`Cyber-guru' to keynote symposium
By Clara B. Cox
Spectrum Volume 20 Issue 22 - February 26, 1998
Don Tapscott, called one of the world's cyber-gurus by Vice President Al Gore and "one of 10 visionaries of 1996" by Communications Week , will be the keynote speaker for Virginia Tech's symposium, "The Impact of Technology on the Learning Environment."
The symposium, which focuses on the use of informational technology in higher education, K-12 education, corporate training, and other learning communities, will be held March 30-31 at the Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center. Tapscott's talk, "Reinventing Education for the 21st Century," will be at 8 p.m. on March 30 in Squires Colonial Hall. His talk is open to the public.
Tapscott is best known for writing or co-writing five widely read books on the application of technology in business. His most recent work, Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation , went into a fourth printing less than three weeks after its October 1997 release. Recommended for all libraries by the Library Journal , the book chronicles the rise of the "net generation," which is employing digital technology to change the way individuals and society interact.
Tapscott's The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence became an international best-seller within one month of its release in 1996, appearing on several best-seller lists, including those of The New York Times and Business Week , where it remained for seven months. The book has been translated into seven languages.
He also co-authored Paradigm Shift: The New Promise of Information Technology , published in 1992 and now in its eleventh printing. It has also been translated into seven languages.
But Tapscott does more than write best-selling books. As chairman of the Alliance for Converging Technologies, he oversees a think-tank currently conducting a multi-million-dollar investigation into the impact of the information highway and the new media on business, government, and society.
Additionally, he is president of New Paradigm Learning Corporation and a consultant to the world's largest corporations. His clients include the top executives of many Fortune 100 companies and other leading enterprises around the world. In Canada in 1992, he chaired the first information-highway advisory council ever organized, establishing a model emulated by many countries, and he now serves as vice chair of the Council for an Ontario Information Infrastructure.
Tapscott, who holds a Professional Achievement Award from the Canadian Information Processing Society, has also been a judge and presenter at the National Information Infrastructure Awards in New York City, served as a nominator for the 1996 Smithsonian Institute awards for achievements in technology, and was a forum fellow at the 1997 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. He holds degrees in psychology, statistics, and education, with a specialization in research methodology.
In addition to Tapscott, the symposium features other nationally noted speakers and concurrent-session presenters. For more information, check the symposium website at http://www.conted.vt.edu/125/anniversary.html , call 1-5433, or send an e-mail message to schroder@vt.edu .