What would you say to Thomas Friedman??

[Julie Lindsay]

I have very exciting news to share. Thomas Friedman, author of 'The World is Flat' thebook that we have based the original Flat Classroom Project on, and the book that the project is actually in (3rd edition pg 501-503), will be speaking at the Flat Classroom Conference on Saturday January 24. He will talk via Skype and we will organise a backchannel sessions and also plan to stream the audio out to the world with the help of Ed Tech Talk experts!

What is even more interesting is that Tom has asked that students intract wih him and ask questions.....so what would you say to Tom Friedman? What do you, as a student coming to the conference for real or attending virtually, have to ask Tom. What do you really want to know about his work, his thoughts, his experiences that will help you understand him better, understand the world better and move you to the next level of knowledge construction.

I invite you to respond to this blog post with your questions. We will be lookng for good quality, in-depth and creative questions that relate to the work in The World is Flat and also Hot, Flat and Crowded, Tom's latest book.

[Julie Lindsay]

Tammam, this is an excellent set of questions and ideas that you could potentially ask Tom Friedman on Saturday. A large part of what we wil be doing during the conference in the Student Summit is trying to answer how the Flat Classroom Project can make a difference to solving the world's problems.

[Tammam G.]

Personally, i think its really sweet that we'll get to talk with Mr. Friedman and here are some questions i'd like to aske him:
1. What will the flat classroom project be like when it is completed or has fully matured and developed?
2. How can we interact with other areas of our life (economy, society, environment, etc..) throught the flat classroom project?
3. (sort of a follow up question) For example, how can we help solve, or contribute to the efforts of stopping, and ultimately reversing, global warming through the flat classroom project?
4. In your book "The World is Flat" you mentioned that there are forces that could seriously harm or slow the flatting of the world. What forces are you talking about, besides terrorist networks, and who could they negatively impact the flatting of the world?
5. Also in your book "The World is Flat", how can terroist networks, the likes of Al-Qaeda, negatively impact the flatting of the world?
6. How can we use the flat classroom project to promote and "market" solotions to the world's environmental problems (mainly solutions from your book: "Hot, FLat and Crowded"), because when the worlds oil resources end by 2050, we will be looking at an enourmous, and definitly fatal environmental catastrophy, besides the mayhem that the energy crisis will cause. And i certainly don't want to place my children or their children in such a world, as i myself wouldn't want to live in such a world.