Growing+Up+Digital

Article: Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation Author: Don Tapscott Group: JTART (**J**ane Noh, **T**revor Wightman, **A**mber Botticello, **R**andy Lam, **T**iffany Bui)

toc =** Introduction **=

Baby Boomers versus the Net Generation
The article Growing Up Digital by Don Tapscott was written in 1998. To put this into perspective, the information in the article is now 15 years old and may be a little outdated; however, Tapscott offers valuable insights about h ow there is a new paradigm in the delivery of learning in relation to technology. Prior to the Net Generation (abbreviated as N-Geners), there were the baby boomers. Baby boomers were born between 1946 and 1964, whereas N-Geners were born between 1978 and 1998. The N-Geners in the United States and Canada add up to be about 88 million children who combine their large number with digital mastery to stimulate social transformation. These new generation children are the heart of the new digital media culture—they learn, work, play, communicate, shop, and develop communities in ways that are very different from their parents. N-Geners are whole-heartedly embracing interactive media, including the Internet, CD-ROM and video games. They are exceptionally curious, self-reliant, intelligent, driven, adaptable, and global thinkers. Consequently, there has been a noticeable change in the way that Net Generation children gather, accept, and retain information.

From Broadcast Learning to Interactive Learning
Within the Net Generation population, there have been significant changes in preference for interactive media rather than broadcast media. Specifically, television is one major example of broadcast media. N-Geners are unwilling to be a mere spectator, which is reflected by the substantial decline in television viewing hours. Television is hierarchical in that there is no interaction involved—there is no way to receive feedback from the viewer to the broadcaster, nor is there any interaction between viewers unless they are watching the television in the same room. Television culture does not offer viewers any real power other than to surf the various different channels. In contrast, N-Geners find this sense of power via the Internet because it depends on a shared delivery system rather than hierarchical one. The distributed power that the internet has to offer N-Geners is at the heart of the culture of interaction. With the shift of media use from broadcast media to interactive media, such as computers and the internet, the culture of interaction can be utilized to promote interactive learning. Unfortunately, schools primarily use computers to teach basic computer skills, for traditional instruction, testing, or record keeping. However, because the N-Geners have experience with digital media, school should direct a new paradigm in learning with an emphasis on culture of interaction.

The Technology of Interactive Learning
Back in the mid 1970s, Tapscott was studying educational psychology and found himself in one of the first classes to take an online course. The class sat in front of a computer terminal which was connected to a computer-controlled slide display and mini computer. Tapscott described that the online course allowed him to stop and review something he did not understand or fast forward through material that he already understood. As a result, he became genuinely interested in this new technology. The downside, however, was the cost of the courseware and systems to make online courses possible. By 1998, when this article was written, the wide range of technology and internet created a new paradigm in the delivery of learning. For instance, a stateside course to be videotaped and transmitted via satellite to institutions located in Africa. The professor would be available by telephone three times a week to answer questions that the on-site instructor could not answer when clarification needed. Moreover, games could be utilized to provide learners with a more flexible, creative educational environment to learn many things from visual-motor skills to the rules of gravity.

In addition, computer aided instruction (CAI) programs can improve learning performance. An example of an interactive CAI program is a hypermedia course for future teachers at York University. The program possessed 24 modules, each with a topic description and readings from internet sources. Electronic seminars were also available to each student, which relied more on peer interaction than the professor as the center of knowledge. The CAI program received positive feedback from the 120 students in the course, especially because the course offered students the chance to become online-literate. Students had the opportunity to learn how to log onto computers, set up internet connection at home, how to use virtual messaging systems, and ultimately see the potential power of technology.

With the introduction of new media, new culture for learning has been created where learners can enjoy interactivity and connections with their peers. Specifically, digital forums enable learners to brainstorm together, debate, and promote social learning.

Furthermore, research evidence from a study at California State University, Northridge supports this view. Students in a social studies course were randomly divided into two groups, one taught in a traditional classroom and the other taught online. The classes were standardized in terms of readings, lectures, and exams. Regardless, the online class scored 20% higher on exams than the traditional class. The use of multimedia offered the online class an advantage because the students felt that they understood the material better with the greater flexibility in how they learned. The online class also communicated more with each other and displayed a greater interest in class work overall.

