Paradigm Shift?

   

It is becoming more popular now as it makes life easy or perhaps for convenience sake if not just show off. The first time I experienced it was at church service when the Priest asked everyone to open their bibles but realised few church members pulling their mobile phones from their purse and pocket. Interestingly, one old folk tapped the shoulder of a young lady who had a phone and then pointed his hand to the notice “Kindly switch off your mobile phone, thank you.” The old folk stared astonishingly after the lady whispered quietly “it has a bible”. On Palm Sunday, the Priest used an IPad for his sermon, prayers and bible readings. A few years back this would have been entirely impossible.

“He is not poking back my pokes after leaving the message on his wall, I wish I didn’t tag him on that album” – “I followed his twits after googling his company’s name” – “facebooking is restricted during working hours, we mean business not pleasure”. If it was easy to understand the scenarios above, I guess you’re a 21^st Century citizen, if not, why not? I believe you’re getting the point I’m trying to make now. The way we live our lives today has changed radically, leaving technology to take control of most of our time.

Time to check a quick email turns to hours on social media websites, if not on facebook. My grandmother would certainly agree with you about this change because even though she appreciate the fact that she can talk to us anytime through my uncle’s phone, she has no idea how this is possible. Possibility is what technology stands for.

Yes, we’re in the social media revolution, the digital age where uprising in our (physical) societies easily sparkle from the (virtual) internet. We’re in the knowledge age where the role of the teacher in the classroom is not just providing information but guiding and empowering students to be creative and innovative because most (if not all) information is available online.

Right, it’s quite obvious about the encroachment of technology in the 21^st Century but keep in mind that not all nations or societies in the world are experiencing this paradigm shift. Therefore any attempt to revolt against the Chief in my hometown via facebook or twitter would not be only in vain but inconsequential. If you doubt, try! Many societies still live outside the system even though technology keeps travelling on a top speed.

America still remains leaders in technology innovation in the world – designing technology tools and applications for the internet are based on their lingua franca, culture and ideologies. And this is influencing other cultures around the world. Typical examples are freedom of association, freedom of information (sharing), transparency and respecting individual privacy – this have played major role in effecting the uprising of nations through social media websites.

Today, we need 21^st Century leaders’ not just leaders leading in the 21^st Century. We need leading experts in Change, Innovation and Strategy like Dr. Dave Richards, who is a globally successful senior executive, serial entrepreneur and intrapreneur, innovator, author, inspirational speaker, and advisor on strategic innovation and leadership -  Desi Lopez Fafie, who is a highly capable business executive and leader, with excellent skills to build relationships and manage large groups of people with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds and has the eyes to unearth the potentials, opportunities and possibilities in the African continent (http://dfafie.wordpress.com) and John P. Kotter, a Professor of leadership, emeritus, at Harvard Business School, who is widely regarded as the world’s foremost authority  on leadership and change (http://blogs.forbes.com/johnkotter/).

Just as social media has opened a dialogue between businesses and consumers, its value is apparent to those in political office, whose work and very professional survival hinges on the needs and perceptions of their constituents. But when was the last time a local politician garnered the same social media buzz as a hip start-up, or a savvy online retailer?

We need a government that embodies the paradigm shift of the 21^st Century like President Barak Obama. There’s still an entire year and seven months until the U.S. presidential election on November 6, 2012, but social media has already played a huge role in the burgeoning race.

About three weeks ago, Mitt Romney had already announced his bid on Youtube. and Tim Pawlenty had already joined the race through his facebook page. President Obama also kicked off his re-election campaign with a number of digital initiatives.

President Obama continues to leverage IT leaders’ role to grow the American economy. No wonder he created the Chief Technology Officer position in his government, which Eric Schmidt (Executive Chairman, Google) was mentioned as a possible candidate.

Increased mobility, immigration, intermarriage, and access to job opportunities worldwide have led to another kind of blending and mixing-communities across the globe are becoming ever more culturally diverse in the 21^st Century. Even though I’m not an American citizen, I concur the speech by President Obama on “Building a 21^st Century Immigration System”. In his speech President Obama said, “…it doesn’t matter where you come from, doesn’t matter what you look like, it doesn’t matter what faith you worship, what matters is you believe in the ideals on which we were founded.”

