Bill Gates visits Detroit

Microsoft has a web page that describes Bill Gates' visit to Detroit yesterday. I attended the part where "Bill spoke about Microsoft's vision for a Connected Learning Community." It was one of several events Bill spoke at while he was here (most others focused on the business community). Apparently, this is part of some Microsoft road show, as Bill is in Chicago today on a similar mission.

Bill's speech was fine as such speeches go. He mostly talked about how the Internet would soon change the face of education. However, he was followed by another Microsoft employee, who spoke for over a half-hour in what amounted to an infomercial for using Microsoft Internet products in education. In fact, the entire event was obviously designed primarily to promote Microsoft. Microsoft's vision clearly includes having Windows machines replace Macs in schools.

The only other speaker was my son's teacher (which was the reason we had been invited to come). She spoke effectively of her hands-on experiences with teaching high school students to use the Internet and design web pages.

One catch-phrase for the day was that, with the greater role of computers in school, teachers/professors would soon be transformed from being the "sage on the stage to the guide on the side." As a professor myself, I am not certain how much I look forward to such a transition. But I guess you can't stand in the way of "progress."