Printable Biography of David Thornburg

---

Successful Meetings magazine lists Dr. David Thornburg as one of the top 21 speakers in the United States. His dynamic, thought-provoking presentations provide transformative experiences to well over 100,000 people per year. His monthly commentaries for PBS on the impact of emerging technologies on learning expand his reach far beyond the podium.
<>BR> But David is more than a public speaker. He is an award-winning futurist, author and consultant whose clients range across the public and private sector, both in the United States and in Brazil. His corporate clients range from small startup ventures to some of the most dynamic large corporations in the world. His razor-sharp focus on the fast-paced world of modern communication media and its impact on learning has placed him in constant demand as a keynote speaker and workshop leader.

As the founder and Director of Global Operations for the Thornburg Center, and as Senior Fellow of the Congressional Institute for the Future, he conducts research and provides staff development in the areas of educational futures, multimedia, communications and whole mind education throughout the Americas. He helps clients to think intelligently about the future and is active in exploring ways that telecommunications and multimedia will change the face of learning, both at home and in the classroom.

His educational philosophy is based on the idea that students learn best when they are constructors of their own knowledge. He also believes that students who are taught in ways that honor their learning styles and dominant intelligences retain the native engagement with learning with which they entered school. A central theme of his work is that we must prepare students for their future, not for our past.

In addition to his work at the state and local level, he is also involved at the Federal level in helping to shape telecommunications and education policy for the benefit of all learners. In his capacity as Senior Fellow of the Congressional Institute for the Future, David shares his perspectives with policy makers throughout the country. He was recently commissioned to write a position paper for the United States Department of Education on the future of technology for K-12 education.

He has written numerous books and created several CD-ROM's. His latest book, Campfires in Cyberspace, explores the true nature of the World Wide Web as a tool for learning. Reviewers have declared this to be the definitive book on the topic.

Dr. Thornburg is the recipient of several awards for product design and is the recipient of both the Golden and Platinum Disk awards from CUE (Computer Using Educators, Inc.) for his contributions to the advancement of learning and learning technologies. In 1999 he was selected as one of twenty "pioneers" in the field of educational technology by ISTE, the premiere organization devoted to the advancement of technology in learning, and was named by Technology and Learning magazine as one of the top ten most influential people in the field of educational technology in the past twenty years.

He has been the subject of numerous magazine articles and has appeared on radio and television throughout North America. According to the magazine, Electronic Learning, he is one of the six most popular speakers in the area of educational technology.

David splits his time between the United States and Brazil. His work in Brazil also is focused on education, and he has consulted for the Federal Secretary of Education as well as for firms and educational institutions throughout that country.

In addition, David plays blues with Lou Fournier and Ferdi Serim, fellow members of the Bluesmen of the Silicon Delta. Together, they are the world experts in the genre of Silicon Delta Blues, songs that convey the deep gut-wrenching experience of those high-tech workers who drive BMW's and have to deal with stock options. Lou, Ferdi and David perform and conduct workshops on the history of this little known branch of the blues for public and private audiences.

Most Requested Topics:

That Was Then, This Is Now: Educational Computing's Past and Future: David provides a first-hand account of some of the breakthroughs that brought low-cost computers into classrooms in the past 25 years, and looks ahead to how new technologies might impact the learning process in the decades to come. Starting with the Alto, the first true personal computer developed at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in 1973, this presentation moves on to explore the early days of the mass-market computers: The TRS-80, Commodore PET, Apple II, etc. From this modest beginning, educators identified several productive ways to think about computers in the classroom. Through ups and downs, we moved briskly to today’s world of educational technology. But have we gone far enough? As powerful as today’s tools are, have we remained locked in the past? What dynamic changes might await us both in hardware and in user interfaces? How do we prepare for coming breakthroughs in educational technology use? These questions, and others, are explored in a dynamic presentation that is part history, part future vision--a personal adventure told by one who had the honor and good fortune to be there from the start.

