Thing #2
Information overload, the 24/7 cacophony of talking heads, data, observations, and new products, requires 21st century digital learners to be critical thinkers with the ability to filter and sort the important from the mundane. The digital age has changed my professional practice. Now I have the ability to preview the content of multiple resources online and obtain information to clarify areas of confusion or concern. This is the digital way to sort those that will be helpful from those that I used to trash. But this brings up the issue of who has the access. Do all citizens/students have equal access? Will this fuel an "achievement gap" based on access (which is linked to money)?
The digital classroom is necessary and fundamental to the future prosperity of all students. The programs that placed books in the hands of all children will now become placing digital tools in the hands of all children. These digital natives will learn to access and process information to create new learning. I hope my expanding vision and knowledge of these tools will enable students to engage in learning. Learning from the past by applying the tools of present.
Wow! We are so similar...I felt the same way about the cacaphony of sounds and images. I also share your concerns about the digita divide.
ReplyDeleteThere may not be as much of a digital divide as we think. A recent study by the Pew Foundation found that while some teens don't have access to a traditional computer, most (especially minority students) have a cell phone with web access. We may be missing the boat by banning phones in school.
ReplyDeleteStudents using cell phones with web access is a culture of "instant information." In the movie I attended over the weekend, a pair of teenage flashed their screens throughout the movie. I doubt they were checking on the credibility of the film's historical frame or even checking the location of Belarus.
ReplyDelete