The 21^st Century challenge for each of us is to build and maintain our own identity from our given traditions and from the wide variety of traditions all around us. At the same time we should all learn to apply tolerance and compassion for the different identities and value of others.

With growing diversity of global traditions and values that now surrounds us, the challenge to maintaining social harmony is great, but the opportunities for richer, more creative, and vibrant communities are even greater.

That’s the way technology is affecting the way we live and work today.

Is this a paradigm shift? Your comments are welcome.

Thank you!

© Harry Tetteh

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What does this mean?

It really marvels me when dedication for work becomes the pleasure to make an impact. My good friend William Effah Owusu gladly welcomed the responsibility as an opportunity to teach Seidi D/A Junior High School and make an impact with his profession as a teacher. Trust me; very few city residents would accept this task.  Seidi is rural community located within the suburb of Ashanti region of Ghana with population less than 1000 and maize farming as their main profession. They don’t have flowing tap water but recently got connected to the electric grid through cash contributions by school teachers in the village.

William now lives in Seidi but occasionally comes home (to Kumasi city) and gets the chance to check his emails. It was a delight to reconnect with William on Facebook to share his experiences.

According to William, very few students are able to graduate to the Senior High School at Seidi, let alone obtain a University degree. Not because the students are not intelligent but the school lacks the basic educational resources to equip the students development. Profession of parents is automatically inherited by their children in Seidi. Students need to be continuously persuaded and motivated to attend school each day. Some students even prefer to assist their parents on the farm in the morning and join the class in the afternoon.

Even though Information Communication Technology is part of their curriculum, William says “the mention of it in class seems like one of the planets somewhere on the solar system”. The only computer which William helped to purchase is now the school’s computer lab. Seems like the pace of the 21^st Century change differs globally and what does this mean for education?

Research has disclosed that the top 10 in-demand jobs for 2010 did not exist in 2004. The amount of new ‘technical information’ is doubling every 2 years. So for students starting a 4-year technical related degree, this means that half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year of study. And what does this mean?

Of course, this brings a lot more questions in mind after thinking of how the world was when we were kids and what the world has become today.  All boiling down to where exactly is the world heading – or – what would the future of the kids of today be? The information age brought more knowledge workers due to the demand for their services. Obviously, we are preparing students for jobs that do not exist today, in order to solve problems that we do not even know exist yet. 

The invention of IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) has led to the increase of internet devices from PCs to mobile phones, TVs, watches and counting. What does this mean? To share with you some interesting facts....

Google says over 31 billion searches are done on its servers every month. In 2006 the number was 2.7 billion. To whom were these questions addressed before Google? Wikipedia was launched in 2001 and now features over 13 million articles in more than 200 languages.

Studies show the number of unique visitors on Facebook, Youtube, and Myspace every month collectively exceed 250 million. But none of these sites existed 6 years ago. We’re living in exponential times indeed.

How are you using social networking sites?

Social media is not a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate, connect and relate to each other in the 21^st Century. Interestingly, the virtual world created by the internet is also presenting a virtual culture. A typical example is the language widely adapted online with numerous abbreviations especially on chat sessions to express our mood. For example, “l8r” for “later”, “g2g” for “got to go”, “brb” for “be right back”, “lol” for “laughing out loud” etc. Anyway, how many of us honestly were actually laughing out loud before typing “lol”? – Well, I wouldn’t be surprise to see these chat expressions appear soon in dictionaries if it hasn’t yet. What does this mean?

Everyone should have a passing interest in technological development as eventually they may change everyone’s life for the better. The 21^st Century Skills brings the skill set needed to continuously prepare workers and students to survive today’s challenges and enjoy tomorrow’s opportunities. What does this mean?

It means that education is no longer a pathway to opportunities but a prerequisite for success in the 21^st Century. I share with President Obama that in the 21^st Century, “…a nation most valuable currency is the knowledge and skills of its people”. And like Sarah Brown Wessling (2010 National Teacher of the year, USA) said, “we need 21^st Century teachers not just adults teaching in the 21^st Century” to prepare our students for the future.

© Harry Tetteh