Educating the Net Generation

Entry #3

I don’t know if anyone else is worried about educating the Net Generation, but I am! They are in fact, already in our schools. I feel as though my only saving grace thus far has been that my students are not as savvy with technology because of their age, however, I think that may be changing. I want to know the best way to educate these students! Is it all about incorporating technology and cool Web tools or is there more to it than this?

I found a video from Educause in which Diana G. Oblinger is training a group of college professors about Educating the Net Generation. Although this conference is from 2004, I think she brings up some important information about the Net Generation. The first point Oblinger brought up is that access to technology is higher than it used to be and is no longer based on race or income. I have heard many teachers claim that they do not want to use technology in school because many students do not have access to technology outside of school; therefore every component of projects, etc. has to be completed in school. Apparently this is not as true as it once was. She then spoke about the Net Gens learning preferences. These include teamwork and peer-to-peer learning. They don’t want teachers to educate them by telling them everything. They want to discover things on their own. They love engagement and experience and are not passive learners. They are visual and kinesthetic learners and love doing things that matter. They would love to do a project that helps the community or create something that may in return help someone else. They also are informal learners. Many of them learn on their own by exploring the Internet.

In his article The Net Generation and the School, Don Tapscott feels as though the Net Generation is savvy with technology and this is making these kids the “most demanding and challenging students in history”. They are not content to sit back and watch television because they do not want to just observe; they want to “participate, inquire, discuss, argue, play, shop, critique, investigate, ridicule, fantasize, seek, and inform.” They are critical thinkers and must use their judgment whenever they are on the Web because of all of the information provided there. The Net Generation loves to argue and debate. They know all about “peer relationships, about teamwork, about being critical, about how to have fun online, about friendships across geographies, about standing up for what they think, and about how to effectively communicate their ideas.” In order to effectively teach these students, we must change the way our students learn so that it is learner-centered rather than teacher centered and so that learning is a social activity.

My thinking has always been, how can I use technology to enhance “my” instruction? Apparently this is the wrong way to think! I should be creating student-centered social learning activities and then allowing the students to use technology within these activities in order to maximize “student learning”. I have always thought that if my instruction improves, the students will learn more. I think we are all led to believe this by our supervisors and administrators as well. According to Oblinger and Tapscott this is not true with the Net Generation. They don’t want us to improve our instruction but then still “tell” them everything. They want to teach themselves while we facilitate their learning. I typically do not allow my students to do this because I always see them as too little. I know, I know – I use this as an excuse for everything! In our discussion from chapter 5 of Wikinomics someone said, and many of us agreed, that we have already learned more in the current graduate class we are taking than in any other graduate classes we have ever taken. We have said that the reason for this is because we are exploring the Internet, we are finding our own articles, and learning on our own. Our professor has allowed us to teach ourselves. We are also interacting with others through discussions and reading one another’s blogs. We are therefore learning from one another and are becoming social learners. It is interesting that many of us like the format of this class so much but are any of us doing implementing anything similar to this in our own classrooms?

I think Pamela summarized perfectly how teachers need to change in order to effectively instruct the Net Gens. In her July 15 blog, she stated the following: “It is time for educators to realize that knowledge is growing exponentially and that we should be tapping into the knowledge of others. We shouldn't see ourselves as the class expert that some teachers once were, and we can't be intimidated by students finding out additional information on the Internet. I know this is asking a great deal because it is such a change in many teachers’ mindsets, however, we can't be expected to know it all, so let's stop pretending too.”

Issue: What is the best way to educate the Net Generation?
Solution: Create student-centered social learning activities where the students use the Web as well as other technology to teach themselves.