The Net Generation

Today's children, known as the Net Generation, learn by doing. Not just doing, but doing fast. What some may call impatience, the Net Geners have termed "immediacy". The texts we have read this week will lead us to believe that this immediacy stems from the generations involvement with technology from birth, or at least a very early age. I tend to agree that all the technology that our children are exposed to are building a different "brain" than those of previous era's and this greatly effects how we should be teaching our students.

Chapter 2 makes a few valid points that I can relate to such as the need for structure and engagement, which I think is true of almost all generations. I can also look back on numerous occasions when I found myself simply skimming over readings. However, I don't believe that all students prefer to work in teams, although I believe that it is still an essential skill to have. I found it also interesting to know that children like to make a difference in their community, which is also a characteristic specific to the Net Generation.

I agree with the use of technology for practical purposes, not just for the sake of using technology. When using the technology in a fun and innovative way, rather than simply copying and pasting the regular lesson plan in a technological format, the students are engaged while at the same time giving some structure to the lesson.

I think it is important to remained focused on things like reading, writing, and math and not lose sight of those things while making lesson plans whose main goal is to keep the student focused.

As for the article on Connectivism, it seems a little dangerous to me that the ability to learn is more important than what we know. So yeah, I know how to research things, but if I can't retain any of that information, then what good will it do? I suppose it's part of a never-ending cycle of incoming knowledge and with technology and information changing as fast as it does, the ability to learn new information might be more important than knowing the outdated information.

In the risk of this being too long, I leave you with a quote from the "21st-Century Digital Learner" as described by a student when speaking of teachers and technology:

"You think of technology as a tool. We think of it as a foundation-- it's the basis of everything we do."