Sunday, November 13, 2005
A DIGITAL DIVIDE?
A good article here on the cultural, educational and organizational implications of information technology "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" (PDF) by Marc Prensky ( Hat tip net-centric dialog. Prensky also has a blog).
Having worked with students on the extreme ends of the spectrum ( both in terms of the Bell Curve and socioeconomic status) during the period where IT phased into schools, universities and the larger society, I have to give an endorsement to Prensky's observations.
American children today are strikingly different learners in the classroom than those from as little as five years ago because IT and internet access has become ubiquitous. The changes are far more modest at the lower socioeconomic quintiles or at small rural school systems but even there they exist.
Students are more receptive to alinear thinking; they naturally multitask; they automatically incorporate IT into their socialization and autonomy from adult supervision; they have higher expectations for ( and impatience with) teacher-delivery of content; they can produce 4th grade presentations that look more visually appealing in terms of design than what a consultant might have produced to illustrate a proposal for, say, a meeting with a CEO circa 1995.
With that cultural assimilation comes some negatives, including a difficulty with sustained attention to task, particularly reading, though that can hardly be laid entirely at the door of IT. However, the cultural shift toward Toffler's " Third Wave" information society would appear to be taking root. ¶ 9:09 AM
A good article here on the cultural, educational and organizational implications of information technology "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" (PDF) by Marc Prensky ( Hat tip net-centric dialog. Prensky also has a blog).
Having worked with students on the extreme ends of the spectrum ( both in terms of the Bell Curve and socioeconomic status) during the period where IT phased into schools, universities and the larger society, I have to give an endorsement to Prensky's observations.
American children today are strikingly different learners in the classroom than those from as little as five years ago because IT and internet access has become ubiquitous. The changes are far more modest at the lower socioeconomic quintiles or at small rural school systems but even there they exist.
Students are more receptive to alinear thinking; they naturally multitask; they automatically incorporate IT into their socialization and autonomy from adult supervision; they have higher expectations for ( and impatience with) teacher-delivery of content; they can produce 4th grade presentations that look more visually appealing in terms of design than what a consultant might have produced to illustrate a proposal for, say, a meeting with a CEO circa 1995.
With that cultural assimilation comes some negatives, including a difficulty with sustained attention to task, particularly reading, though that can hardly be laid entirely at the door of IT. However, the cultural shift toward Toffler's " Third Wave" information society would appear to be taking root. ¶ 9:09 AM
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I find Prensky's foundations hard to swallow (other than age - I fit into the digital native model despite his thesis that I am a product of a much earlier era that does not possess digital DNA).
I also recall a recent study that concludes that multitasking is fictitious.
As to adoption of technology into the educational system - the need is readily apparent. Education needs to adopt any technology that aids in the mission and it is true that kids have far higher expectations than formerly. My son loves reading and math - his school has a great reading program where he is able to excel at his rate, yet the math program struggles to keep him challenged insisting that all students cover the same material each week.
Technology is simply a tool and not an end in itself, although many non savvy folks view it more like magic and kids need to also learn to separate the flash from the substance. The key is providing the right content - to this end every other older technology has had to reach from telephones to radio and television. The truth is that most digital content is very weak, Prenksy's article clearly shows this. Acceptance of digital technology is affected mostly by the quality and relevance of content as well as an adopters acceptance for change.
There was a wonderful article on Warren Buffet in last week's Wall Street Journal - he eschews a calculator (mechanical or electronic) because he claims that using a calculator in his financial analyses would bely a false sense of precision. Truly Warren Buffet has mastered technology in this regard not allowing technology to distract from his core mission.
I also recall a recent study that concludes that multitasking is fictitious.
As to adoption of technology into the educational system - the need is readily apparent. Education needs to adopt any technology that aids in the mission and it is true that kids have far higher expectations than formerly. My son loves reading and math - his school has a great reading program where he is able to excel at his rate, yet the math program struggles to keep him challenged insisting that all students cover the same material each week.
Technology is simply a tool and not an end in itself, although many non savvy folks view it more like magic and kids need to also learn to separate the flash from the substance. The key is providing the right content - to this end every other older technology has had to reach from telephones to radio and television. The truth is that most digital content is very weak, Prenksy's article clearly shows this. Acceptance of digital technology is affected mostly by the quality and relevance of content as well as an adopters acceptance for change.
There was a wonderful article on Warren Buffet in last week's Wall Street Journal - he eschews a calculator (mechanical or electronic) because he claims that using a calculator in his financial analyses would bely a false sense of precision. Truly Warren Buffet has mastered technology in this regard not allowing technology to distract from his core mission.
Hi Stu,
I think we saw the same study.
Multitasking is not something that people can perform well nevertheless students, esp. teen-agers do it when they can get away with it.
Math programs - actually ed. programs in general - vary dramatically. My daughter is in an early primary grade and her teacher has the students exploring negative integers and comparative value systems. That sort of teaching does not go on in the neighboring school district and the one just immediately further east after that is little better than day care posing as a school.
My guess is state standardized testing has something to do with your son's rigid math regime which would be geared to keeping the bottom quartiles in the " meets standards" range and not challenging brighter students. Illinois is not testing kids as young as my children ( yet).
New technology as a modality meets with more resistance in an organization, on average, as you scale up age cohorts. ( You are an anomaly) Children accept new tech readily because they have fewer preferred but outmoded ways of doing things to unlearn.
I think we saw the same study.
Multitasking is not something that people can perform well nevertheless students, esp. teen-agers do it when they can get away with it.
Math programs - actually ed. programs in general - vary dramatically. My daughter is in an early primary grade and her teacher has the students exploring negative integers and comparative value systems. That sort of teaching does not go on in the neighboring school district and the one just immediately further east after that is little better than day care posing as a school.
My guess is state standardized testing has something to do with your son's rigid math regime which would be geared to keeping the bottom quartiles in the " meets standards" range and not challenging brighter students. Illinois is not testing kids as young as my children ( yet).
New technology as a modality meets with more resistance in an organization, on average, as you scale up age cohorts. ( You are an anomaly) Children accept new tech readily because they have fewer preferred but outmoded ways of doing things to unlearn.
On a similar theme, Slashdot notes that longer web browsing in class is correlated to lower grades, but repeated browsing to higher grades. There's some speculation on the role of multitasking minds, but it made me remember horizontal thinking.
Dan tdaxp
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Dan tdaxp
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