by Leslie Wilson

Last month, David Plouffe, President-Elect Obama’s campaign manager, sent me (and 10 million others) an email asking for help shaping the nation’s priorities. He directed me to an online survey where I identified four areas I deemed most important. Mr. Obama’s expansive social network continues to be connected after impressive presence and decisive engineering.

It is exciting to realize that the White House will be modeling 21st/22nd century strategies for bringing people together, forging a vision that will result (we believe) in strong actions to create the ambitious changes Mr. Obama promised. The Obama team’s cyber campaign and communications clearly affected the election outcome. It will be interesting to watch, read and listen to how the new White House will engage this revamped bully pulpit.

FDR’s bully pulpit, his fireside chats, were one-sided communications. President Roosevelt pushed out his messages while Americans loomed close to their radios to hear each word. It is noted that 37% of the US citizens never listened to even one of the famous ‘chats’.  Yet the image of a pervasive American public engaged in each of FDR’s talks is the one to which we cling.

The 21st century version of this platform or bully pulpit is a two-way link for communication AND collaboration. If Plouffe’s recent email is indicative, this practice is exactly what the new Executive Team will be embracing. A president who wants to keep his grassroots supporters connected and informed, providing them the ability to weigh in on matters of importance. How will he collaborate with the American masses over such heartfelt matters? Will giving voice, debate, discussion and honest decision-making create the kind of national spirit we seem to so deeply crave?

This will undoubtedly be challenging. A new president. New visions. Two-way communications. The challenges of this presidency will be immense. Possibly the value of the online connections will be the ability to be consistently informed of the issues even if a populace disagrees. Communication is a dominant factor in a community’s building or declining relationships. Even when that communication is forthright disagreement with accompanying rationale.

As exhilarating as it is to realize that our national leader-elect will create virtual realities in his White House, it is as emotionally painful for me to witness schools and districts whose leaders still do not comprehend the imperative of creating 21st century environments. The rhetoric about ‘no money’, ‘lost positions’, ‘contracts’, etc., etc., doesn’t wash as excuses when we are talking about what is at stake for our young people who go through the Pre-K-12 systems without engaging tools for a new century. There are ways to push the imperative forward with focus, shared vision and project plans. It takes the kind of leadership such as Barack Obama’s whose special interest group (SIG) has become the United States of America.

If there is any newly emerged model for ‘how to’ make robust technology environments a reality in our schools-it is Mr. Obama’s campaign and connected team approach. If a congressman from Illinois, whose name I didn’t know 24 months ago, can effectively connect with the youth of our country, why can’t all of our school leaders do the same?
 This article first appeared on Leslie’s Digital Learning Environment blog

Leslie Wilson is President of One-to-One Institute (OTO), a national not-for-profit serving schools, districts, states and countries in their implementation of 21st century teaching and learning. OTO’s genesis is Michigan’s Freedom to Learn, one-to-one teaching and learning program. Contact her at lesliew@one-to-oneinstitute.org