Week 2 - Literature Review - Mythbusters!..Sort of

For my Literature Review I chose the webinar, Teaching and Learning with Digital Natives. The conference was held with John Palfrey (Director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University) as the guest to discuss his book, Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives. The discussion focuses on how digital natives are very advanced with current technology and how we, as educators, need to familiarize ourselves to use their technologies as learning tools. It also addresses how we have to recognize that the way information is transported between institutions and the population has changed. To organize this session, the webinar was broken up into Four Myths about Digital Natives.

At the beginning of the webinar, there was an Audience Poll conducted to attain how comfortable the group of participants are with modern technology, or rather how "native".

 

  (Source from my laptop)

This was a very good base for the discussion to begin because it gave an idea of everyone's comfort level. It was essentially a live social experiment with 179 participants although it was informal. Everyone seemed to have some sort of comfort with technology.  When they were asked if they belonged to a social network, 56% said that they did belong to one which wasn't a surprise. What was interesting though was that when they were asked if they had ever searched themselves on Google, a whopping 75% had done so. That was the highest percentage for an answer. The webinar then turned to the main focus of discussing the four common myths that are associated with Digital Natives. 

Myth #1: Digital Natives are a Generation

Rather than calling Digital Natives a generation, John suggests referring to them as a population. This relates to our book Leading 21st Century Schools in regards to the definition of a Digital Native, but expands upon it. Just because people were born after 1980, doesn't mean they are all going to be digital natives. Not everyone grows up with advanced technology. In the webinar, they gave the statistic that only 1 billion of the 6 billion people in the world even have access to digital technologies. Also, that children with parents with higher rates of education, will generally have better skills. In my future teaching career, I will remember that not everyone is at the same level when involving technology.

Myth # 2: Digital Natives Are More Endangered

Digital Natives are not more endangered if they are given the guidance from their parents and teachers. This is related to our course objectives because as educators, if we are knowledgeable in the current technology, then we can help guide the students through the digital world. They need to be instructed on how to protect their personal information and themselves. John makes a reference that it's “hard for any young person to make sound, rational decisions about how to manage information about them—and nearly impossible if those around aren’t helping”. When I eventually teach, I want to be fully engaged in life online in a constructive way. If I am fully aware of what is new in technology (although there is no such thing as a technology expert), and I can teach as much as I can to my students, then all they will need is a little common sense to hopefully know what is right and what is wrong.

Myth 3: Digital Natives Are Less Intelligent and Less Informed

There is a somewhat cultural war on this topic. John Palfrey suggests that since children find information in digital formats, they are actually processing it differently. He even mentions the book, iBrain, that was written by a neuroscientist that supports this claim. It is mentioned that Digital Natives are multitaskers, but that does not make them any less intelligent. The challenge is for us so that we are able to help them to learn to think critically. We need to understand and adapt so we can teach these students instead of letting them become lost. I would bring that back into the classroom in ways like explaining more about the library. The webinar mentioned that students only go to libraries with their class and for nothing else.

Myth 4: Digital Natives are more prone to bullying and anti social behavior

John Palfrey tried to explain that he doesn't believe that children are truly more cruel than they were 20 years ago, just that instead of having a problems in the schoolyard where no one can see, they are all documented online. I have to say this is where I disagree a bit. Although he did admit that kids are much less inhibited online that if they were face to face, but he is still describing digital natives being more prone to anti social behavior as a myth. I think in the future it would be great it we could have more programs that monitor what the students do, but really, I think it is up to the educator and parents to pay attention to what their students/children are involved in.

 

Course Objectives met through this review:

1 - Demonstrate the understanding of how technologies can effectively promote student learning.
5 - Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of safe, ethical, legal, and moral practices related to digital information and technology.
7 - Demonstrate an understanding of the use of adaptive technologies and other digital resources to personalize and differentiate learning activities for every student.
8 - Evaluate, adapt, and reflect upon emerging tools and trends by participating in local and global learning communities and by reviewing current research and professional literature.

Reflection - Although this webinar is from 2009, I feel like we are still wrestling with the same concepts and concerns. I agree a lot with John Palfrey, especially when he talked about technology promoting student learning. I'll reiterate that he pretty much said to ask yourself: Will this enhance my students' experience? Which I think is great because one size does not fit all. Sometimes things work for some students and sometimes they don't for others. I think he was responsible in promoting that Digital Natives are here and let's make some changes to adapt to their learning, but he also wasn't completely convinced that full blown digital take over in the classroom is the answer. I really enjoyed that he also explained that with everything there is good and bad, and when it is good that's wonderful, but when it's bad, let's work to curb and change it for the better.

Week 1 - Blog- Technology is Important (It's what created Pinterest)

When I think of my own experience with technology in the classroom, this image comes to mind:

(Source)
I remember playing endless Oregon Trail games on one of the two computers that were in our classroom. I realize that I am far removed from what students are doing today, but I still asked myself, why would it be so important to integrate more technology? I made it through a good portion of my education without it and appear to have succeeded (in some aspect). I know the answer should be yes when asked if we should integrate technology into the classroom, but I didn't know why.

The reality is, I barely had to Google search for my answer before finding numerous articles on the web that give plenty of reasons "why". What I wasn't grasping was the fact that we live in a very modern time. Well, I understand that technology is part of our lives, and that I use it constantly, but I never thought of it as a tool to use in class. It seemed like a foreign concept to me because, again, I think of my youth and watching the teacher struggle with the bootleg projector for 20 minutes, only to show us something that was quick and not particularly helpful.

The difference is that technology is so much more than computer software. It should "support four key components of learning: active engagement, participation in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connection to real-world experts" (Source) Technology is about building skills and preparing students for their future careers which will most likely involve the four components previously listed.

What is also interesting is that the current students are most likely people who were born and raised in a completely digital world. Leading 21st Century Schools, refers to these people as Digital Natives. They would benefit so much by learning through programs (or wikis, blogs, podcasts) that they already are proficient using outside of class. Students may try harder if they were in their comfort zone.

I think that if teachers are educated in different forms of technology, it will help them (us?) reach these "Digital Natives". However, I do not fully agree with ridding the classroom of all pencils and paper. I still believe that students can read from textbooks, take notes, and still learn. I think that adding in technology will just round out an education.