Brian Kelly, UK web focus at UKoln, the national centre of expertise in digital information management, says that two years ago everyone was wondering whether web 2.0 had any relevance for higher education - "I think that's generally accepted now."

Les Watson, interim director of information services at Royal Holloway, University of London, and a consultant for the Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc), which supports universities' online activities, goes further. "Anyone who thinks about learning and teaching and looks at these technologies cannot avoid taking advantage of them," he says.

Universities are indeed taking advantage of web 2.0, although not in a uniform way. Some lecturers are allowing students access to podcasts and videos of their lectures. Others are encouraging students to collaborate through wikis and using RSS feeds to organise their own work. Many are now giving feedback on essays through Skype and using social networking sites both for their own research and to encourage student debate. Still others conduct seminars on Second Life.

Watson says Royal Holloway, which is redesigning its library, set up a Facebook site asking for suggestions from students about what they would like to see provided in the new space. Within 24 hours 200 students had registered comments - many of them constructive, although Watson admits: "You also had a few people with an axe to grind."

This highlights the fact that web 2.0 presents dangers too. One institution reported three examples of serious problems in one year involving students' use of the new technology including the victim of a student scuffle using Facebook to identify the address of his attacker, and getting his revenge.

And there are other difficulties too. First, it tends to be individual academics who are driving innovative use of the technology in learning, which can present problems when those academics move on, or when they want support from their institution's centralised IT systems.

Assessment also becomes more difficult when academics are not merely having to assign marks to a heap of scripts but to wade through student podcasts and video clips or Second Life presentations.

There is also the fear that, if students have access to podcasts and YouTube videos of lectures, they may not bother turning up to the real thing. And who owns the copyright to these podcasts - the lecturer? The institution that employs him or her to lecture? No one?

Meanwhile, there are issues over who should be responsible if students or lecturers say something online that results in litigation against the university.

Then there is the issue of control. A lecturer involved in a discussion on a public social networking site is operating in a forum that belongs not to his or her institution but to the students, and, ultimately to the private company that runs the site. This company may at some point decide to make commercial use of the information on the site, or to withdraw its services.

Peter Tinsen, executive secretary of Ucisa, the Universities Information Systems Association, says it also puts institutions at the mercy of fashion in terms of the collaborative space they use. "Facebook has been flavour of the month up until now, although it tends to be My Space abroad," he says. "But Facebook has seen a decline in the number of users. Does that mean the next big thing will be, for example, Second Life and we will have to move resources into that area?"

Many of these dangers are surmountable. Institutions are issuing guidelines to students about how to keep safe while social networking, and students are still turning up to lectures. But copyright and intellectual property issues involved in web 2.0 remain vague, and it is not yet entirely clear how far students want universities invading their online space.

A survey carried out for Jisc last year showed that 65% of sixth formers hoping to go to university used social networking sites, but most failed to see how they could be used for teaching and resented the idea that academics could interfere in a forum they saw as primarily social.

Most of those involved in universities' use of web 2.0 nevertheless insist that institutions should not become overcautious. "Universities should be risk-taking organisations, says Kelly. "Learning is a risky process."

Funds promised to end skills shortage

Jessica Shepherd
Wednesday June 25, 2008
EducationGuardian.co.uk

The government addressed Britain's skills shortage today with a promise of £300m to train workers for jobs in construction, hospitality and manufacturing.

The innovation, universities and skills secretary, John Denham, has said Britain needs to train nearly two million workers in these and other sectors to remain globally competitive.

The £300m will be spent over the next three years and comes from Train to Gain, Labour's programme to persuade employers to improve workforce skills.

Its budget was £520m for 2007-08 and will rise to £1bn by 2010-11.

The construction industry will receive £133m of the sum, hospitality £112m and manufacturing and processing £62m.

The construction industry's training body, ConstructionSkills, said the funds would help beat "major skills shortages". It said it needed over half a million new entrants in the next five years.

It will use the money to, among other things, create 8,500 apprenticeships.

The government is expected to announce similar funds for other sectors with skills shortages, such as IT and engineering, in the coming months.

