EdTech @ ADW

 Here’s a nice article from TimesOnline that refers to differences in the way Digital-age youngsters process information differently from parents.

A short summary in points:

1. According to researchers digitally native children have wonderfully flexible minds. They absorb information quickly, adapt to changes and are adept at culling from multiple sources. But they are also suffering from internet-induced attention deficit disorder.

2.  A worrying view coming through is that students are lacking in reflective awareness. Technology makes it easy for them to collate information, but not to analyse and understand it -  that what is going on out there is quite superficial.

3.  Younger people expect more variety, so their boredom threshold is falling. Some teaching is adapting to that and becoming more dynamic, some is not.

4.  Because they have been using digital technology all their lives, young people feel they have authority over it. But technology cannot teach them to reflect upon and evaluate the information they are gathering online. For that, the role of teachers and parents remains fundamentally important.

DIGITAL NATIVES v DIGITAL IMMIGRANTS

Digital natives (Those who have grown up in the digital age)
Like receiving information quickly from multiple media sources.
Like parallel processing and multi-tasking.
Like processing pictures, sounds and video before text.
Like random access to hyperlinked multimedia information.
Like to network with others.
Like to learn “just in time”.

Digital immigrants (Older people who are learning to assimilate to this age)
Like slow and controlled release of information from limited sources.
Like singular processing and single or limited tasking.
Like processing text before pictures, sounds and video.
Like to receive information linearly, logically and sequentially.
Like to work independently.
Like to learn “just in case”.