10,000 Young People: Designing the Future

Ever wondered what 10,000 young people could do to solve some of the world’s greatest problems? That’s what NoTosh is wanting to find out this month as we help reinvent the world’s most important ICT event, ITU Telecom World 11.

The October 24-27 event is the flagship meeting of the world’s telecoms industries, brought together by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the specialised United Nations agency responsible for information and communication technologies. In the run up to the event, and during it, we’ll be showcasing the ideas of young people, aged 8-18, alongside the debates, panels and corridor discussions of these influential delegates.

I recall how I felt after attending WISE a few years ago, a little numb with all the talk and a firm realisation that the conference was too far removed from the experiences of teachers and students. I am confident that this will be different.

5019040919 610acfe576 bIt’s a real chance for your students to make a global impact on problems that matter, wherever they are. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime real world project-based learning opportunity, that ties into most teachers’ curriculum at any given point in the year.

We’re providing some brief points of inspiration to get you started, over the seven key themes, and will then open up a wiki space where teachers can collaborate and add to each other’s resources on the areas. Our first theme, appropriately, is how can we provide an education for all?

By October 24, we hope to have videos, photos, blogs and examples or prototypes of what young people believe might help solve challenges on their own doorstep. We want you to tell us how technology could be harnessed to:

  • alleviate poverty and hunger
  • improve education for all
  • address gender inequality
  • make sure everyone has access to health care
  • protect our environment
  • make disabled people’s lives easier
  • close the gap between the developed and developing world
To take part, you just have to sign up your interest, and from there you’re able to submit posts to the project.
Photo by Steven Kim

Can teachers stand idle any longer?

In last Friday’s Times Educational Supplement an article I had written was published about the use of social networking in schools. It seems to me that we are getting to a point where children in schools are experiencing a hidden social curriculum that we are no longer part of, this is especially the case for their use of social networking. In my own words:

Social networking should be taught more widely and in more depth in schools. No longer are we able to stick our heads in the sand about these communication tools. Nor should educators distance themselves from using them.

The paragraphs that were missing from the piece went as follows:

This is not simply about how much time students spend learning about social networking in GCSE ICT. This is an issue for every subject and teacher, a system wide issue, a social issue that needs the whole school to act, and it won’t just take the one or two teachers who use Twitter or write a blog to do it.

Those of us who are willing should take steps to develop a more supportive and positive ethos around the role of social networking in learning, school and society. Those who are unwilling need to get out of the way, because where we continue to remain idle we further disadvantage our students.

Teach it, don’t fight it” was published in the TES magazine on 16 September, 2011