David Thornburg TOPICS: Future Communication Globalization FEE CATEGORY:* 5.0k to 10.0k TRAVELS FROM: California Profile Program Outlines Request This Speaker

David Thornburg: Program Outlines

When the Best is Free: An educator's perspective on open source software

As schools work to increase the number of computers in student hands in the face of declining technology budgets, it is important to explore how to save scarce money without reducing the quality of software being used by students and teachers alike. This dynamic presentation, based on the presenter's most recent book, looks at a hand-picked collection of open source and other free software that not only helps reduce software budgets, but provides very high quality tools for everything from word processing to galactic exploration.

Furthermore, every title explored in this presentation runs on all three major educational computing platforms, Linux, Windows and Macintosh, insuring that you'll be able to start saving money immediately no matter which computing platform you now own.

Running With Scissors: Life on the Bleeding Edge

There are two ways of thinking about change in educational practice: extrapolation from the past, and anticipation of the future. Not surprisingly, many current applications of technology in education are extrapolations of practice developed years ago. This presentation by two pioneers in the field (one old, one young) explores the use of powerful technologies that break the mold of past practice to foster creative processes in students as they develop mastery of core subjects in completely new ways that address the diversity of their backgrounds and learning styles. The technologies explored in this presentation are currently being developed in research labs throughout the world. Some of them will come to market soon, and some will not. All of them, however, are worth knowing about since they point to new ways of thinking about technology that can be applied to the tools we have at our disposal today.

Imagine a learning environment in which virtual worlds appear as immersive three-dimensional objects you can manipulate as if they were physical objects. Imagine a paintbrush that can pick up colors from physical objects and then paint with these colors on a screen. Imagine a dance floor where students can explore advanced physics concepts through body movement with feedback provided by inexpensive intelligent objects carried by each child. Imagine a school laboratory where students can build just about anything he or she can think up – a new bicycle, or an alarm clock that wakes you up when you get more than twenty e-mails.

All of these developments, and more, will be explored in this session in the context of inquiry-driven project-based learning.

March of The Penguins: Linux on the Student Desktop

Years ago the raging debate between Macintosh and Windows users hid the fact that Linux was gaining proponents worldwide. Today, amid the turmoil of Apple's move to the Intel chip and Microsoft's unwillingness to create a reliable operating system, the door has sprung wide open for the Linux penguin to show up on student desktops all over the world, with major installations taking place in schools on several continents, and the recent decision by Indiana to provide a Linux-based computer to every high school student in the state.

This presentation shows the capabilities and challenges of Linux as an operating system for students, and explores the likely evolution of this most serious challenge yet to the computational status quo in education. We'll also explore the current (and future) status of educational software and resources (both commercial and free) that run on this virtually crash-free operating system.

Tropicália and Technology: Planetary Forces for Social Change

Modern computers and global communication tools can be a force for positive social change worldwide. This presentation suggests that if telematic tools were widely distributed, this would have a positive impact on the many problems being faced by too many of this planet's inhabitants.

The presentation explores the challenges and possible solutions to bring powerful technologies into the hands of all learners, wherever they are. These challenges include:

• Cost, including the cost of providing electricity and communication access to remote villages in many countries where these resources are scarce or virtually non-existent.
• Cultural relevance, not the blind imposition of Western tools and mind-sets on people in countries and cultures that, in many cases, can predate those in the west by thousands of years.
• The need to look at cultures as dynamic living entities with the power to surprise and delight those who encounter them.

From such diverse topics as open source software and ethnomathematics, the presenter will explore these topics through the eyes of the Brazilian tropicália movement, and connect it to student computer use based on strategies that can bring powerful telematic tools to all students, worldwide, in a way that embraces multiple cultures in support of student learning.

If the World Is Flat, Why Is My Head Spinning?

This presentation, addressed in the presenter's book, The New Basics, looks at the current global environment from an educator's perspective and provides the rationale for the changes needed in US education for us to thrive in the future.

Based on the presenter's experience exploring educational practice and the connection between education and the economy from Brazil to Singapore, this session provides updated data on the challenges and opportunities facing our schools, with special focus in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. But far from being purely focused on these topics, the need for strengthening the arts is also addressed. Learn about the successes of students who, for example, have degrees in engineering and fine arts as they forge their way to success in this dynamic world. See research breakthroughs that point to an increasingly interesting life for everyone! Learn about the “new migrant worker” who sees the planet as a workplace.

Move beyond the rhetoric of the “flat world” to a deeper understanding of how we got where we are today, where we are headed, and what education should become for your own children to be able to support your retirement in the manner you deserve!

* Please note that while this speaker's specific fee falls within the range posted at the top of this page (for Continental U.S. based events), fees are subject to change without notice. Also note that most celebrity keynotes begin in the $25,000 and up range (most list "Contact for Fee Schedule"). For current fee information or international event fees, please contact your Speakers Platform representative.