Today's world is different for our children, vastly different from the one we grew up in. The technologies we take for granted or simply don't understand have become an integral part of our children's identities. These technologies saturate practically every aspect of their daily lives. This digital bombardment is shaping who they are and who they will become. We must realize they live in a different world, and speak a different language. If we ever want to take a part in nurturing those who will be the architects of our future, it's up to us to learn that language and step into that world, to allow them to lead us in as much as we must lead them so that we may truly understand the digital generation.
Ian Jukes is the founder of the InfoSavvy Group, an international educational leadership consulting firm. Professionally, Ian has been a classroom teacher; teaching every grade from Kindergarten to Grade 12; a school, school district, and Ministry leader; a university professor; a keynote speaker; and an international consultant. He has worked with clients in more than 80 countries and made more than 12,000 presentations. He has written or co-written 19 books and 9 education series. His most recent books include the award-winning Reinventing Learning For the Always-On Generation, Teaching the Digital Generations, Living on the Future Edge, Understanding the Digital Generation, Literacy Is Not Enough, and his latest, just released, A Brief History of the Future of Education.
First and foremost, however, Ian is a passionate educational evangelist. His focus continues to be on the compelling need to restructure our educational institutions so that they become relevant to the current and future needs of the digital generation - and to prepare learners for their future and not just society's past.