Feature Story

February 25, 2008 - Sun Microsystems has brought thought leaders in education and technology together to explore their shared focus on the role technology plays in global learning, teaching and research for over 20 years at the Worldwide Education and Research Conference (WWERC), which meets this week in San Francisco, CA. A mix of keynotes, panels and in-depth breakout sessions conducted by Sun executives and teachers will examine the state of education, forecast where it is going and predict how technology will help it get there.

More than 500 university CIOs, professors, and researchers, along with delegates from ministries of education from nearly 30 countries are expected to attend this year's two-day conference. Guest speakers will include be representatives from Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, Colorado State University and the Israeli Ministry of Education.

This year's themes are The Power of Communities, What's Next? Education 3.0, and Eco-Computing on Campus. A variety of speakers will discuss many topics, such as community, emerging companies, and teens and children.

• Barry Libert, author of We Are Smarter Than Me
• Paul Frankel, Cofounder and Managing Director of Ecosa Capital
• Neil Howe, author of Millennials Rising
• Kathryn Sullivan, PhD., astronaut and Director of the Battelle Center for Math and Science Education Policy at the John Glenn School of Public Affairs

In addition, Sun executives will address topics from the viewpoint of issues facing the technology industry and how the company's strategic roadmap will meet them. Sun keynote speakers include John Fowler, Executive Vice President of Systems; John Gage, Chief Researcher and Director of the Science Office; Joe Hartley, Vice President of Global Government, Education and Healthcare; Scott McNealy, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chairman of Sun Federal; and Greg Papadopoulos, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Research and Development.

Open source computing will play a natural role in the evolution of each subject area in WWERC tracks. Speakers and panelists will discuss the ingredients of a successful open source solution and explain why educational institutions are increasingly deploying open source applications as well as commercial ones.

The Power of Communities

By its nature open source code plays a key role in communities. "Today, educational organizations are leveraging the open source community for everything from the development of Education 3.0 administrative applications and learning management systems to eco-friendly, high-performance computing," says Joe Hartley. "We'll look at how communities that involve collaboration between developed and emerging countries enable improvement in educational outcomes, environmental awareness and socio-economic development."

Speakers and panelists also will examine how successful educational communities foster sustainability, bring value to their members and further technology development. They also will discuss best practices for incorporating open technologies into curricula.

Eco-Computing on Campus

As community participation on networks grows, so does its impact on the environment, and that affects the cost of education. Energy costs for universities have jumped 27 percent since 2005 as campus data centers supply more services, which requires more consumption of power, space and cooling. Institutions are concerned about their environmental impact and pressure their centers to reduce emissions, energy consumption and electronic waste.

Leaders in industry, education and technology experts at Sun will discuss why eco-computing is both generally important and beneficial to higher education and the opportunities available today to respond to these issues.

What's Next? Education 3.0

The emergence and popularity of Web 2.0 technologies, which one blogger has called "socially connected online applications", has brought to education a disruptive movement in which modes of teaching, learning and research are changing profoundly. "Education 2.0" is part of today's lexicon; at Sun, it is defined as the ability to access and connect educational resources, content and people from anywhere, at any time, easily. It offers almost unlimited choices and open access for everyone.

WWERC 2008 will look toward the next phase—Education 3.0, in which boundaries between educational communities and new immersive technologies that bridge virtual and physical environments will erode further. It will require new forms of teaching and learning and institutionalization of the Web as a common platform for education. It also will offer new horizons to young learners.

"The success of the free and open source software (FOSS) movement and the demand for increased technological skills worldwide have created new project-based learning opportunities that prepare students for emerging models of software development in the IT industry," says Todd Korth, Sun's Director of Education and Research.