Welcome to #140edu: Exploring the State of Education NOW

This event will be taking place August 2nd and 3rd at the 92nd Street Y (1395 Lexington Avenue) in New York City. The event will be broadcast live on both days. To get notified when the broadcast starts, signup for the broadcast over at: http://ustream.com/nyc140conf

Ever since the first #140conf event in New York City back in June 2009, we have been looking at the effects of the real-time web on Education. To date, the #140conf events have provided a platform for: students, elementary and secondary school teachers, college professors and high school principals. At a recent #140conf it was said that “in 1920 being illiterate meant not being able to read or write. In 2010 being illiterate means not knowing how to surf the net.”

In an attempt to provide more attention and more voices to the educators of the world, we have partnered with Chris Lehmann (@chrislehmann) – Principal of the Science Leadership Academyin Philadelphia.

It is the goal of both Jeff Pulver and Chris Lehmann to take a hard look at the State of Education NOW and provide a platform for educators, parents, students, administrators, school boards, together with anyone and everyone with a vested interest in the state of education a chance to be heard and ideas shared and explored.

Since the birth of the real-time Internet, many educational institutions around the world have found themselves establishing a presence on both Facebook and twitter and have been challenged with the task of having to having to have someone (or a team) represent their school and become their online and physical voice for their students. For many schools this is something both new and challenging.

The growing widespread popularity of cell phones have ushered in the era of both texting and sexting and other related disruptions. Some schools have restricted the use of cell phones in schools while other schools have eventually embraced it.

Some teachers are reachable on their cell phones and remind students of their homework assignments and answer questions about homework. The evolution of the 7 AM to 3PM lifestyle to a 24/7 lifestyle is changing the students connect with both other students and their teachers.

Ever since the launch of Facebook, K-12 schools around the world have been dealing with the unintended consequences of “friending” in the classroom and the issues it raises. Facebook forces the issue of “friending,” be it between students and students, students and teachers, parents and teachers and sometimes between students and Principals and Parents and Principals. Some schools have banned the use of Facebook and others have embraced it only to realize that students are smarter than school policies and in the end they will decide how they communicate and with whom.

And it isn’t only Facebook.

twitter has become a popular platform for educators from around the world to discover and connect with each other. The #edchat chats continue to grow. In a world that has become flat, educators are just a tweet away from each other and each day they continue to discover and explore common ground and are sharing experiences and observations for how to best approach education in the era of the real-time web.

The changes in the way we live our lives must create change in the way we teach and learn. The real-time web should create profound changes in the way we think about what, how and why students and teachers can do, create and communicate. The very nature of what we consider “school” should be radically different given the powerful reach of the communicate tools our students have at their disposal. #140edu is dedicated to exploring and expanding that change.

Share your voice. Join us #140edu.