How can educators keep up with the "digital natives," today's generation of youth who were raised in a world of information technology and to whom it therefore comes naturally? And, perhaps more importantly, how can educators prepare all students for the challenges of an increasingly global workforce and society, regardless of their socio-economic background or abilities?

These were the key questions posed during the Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC) in Orlando March 22-24. Speakers and attendees at one of the largest educational technology conferences in the nation aimed to answer these questions with the help of keynote speeches, more than 200 concurrent sessions, and an exhibit hall featuring more than 500 ed-tech companies.

Preparing students for citizenship in an increasingly global society was the theme of the opening keynote speaker, Rudy Crew, who gave an inspiring and thought-provoking presentation. The former commissioner for the New York City Public Schools, Crew now heads Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the nation's fourth largest school system, where he has implemented the lofty goal that every student will graduate from high school fully prepared for college or the work force of tomorrow.

"Technology ought to be thought of as a road to hope," Crew told the appreciative crowd, many of whom nodded their heads in agreement. "This is about giving children a portion of a world that they themselves didn't even know they could have."

Crew said it's not enough to prepare students to meet state standards of achievement. Educators, he said, also must ensure that students are "occupationally prepared" for success in " a shrinking globe."

"Globalization is an economic reality," Crew said. Arguing that an understanding of other nations--how they trade, how they think, what languages they speak--is increasingly critical for success, he called on attendees to start a dialog in their communities about the need for new levels of literacy--such as occupational literacy, civic literacy, and even personal literacy--that go beyond the core academic standards set by states.

"Bubbling in on a test sheet...is insufficient," Crew said, adding that nations in Europe and Asia are "eating our lunch" because they connect the experience of students in the classroom to the outside world.

"These adequacies"--these notions of what it takes to be a fully functioning human being in an increasingly global society--must "travel alongside the conversation about technology literacy," Crew said.

At the end of the day, he concluded, education is about all children leaving school with a personal sense of worth, a moral center, and the occupational skills and cultural awareness to make a living for themselves and their families in an increasingly global world. "That's why we still have our shoulder to the wheel," he said.

Fighting the 'resistance to change'