Welcome to the Learning 2.0 Safari and the ICS Addis community! Welcome to Ethiopia! Welcome to Africa! Happy New Year!

A safari is a journey of exploration. That really is what learning is all about. In the coming days we’ll be taking a safari at this conference through some fascinating areas of learning and teaching.

More than that though, I want to tell you thank you for taking the leap and joining this Learning 2.014 safari. I am here to tell you that you are in the right place at the right time today.

First, this is the right conference at the right time for international schools in Africa.

It is the right time to safari in Africa with the ideas and philosophies that are embedded in the Learning 2.0 conferences. There is no other continent that values personal connection and social responsibility more than Africa.

Those two values are summarized in the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Connection and responsibility. And this is the time to bring Learning 2.0 ideas to African international schools.

Ten or twenty years ago if you wanted to work in a good international school, Africa was not on your list, especially if you wanted to use technology. Our international schools had limited and aging facilities, few resources, and suitcase curricula that came and went with our teachers. People were often hired to teach English because they spoke English, or to teach science because they had a degree in chemistry. The primary reason for many to come to Africa was the chance to take a truck safari to see the Big Five. Not to teach in a good school.

Well, that landscape has changed. African international schools like ICS Addis, and others represented here today, don’t make excuses any longer. We expect, and are expected to provide a modern, 21st century education. We’re building (or preparing to build) modern facilities to provide an engaged, networked education, facilities that any school in a developed country would be proud of. We have the salary and benefits that attract good teachers with good experience in good schools, not just young “backpackers” on safari. Our schools have added laptop programs, network infrastructures, and other learning-enabling technologies.

It is the right time for us to challenge ourselves with the ideas of social networking, personal learning networks and other forms of engaged learning that technology is enabling.

AISA, the Association of International Schools in Africa, embodies some of those ideals too. On behalf of the AISA Board, I am happy that we are helping to sponsor the first Learning 2.0 conference on this continent.

Second, Ethiopia itself is the right place and the right time for this conference. This conference is about learning, not about software or hardware. But, technology enables much of the ways of learning and connecting that we’ll be talking about here.

Well, ten years ago, the 80 million people in Ethiopia were living on just 430 megawatts of power produced by two aging dams built in the 1930s...

We now have more than 3000 megawatts of power, and within five years there will be more than 20,000 megawatts.

ALL of it, by the way, produced from renewable, sustainable methods including hydroelectric, sun, wind and geothermal sources.

A 5000% increase in fifteen years!

Mobile data services were not available three years ago. Not even SMS services were working, and you literally could not buy a SIM card.

Now, you can use 3G or 4G network services throughout the city and in other towns and cities throughout the country.

Combine the increase in electrical power with this change in mobile telephony, and it's small wonder that Ethiopia is predicted to have the fastest growing non-oil based economy in the world for the next five to ten years.

I’m not a Pollyanna, and I know there are issues and problems with all of the above here in Ethiopia, but there is immense, measurable progress and promise.

And finally, you are at ICS Addis, and this is the right conference at the right time for this school in Ethiopia.

In 2006 at ICS we had a tech support staff member whose role at the school included printing out emails sent to the ONE email address we had, and then walking around the campus to deliver them by hand.

In 2007, when the first Learning 2 conference was held in Asia, our school had its first dedicated copper 128KB connection to the internet, and we began adding computers to our classrooms.

Then, last week I signed an agreement with our local telecom provider to double our fiber connection’s speed from 20 to 40 megabytes.

We are hiring teachers who want to grow and learn and who see ICS as a place that can happen.

Teachers who want to learn to use technology, or who already know how to use it to improve learning.

Teachers who value the kinds of connections and personal learning that this conference embodies.

We’re attractive to teachers who want to contribute and work with students who will one day make a difference in Africa and the world.

So, for all the above reasons I am happy to welcome you to Learning 2.014, and to say once again...

You’re in the right place at the right time. Thank you for joining us!