OEB 2015 - Opening Plenary - Ian Goldin

(Ian Goldin) Great, thank you: it's
wonderful to be with educators

who care about the intersection
of learning and technology,

because that's going to shape the future.

Whether we're able
to get this right or not

will determine whether we have
a glorious 21st century

or a period of unmitigated risks.

The walls are coming down everywhere and
it's difficult to not think about this,

being so close to it, here in Berlin,

25 years ago, these walls coming down.

But it's not just about physical walls
coming down,

it's about mental walls,
it's about financial walls,

it's about technological walls.

All the walls are coming down,
and it's that

which makes this the most exciting century
in the history of humanity.

It changes all of our lives
in surprising ways.

And it's certainly changed mine.

I was living in Paris
when this wall came down.

I didn't imagine that it would touch me
personally.

I thought it was about Eastern Europe,
about the Cold War, about something else.

But within 6 months, I would,
much to my surprise,

I was invited to have dinner with
President Mandela in Paris.

He wasn't president then,
he had just been released from prison.

But he was released
because the Cold War ended.

And the defining feature of this period
we live in our lives

is what happens elsewhere will
dramatically affect us in new ways.

It's this change that results
from the walls coming down.

And it's this chance that will shape
education going forward

and technological progress.

And of course, the other fundamental
period of -- in this time --

is technology, technology,
which got off the ground

at the same time as the Berlin Wall
came down, over 25 years.

This exponential growth in
virtual connectivity.