Denham said: "Industries such as construction, hospitality and processing are key to our future prosperity, but there is a need for more highly-trained people if we are to continue to lead the world in an increasingly competitive global economy.

"The success of our country will depend on doing even more to increase people's skills and their ability to gain jobs in growing and successful industries, such as these.

"If we're going to skill people for the jobs of the future, then we must work closely with employers to identify those needs and ensure that training providers are ready to deliver. We've listened to employers and taken action to remove barriers to training. Now we must take it one step further."

Student with three GCSEs wins award for going to university

Anthea Lipsett
Friday June 27, 2008
EducationGuardian.co.uk

A student at Salford University has won an Aimhigher award for going to university despite having only three GCSEs - and making a video diary documenting her life there.

Danielle Simpson won the title of "higher education learner" in Salford as part of the national Aimhigher scheme, which encourages people from deprived backgrounds to go to university.

Simpson, who is doing a two-year foundation degree in sport and leisure management at Salford University, made a video diary called My So Called Student Life, which helps to show young people what university life is really like.

Simpson left school with only three GCSEs and no thoughts about going to university. But, after getting involved with the Aimhigher scheme, she discovered that she could go to university and study what she is passionate about: sport, particularly women's football.

"I didn't do very well at school, and I thought I probably wouldn't be able to go to university," she said.

"The Aimhigher scheme showed me that there were different ways of getting into university, not just through having A-levels, and I'm now finishing my first year at Salford University.

"I realised that anyone can go to university - no matter what their background. I've proved that anyone can go if they really want to."

The Aimhigher award, for which Simpson was nominated by her peers and tutors, recognises the great academic improvement she has made.

"Eventually I want to work in sports development. In my spare time I play on a five-a-side girl's football team and hope to encourage more girls to play football," she said.

Munira Patel from the University of Bolton won the other higher education learner award.

Jo Wiggans, director of Aimhigher Greater Manchester, said: "Every one of the winners is special and every one will represent many others who were not fortunate enough to be nominated for an award.

"It takes courage to aim high, and hard work and determination to succeed. [The awards] are about rewarding the achievements of young people and adult learners and about recognising the commitment of those whose energy and ideas support these learners on their path to higher education."

The Aimhigher scheme has just launched the 2008 national awards to recognise the achievements of less traditional learners

No novels necessary for new-look English GCSE

Anthea Lipsett
Friday June 27, 2008
EducationGuardian.co.uk

Pupils can choose to study biographies or travel brochures and avoid classic novels altogether in a shake-up of GCSE English unveiled yesterday by the qualifications regulator.

New-look GCSEs in English, mathematics and information and communications technology (ICT) will be taught from September 2010.

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) released draft syllabuses for consultation yesterday.

There will be three English GCSEs on offer, rather than the two at present; "English" joins English literature and English language.

For the new course, pupils will be assessed on their skills in reading, as well as writing, speaking and listening, but could pass without studying plays, classic novels or poetry.

The emphasis will be on learning through "real-life contexts" - such as giving information, explanations or directions - and on students' "creative approaches".

The QCA said: "The emphasis is on students using their skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing for real-life purposes in a wide range of contexts. This will develop and enhance students' skills and confidence and so encourage success in the qualifications."

The exam is described as a practical alternative to taking two GCSEs in English language and literature and for "those who might not wish to tackle the reading in English literature".

The English language exam has also been revamped and is billed as "an attractive stand-alone course" for students who have English as an additional language and for post-16s who need a language qualification but would not wish to tackle the reading requirements of the English literature course.

"For such students, this course offers the benefit of being grounded firmly in how language is used, how it works and how it varies in the real world," the QCA said.

Dr Ken Boston, the QCA's chief executive, said: "The skills of English, mathematics and ICT are vital for young people to progress successfully from the GCSE into other education, training or employment.

"The proposed revisions ensure that the functional skills of English, mathematics and ICT will be fully covered by the GCSE in these subjects in the future.

"The development of GCSEs by QCA and regulation by Ofqual ensures that the standards and the comparability of these qualifications are maintained.

"We have already introduced controlled assessments to safeguard the integrity and quality of the GCSE."