Three panelists, a moderator, and a select group of journalists discuss how to radically reshape learning for the 21st century. The panelists for this forum are Milton Goldberg, Monica Martinez, Randy Nelson and moderator David Sibbet.
"Unless we profoundly change our thinking and policies about when, where, and how children learn, our progress as an economy and as a society will end."
Dr. Goldberg is a nationally-recognized leader in education policy, research and practice. As executive director of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, he issued the landmark report, A Nation at Risk, which is credited with starting the education reform movement. Prisoners of Time, released by the congressionally-created National Commission on Time and Learning during Goldberg's tenure as executive director, called for new ways to improve student achievement in and out of school. Goldberg served as director of the U.S. Department of Education Office of Research. He is one of a growing number of education thought leaders who are calling for a new, expanded view of learning and a radical restructuring of our education system.
"Our public education system will become obsolete unless it embraces a new vision for learning that factors in the cultural and technological forces that are reshaping our society."
Dr. Martinez, vice president for education strategy at the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, guides the foundation's work to transform the national education landscape. Martinez has contributed to several policy and research initiatives to reform education including efforts to improve the quality of teaching and supporting the development of small schools in New York City. She founded the National High School Alliance, a partnership of more than 40 organizations sharing a common commitment to promoting excellence, equity, and development of high-school-age youth, while she was at the Institute for Educational Leadership in Washington D.C.
"In the short term, the education feels good to the individual. The long-term of that comes back to the company. You have to have a certain mix in your measure of facts, figures, and feelings."
Mr. Nelson has a degree in Fine Art from the University of Santa Clara. As a teenager, a passion for animation led him to computer programming. He has taught software development for the last 30 years. Nelson was one of the founders of the juggling group the Flying Karamazov Brothers, and worked in live theater, film and television for more than a decade. He has worked as a computer animator, led developer training for NeXT Computer, worked on Java at Sun Microsystems, and was a senior instructional designer for Apple Computer. Today, Randy uses his art, film, theater, animation, software, training and juggling experience daily as the dean of Pixar University, providing training and education for all of Pixar's employees.
"Learning to rise above self interest and collaborate in inventing new forms of organization and relationships that will not deplete the planet, but help it thrive, is the challenge of our times. This is nowhere more critical than in how we educate our children."
Mr. Sibbet's explorations in graphic facilitation, strategic visioning, and collaborative process design have revolutionized the field of organization development. For eight years, in the 1970's, he was executive director and director of training for the Coro Foundation, a leadership development institute known for its pioneering work in experience-based education. He regularly designs and leads strategy, visioning, future forces, and large-scale system change processes for clients throughout the world. He is a former Chicago Tribune journalist and the author of several books.