The development of Multi-User Domain (MUD) for the Net Generation is a major influence for multimedia communications environments. MUD is a “place” on the internet where individuals can create personal dramatic adventures in real time. In particular, MUDs are evolving into virtual meeting and learning places as an alternate social reality on the internet. Consequently, at the time the article was written in 1998, learners already had the opportunity to ride through the human cardiovascular system in a multimedia theme park, which led to the development of flight simulation systems that allow airplane pilots practice emergency situations in a safe environment. As a result, Tapscott predicted that because of the evolution of digital learning environments and virtual reality simulations, children would be able to study science in a virtual space station and share data, research, and solutions with others in the near future. media type="custom" key="23439476" In essence, interactive learning environments are the internet as a whole. The World Wide Web encompasses a vast amount of human knowledge, tools to manage this knowledge, access to people, and is constantly developing new means for people to learn.

= **Eight Shifts of Interactive Learning** =

1. From linear to hypermedia learning
Traditionally, teaching has followed a linear format. There are many things in life that are linear, such as novels, television shows, and even textbooks are typically written to be read in order. The next generation is less linear; they participate in multiple things at once or change from task to task quickly. They do not typically do things in a specific order. When two children were brought in to be observed while using a computer, researchers watched as they used search engines, brought up multiple websites, and became impatient with websites that took too long to load.

2. From instruction to construction and discovery
Learning is moving away from instructionism towards constructionism. This means that students are learning more through discovery rather than just receiving information from the teacher about a topic. Students play an active role in creating their own learning. They learn by experience through labs, trial and error, and other critical thinking activities. In this way, learning becomes meaningful to the students. Constructionism argues that students not only learn better through discovery, but they are also able to remember what they have learned for longer periods of time.

3. From teacher-centered to learner-centered education
With the advancements in digital media, the focus of learning are shifting away from the teachers and moving towards the students. While learner-centered education draws the focus away from teachers, teachers continue to play a vital role in developing and facilitating the learning experience. Teachers must be aware of the factors that affect learning, such as students’ abilities, learning styles, and social context, in order to structure learning experiences where students be more interactive.

4. From absorbing material to learning how to navigate and learn
The shift toward interactive learning requires students to not only absorb the information but engage in it as well. Rather than staying in the lower-level cognition levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, N-Geners will be expected to interact with information in the higher-level cognition levels such as synthesis and evaluation. In order for students to keep up with the rapidly changing world around them, they will need to learn HOW to learn.

5. From school to lifelong learning
It is the fact that students a generation ago were dramatically different than the students we teach today. The shift that has taken a foothold in society is that now we teach our students to be lifelong learners. There is no such thing as graduating from college, learning a competency-trade and then “keeping up” in your profession for the rest of our life. Since technology is changing everyday, learning even after you are finished with school is very important!

6. From one-size-fits-all to customized learning
As Sir Ken Robinson stated in his Changing Education Paradigm in today's society we educate students in batches that are determined by age. However, what we need to shift to is more learning where each student has a learning schedule that is customized solely to them. Technology makes this customized learning possible and it is important to move towards this type of learning and away from the one-size-fits-all model. media type="custom" key="23423994" align="center"

7. From learning as torture to learning as fun
With the onset of using new media as educational tools, children of the “net generation” have learned to view more traditional methods of schooling as boring (sometimes even as torture). Educational shows such as Sesame Street have taught children that learning should be a fun and enjoyable experience, however, the majority of our current school system can be seen as anything but fun. New Schools should seek to make learning an enjoyable task as it is with Sesame Street and with learning to master new skills in a video game. Learning should be enjoyable, challenging and entertaining at the same time, and with the use of new media technologies, learning can learn to enjoy learning again, to be motivated to learn and to have a sense of responsibility in their learning.

//Cliffnotes://
 * // Today’s schools are not exciting places to learn //
 * // Children of the new generation are accustomed to having fun while learning //
 * // The challenge of learning a new task provides enjoyment (think: difficult task in video game) //
 * // Entertainment - “To keep, hold or maintain the mind” //

8. From the teacher as transmitter to the teacher as facilitator
According to Tapscott, the role of a teacher has shifted from that of a transmitter of information to that of “a facilitator to social learning where students construct their own knowledge.” The bulk of Tapscotts 8th shift in interactive learning describes a scenario in which interactive learning is actually occurring. It describes a student in an actual classroom presenting a project that had required her to use the internet to research information about sharks that would serve as the foundation for her final product: an interactive website by which the student’s classmates could access throughout the year. This type of learning shifts the focus away from the teacher as a transmitter and more to the “teacher” as a facilitator to the student in creating a finished product. The student of the future should learn by constructing his or her own knowledge through projects and hands-on activities, not through the rote memorization emphasized by so many of today’s schools. In a sense, the role of the teacher as a facilitator is to teach students how to learn on their own.

=Citations=
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