Why Does This Matter?
"We are doing our youth a disservice if we believe we can protect them from the world by limiting their access to public life. They must enter that arena, make mistakes, and learn from them. Our role as adults is not to be their policemen, but to be their guide."
-Danah Boyd, 2007
(Strasberger, Jordan and Donnerstein, 2012, p.534)
Our conceptions about technology and media are shifting back and forth from evil to good, but as teachers we need to embrace technology and learn about how today's youth operate with these "informal, networked, and collaborative learning styles" that social media has created (Liang et al., 2010, p.13). By understanding the term digital natives and looking into how their brains work can benefit us in making sure that our students are learning the material in a way applicable to them. Teachers need to understand what draws ours students to the internet, what kind of information do they take away from the sites visited on the internet, and is this information beneficial to our students. Better understanding leads to better lesson planning which leads to choosing activities that meet the needs of these students and enhance characteristics specific to the digital natives. Such characteristics include:
- Fierce Independence
- Emotional and Intellectual Openness
- Inclusion
- Free expression and strong views
- Innovation
- Preoccupation with Maturity
- Investigations
- Immediacy
- Sensitivity to corporate involvement
- Authentication and trust
(Dorman, 2001, p.31-32)
The article called Teaching Our First Digital Generation by Steve Dorman (2001), goes into more detail about each one of these characteristics.
It is also in important to understand digital natives and the effect of social media because it is changing the way our students think and read. Understanding the "cognitive implications of technology is essential for teaching the new tribe of digital natives" (Helding, 2011, p.200). Teachers also need to recognize the addictive qualities that can evolve when using that internet and other digital media. These types of technology create a need to 'seek' which gets rewarded by a dopamine rush, also known as a 'high'. This 'seeking' addiction is believed to correlate with the increasing 'inattention' that is being seen among the digital natives. In other words, the massive amount of time that youth spend on these types of technologies may be creating disorders, such as ADD/ADHD, in which most of these youths would not have otherwise (Helding, 2011, p.202). With the overuse of social media, youth get caught up in their 'fantasy' identity created in the online world and forget how the 'real' world works. Teachers can help their students come back to reality by using social media in educational ways.
Here are a couple quotes by Sherry Turkle that are found in Helding's article (2011) and what we need to remember as teachers when it comes to understanding technology, the internet and social media:
"Because we grew up with the Net, we assume that the Net is grown up. We tend to see what we have now as the technology in its maturity. This is a dangerous habit of thought. We need to remember that we are in very early days" (p.200)
"Technology challenges us to assert our human values, which means that, first of all, we have to figure out what they are. That's not so easy. Technology isn't good or bad, it's powerful and it's complicated. Take advantage of what it can do. Learn what it can do. But also ask, "What is it doing to us?" We're going to slowly, slowly find our balance, but I think it's going to take time." (p. 205)
-Danah Boyd, 2007
(Strasberger, Jordan and Donnerstein, 2012, p.534)
Our conceptions about technology and media are shifting back and forth from evil to good, but as teachers we need to embrace technology and learn about how today's youth operate with these "informal, networked, and collaborative learning styles" that social media has created (Liang et al., 2010, p.13). By understanding the term digital natives and looking into how their brains work can benefit us in making sure that our students are learning the material in a way applicable to them. Teachers need to understand what draws ours students to the internet, what kind of information do they take away from the sites visited on the internet, and is this information beneficial to our students. Better understanding leads to better lesson planning which leads to choosing activities that meet the needs of these students and enhance characteristics specific to the digital natives. Such characteristics include:
- Fierce Independence
- Emotional and Intellectual Openness
- Inclusion
- Free expression and strong views
- Innovation
- Preoccupation with Maturity
- Investigations
- Immediacy
- Sensitivity to corporate involvement
- Authentication and trust
(Dorman, 2001, p.31-32)
The article called Teaching Our First Digital Generation by Steve Dorman (2001), goes into more detail about each one of these characteristics.
It is also in important to understand digital natives and the effect of social media because it is changing the way our students think and read. Understanding the "cognitive implications of technology is essential for teaching the new tribe of digital natives" (Helding, 2011, p.200). Teachers also need to recognize the addictive qualities that can evolve when using that internet and other digital media. These types of technology create a need to 'seek' which gets rewarded by a dopamine rush, also known as a 'high'. This 'seeking' addiction is believed to correlate with the increasing 'inattention' that is being seen among the digital natives. In other words, the massive amount of time that youth spend on these types of technologies may be creating disorders, such as ADD/ADHD, in which most of these youths would not have otherwise (Helding, 2011, p.202). With the overuse of social media, youth get caught up in their 'fantasy' identity created in the online world and forget how the 'real' world works. Teachers can help their students come back to reality by using social media in educational ways.
Here are a couple quotes by Sherry Turkle that are found in Helding's article (2011) and what we need to remember as teachers when it comes to understanding technology, the internet and social media:
"Because we grew up with the Net, we assume that the Net is grown up. We tend to see what we have now as the technology in its maturity. This is a dangerous habit of thought. We need to remember that we are in very early days" (p.200)
"Technology challenges us to assert our human values, which means that, first of all, we have to figure out what they are. That's not so easy. Technology isn't good or bad, it's powerful and it's complicated. Take advantage of what it can do. Learn what it can do. But also ask, "What is it doing to us?" We're going to slowly, slowly find our balance, but I think it's going to take time." (p. 205)
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