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CAT Tracks for January 27, 2010
FOAMING AT THE DIGITAL MOUTH |
Talk about a cheerleader...
...Don Tapscott, chairman of nGenera Insight!
Worshiping at the altar of technology...ready to burn nonconforming educators at the stake!!!
First of all, Dan...who says that educators have not embraced the "new religion"? I keep reading about all these teachers getting fired for their digital social networking activities...you know, like the teacher who got fired when she posted a picture on Facebook of herself holding an alcoholic beverage. Then there are the teachers who end up doing the perp walk as possible pedophiles because they "tweeted" their student "followers".
Hell, I know a lot of teachers - even a few OVER 30-years-old that can out-text the most agile teen.
Oh, there are the dinosaurs who don't...won't, but, Dan, they are a (literally) dying breed. Please allow them to slink off quietly to the dinosaur burial grounds...
I mean...it won't destroy students to be exposed to a few relics of a less-than-now digital age. If teachers are expected to be all-accommodating to different student learning styles, would it hurt the disciples of the digital age to cut some slack for different teaching styles??? Can't we be open-minded about this...or does it violate some tenet of the new-time religion, offend some digital deity?
Dan...
I've owned several computers, own an iPod, own a cell phone (no iPhone or Blackberry), created and maintain two Websites, have a broadband Internet connection, and am addicted to e-mail. I don't think that's too shabby for a dinosaur, who, come August will OFFICIALLY be a senior citizen.
I even signed up for Facebook, although I don't use it. I don't "twitter", couldn't "text" if my pension check depended on it - although, if it did, I'd learn how in a heartbeat!
I don't do video games...I don't dare! I have played (dinosaur) Free Cell until my eyes blurred, my shoulder ached, and I felt a blister forming on my thumb from gripping the mouse too tightly. If I allowed myself to enter to virtual worlds of today's sophisticated video games, I might never come back.
And, Dan...that's my point. I've walked up to the edge of digital cliff and danger lurks...
My "saving grace"...that I finished my education and had a productive job in education BEFORE the digital revolution. My family didn't get their first TV until I was maybe a Freshman in high school.
Hell, a clear example of the addictive nature of all things digital...
Used to come home after school, turn on the TV and watch the test pattern...since the two (eventually three) networks didn't start broadcasting until later in the evening. Sat and watched an unchanging test pattern...having to be reminded to do my homework. If I were growing up today, I'd probably never graduate...never acquire a marketable skill.
Of course, it wouldn't matter. I'd have an excuse for not learning, just like the kids today...
DAMNED WORTHLESS TEACHERS...old fuddy-duddies just don't understand. When do they expect me to do homework? Ain't enough hours in the day for that boring sh*t...I'm already giving up precious hours because my totally lost parents threaten to evict me if I don't turn off my music and video games and sleep for a couple of hours BEFORE going to school. Hell, isn't THAT what school is for! And EATING!? Wish somebody...(NOT ME! Ain't got time for that!! Missed a call from my homies...gotta hit 'em back!!!) Wish somebody would invent a legal pill to do away with eating...it's not cool to talk to my friends with my mouth full, and texting with one thumb...what a b*tch!
Yes, on and on and on...
Back to Dan...and his enlightening article: (Catty commentary in parentheses)
As my sister-in-law would spell it...WHATEVUH!
Actually the "kicker paragraph" for me from the article...
Halle-effing-lujah, Dan!
Just what teenagers needed...new and improved methods to communicate!!! Earth to Dan, Earth to Dan...BULLETIN...teenagers have ALWAYS led the nation/world in communications!!!
Even when the latest technology was two tin cans and a piece of string...
From eSchool News...
Tapscott: Digital natives need tech-rich education
When educators understand how students use technology to communicate and collaborate, real learning can begin
By Laura Devaney, Managing Editor
Educators should change the way they view technology’s role in everyday life in order to understand students’ educational needs, said Don Tapscott, chairman of nGenera Insight, during a Jan. 19 Consortium for School Networking webinar on the digital generation.
The nation is at a turning point, Tapscott said, and many institutions that have served us well for decades or even centuries — including education — have come to the end of their life cycle and must be “rebooted” or reinvented for a new age.
“This is an age where human communication is possible on a global basis,” he said.
Tapscott’s newest book, Grown Up Digital, looks at the so-called digital natives, some of whom are now college graduates, and how this generation is shaping education and the workforce. In 1998 he wrote Growing Up Digital, which examined this same group of students when they were K-12 students.
These digital natives are truly shaping the way technology is used and the things it is used for, he noted.
In 1998, “I noticed these kids were using the web differently than adults were —they were mainly using it for discussion or communication,” Tapscott said. “This is the true meaning of the internet — it’s not about presenting content or managing knowledge, it’s a new platform for communication and collaboration, for building communities.”
He added: “This is the Net Generation — computers, the internet, and technology shape it.”
The Baby Boomer generation tends to liken students’ continual internet use to excessive television watching, but the two are not necessarily the same thing, Tapscott said. The internet is not preventing kids from talking to their parents, doing their homework, or participating in extracurricular activities. If anything, he said, it takes away from TV time.
“Others think the digital age makes people stupid, that this generation is glued to the screen, is losing social skills, and is addicted to video games and the internet,” Tapscott said.
But in reality, today’s digital natives have made technology a natural and necessary part of their daily communication efforts, he said.
“This is the first time in history when children are an authority on something important. This digital revolution is changing every institution,” Tapscott said. And this, he added, has caused a generation “lap” instead of a generation gap, because kids are lapping parents on the digital track.
“This generation has a big problem — it’s us. The problem, to me, is older people who don’t ‘get it,’” Tapscott said.
“If someone was frozen 100 years ago and woke up today, they’d look around and they’d say the world has changed, and technology has been at the heart of these changes,” Tapscott said. “If they walked into many typical classrooms, they’d breathe a sigh of relief and say, ‘I recognize this.’”
The emphasis in today’s schools should be “not so much [on] what you know when you graduate, because we need learning to be lifelong,” Tapscott said. “We need to have a generation coming into the workforce that not only has knowledge, but can think, solve problems, communicate, and collaborate.”
Tapscott said educators should not “throw technology into a classroom and hope for good things.” By cutting back on lectures and using technology to engage students in tasks such as real-world problem solving, he said, educators will empower students to collaborate and focus on lifelong learning, not just teaching to a test.
In 1998, “I noticed these kids were using the web differently than adults were —they were mainly using it for discussion or communication,” Tapscott said. “This is the true meaning of the internet — it’s not about presenting content or managing knowledge, it’s a new platform for communication and collaboration, for building communities.”