From Data to Understanding: Navigating Informational Spaces in the Age of Overwhelm: We live in a world of tremendous information overload. Even old media (such as television) have taken on a new look as split screens and scrolling text bars use every square inch of space to cram as much information as possible into our heads. The deluge of data is growing faster, not slowing down, and this presents numerous challenges to educators who want to help learners of all ages acquire the information retrieval and management skills they will need to thrive in this age of overwhelm. This presentation explores the nature of the infosphere as it exists today, and maps the pathways from data to understanding that every learner can traverse. Most importantly, we explore the use of specific software tools designed to build bridges from data to information, from information to knowledge, and from knowledge to understanding, tools that transform everything from web searching to the creation of computer simulations and presentations that demonstrate deep student understanding. With the ideas presented in this session, educators can build a pathway to bring sanity back into their lives, even as the ocean of data in which we all swim continues to grow at an enormous rate.

Technology and The Art of Helping Students Ask Good Questions: Picasso once said, "Computers are useless, they give answers (never questions)." This challenging observation suggests that the process of inquiry is uniquely human, and amazingly powerful .In fact, this is true. Inquiry drives our quest for learning, at almost every age, and in every subject. However, computers are not useless in this task. They can play a useful (if subservient) role, supporting both the formulation and the answering of interesting questions. This presentation explores the inquiry process as a vehicle for developing understanding in any subject through inquiry and a demonstration of modern technologies used in support of finding good questions whose answers will help students gain mastery of any subject being taught.

But Wait, There's More! Leveraging Emerging Technologies to Maximize Student Achievement: The constant advance of technology is changing the learning landscape both in and out of school. As processor speed blasts past the gigahertz barrier, attention is shifting to storage, bandwidth, and true anywhere/anytime access. Terabytes of data drown all but the most intrepid of information seekers, and open the door to breakthroughs in visualizations tools appropriate to large libraries of distributed data. Today's learners surf the web from their local McDonalds, fill their hard drives with images from their digital cameras, and navigate vast informational spaces anywhere and anytime they want. Beyond the jargon of 802.16, RAID arrays, and VoIP, lies education's goal of reaching every learner, and the role technology can play in helping to achieve that goal. This dynamic presentation explores current technological trends and tools geared to the emergent needs and workstyles of generation.com, the "always-on" generation in school today.

The Future of Work in the Telematic Age: The telematic technologies of computers and telecommunications are changing the nature of work all around the world. Jobs of the past are disappearing, and are being replaced by new kinds of work that scarcely existed a decade ago. This dynamic presentation explores the forces leading to the changing needs of today's workers and examines the changes needed for our educational system to provide all students with the skills that will be basic for their economic survival once they leave school. In some cases these changes require modification of the existing curriculum, but in other cases the needs of today's students may require deeper changes in our schools. In any case, this presentation should be of wide interest to educators, parents, employers, and to students themselves.

What's So Funny About Technology? As we continue our headlong rush to an increasingly technological world, we need to take time to put things in perspective. This lighthearted presentation for those who remember when a palm was part of your hand is designed to explore some of the consequences of the toys and gadgets that shape our lives. Stand-up philosopher David Thornburg examines topics like "prestalgia" -- fond memories of things that haven't happened yet, and the impact of Nobel Prize-winning technologies that lead to the electronic barbecue fork and other neccessities of our light-speed world. Of course, some of the more interesting uses of technology in education over the ages (e.g., the past 2 years) will also be explored. If you remember when a hard drive was a 30 minute commute, then this session is perfect for you. All major OS's are ridiculed in this humorous look at modern technology. Absolutely no redeeming social or educational value, but a lot of FUN!

Meet Me at the Crossroads: We all remember that teacher or mentor who ignited our love of learning and kept it alive, leading us to where we are today. With all the educator-bashing rampant these days, it is important to re-engage with the true spirit of learning that brought us to the world of education in the first place. This presentation takes a look at the difference between "training" and "education," with the view that education is our major goal as teachers, and that climates that foster education are nourishing and humane. In a world undertstandably jammed with rapid-fire changes in technology and increased expectations, it is important to remember that we teach, first, from our hearts. The role of technology in helping achieve this goal will be explored along with other topics