Information Age

Dispatches from the Imagination Age, New York, New York, April 30, 2009
Rita J. King

We’ve just returned from a fascinating townhall in Metaplace, featuring Louisiana State Representative Nancy Landry, Louisiana Superintendent of Education, Paul Pastorek and Metaplace founder and President, Raph Koster in conversation with a group of Louisiana middle school students. The event was organized by 3D Squared and F. Margret Atkinson.

The conversation covered an enthusiastic and informed cross-section of topics including how politics work and the future of digital education in Louisiana. Raph Koster began with an important point: “I think the thing that most strikes me about an event like this is the fact that citizenship is the same whether it exists in the real world or a digital framework.”

Coincidentally, the Louisiana State Legislature and the Office of Governor Bobby Jindal is discussing this very week the future of Louisiana’s digital education investment strategy. The legislature has added language to support and augment the work of 3D Squared and LITE (about which Rita J. King wrote recently in VentureBeat). But the funding is not guaranteed. Based on the powerful, transformative experience we just had attending the Digital Workforce Initiative, we believe that the kind of work that 3D Squared and LITE are doing is critical in helping to prepare students to work in a 21st Century Economy. The concept is so powerful and visionary, we believe it can serve as a template for national and global economic and educational transformation.

There are a couple of key Louisiana legislators who will have an impact on whether LITE and 3D Squared receives funding for next year. We encourage you to contact them and tell them to vote in support of renewing funding for LITE and 3D Squared.

  • Representative Karen Carter Peterson
    larep093@legis.state.la.us
    (504) 568-8346
  • Senator Mike Michot
    Louisiana Senate Finance Chairman
    mmichot@legis.state.la.us
    (225) 342-2040
  • Representative Page Cortez
    pcortez@legis.state.la.us
    Julie Sandridge, Leg. Aide
    337-993-7430
  • Steven Moret
    Louisiana Secretary of Economic Development
    moret@la.gov

Raph Koster offered these words at the end of the discussion: “[A]s our society’s tech capabilities grow, I think it’s wonderful to see that our society — and legislators — and principals and school superintendents, and teachers — are willing to invest in that literacy so that future voters, citizens, will be able to participate to the best of their ability using this new technology.”

http://eurekadejavu.blogspot.com/2009/04/louisiana-regional-politics-go-meta.html