The Digital Native

The current model of teaching students using a standardised system with a single suite of software on a desktop computer is no longer justifiable. The "digital native" has access to an array of technology on various platforms, which are rarely allowed within school gates despite their relevancy and educational potential.

Network lock-downs and zealous firewalls in schools also widen the chasm between the classroom and reality. Is this condemning a generation to be purely consumers of technology rather than creators?

Talk given at Update Conference 2011 http://lanyrd.com/2011/updateconf/sggxw/

Transcript

1. e Digital Native @anna_debenham photo: http://goo.gl/zJMiW
2. —2001, Marc Prensky Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants “Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach”
3. —2011, Older Students’ use of Digital Technologies in Distance Education. photo: nicoleabalde http://goo.gl/QUKPG “In short, students who more readily use technology for their studies are more likely than others to be deeply engaged with their work.”
4. —2001, Marc Prensky Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants photo: nicoleabalde http://goo.gl/QUKPG “Digital Immigrants don’t believe their students can learn successfully while watching TV or listening to music, because they (the Immigrants) can’t.”
5. —2007, NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates “e time has come for mobiles in schools to be placed in the category of a potentially offensive weapon”
8. http://goo.gl/Xu2EQ
10. —Draft Education Bill (Part 2, 6E) http://goo.gl/54tEX photo: nolifebeforecoffee http://goo.gl/15b2L “e person who seized the item may examine any data or files on the device, if the person thinks there is a good reason to do so.”
11. —Draft Education Bill (Part 2, 6F) http://goo.gl/54tEX photo: nolifebeforecoffee http://goo.gl/15b2L “…if the person has decided to return the item to its owner, retain it or dispose of it, the person may erase any data or files from the device if the person thinks there is a good reason to do so.”
13. photo: chaparral http://goo.gl/8jnAj
14. photo: hockadilly http://goo.gl/BzCrc
15. photo: sidelong http://goo.gl/ksXZI
16. “e SchoolBooks were the snitchiest technology of them all, logging every keystroke, watching all the network traffic for suspicious keywords, counting every click, keeping track of every fleeting thought you put out over the net.” —Excerpt from Little Brother by Cory Doctorow photo: MrPessimist http://goo.gl/1py4o
17. Always Monitoring, Always Protecting, Always Teaching —RM Tutor software tagline photo: nolifebeforecoffee http://goo.gl/15b2L
18. —Atul Varma http://goo.gl/cwvQg photo: nolifebeforecoffee http://goo.gl/15b2L “Even more distressing was that we couldn’t even show kids the power of View Source, because that feature was actually disabled on the library’s computers.”
19. “Amongst the young, IT anarchy rules.” —e Future of ICT in Schools http://goo.gl/uRbbF photo: judybaxter http://goo.gl/BKiFZ
21. “I was flabbergasted to learn that today computer science isn’t even taught as standard in UK schools.” —Eric Schmidt http://goo.gl/BfDxF Photo: Vincent Sobotka http://goo.gl/G2i8j
22. “Your IT curriculum focuses on teaching how to use software, but gives no insight into how it’s made. at is just throwing away your great computing heritage.” —Eric Schmidt http://goo.gl/BfDxF Photo: Vincent Sobotka http://goo.gl/G2i8j
23. —e Royal Society http://goo.gl/kJlRX
24. – GCSE ICT ‑ 57% in 5 years —e Royal Society http://goo.gl/kJlRX
25. Michael Gove, Education Secretary
26. —Andy Burnham, MP “By valuing Latin over ICT in his English Baccalaureate he shows just how out of touch he really is.”
27. — http://goo.gl/GSSF
28. — 2009, Exemplar Coursework Project http://goo.gl/PGm4b (PDF 1.8MB)
29. “Computer Literate” photo: lrargerich http://goo.gl/h5L4a
30. “Kids think that the Internet and the WWW are the same thing (owned by Microsoft) and tell me that when they can not find what they are searching for on Google, that the internet is not working” —ICT Teacher in the TES forum http://goo.gl/dqvwc photo: lrargerich http://goo.gl/h5L4a
31. 1 Millon UK Children lack computer access at home, 2 Million lack Internet access — 2010 BBC article http://goo.gl/IIb59 photo: machado17 http://goo.gl/hqVKY
32. Home Access Scheme Scrapped photo: Svadilfari http://goo.gl/ZMxrB
33. City Learning Centres Shut Down photo: Svadilfari http://goo.gl/ZMxrB
34. “the ICT curriculum is contracting - the likelihood of more girls going forward into the industry is now less likely to happen” —ICT teacher photo: Svadilfari http://goo.gl/ZMxrB
35. “Play with it. You can’t break it” —Aral Balkan’s Dad photo: splorp http://goo.gl/rQes9
36. Photo: http://goo.gl/jVEyW
37. Raspberry Pi http://www.raspberrypi.org/
38. Scratch http://scratch.mit.edu
39. Hackasaurus http://hackasaurus.org
40. Want to help?
41. Register as a STEM ambassador or write to your old school and offer to give a talk about what you do.
42. Visit the TES’s ICT teacher forum and give advice.
43. Help make open source projects like Hackasaurus better
44. If you have school-aged kids: Find out what monitoring devices the school uses and question it if you think it’s unreasonable.
45. If you have school-aged kids: Find out what software students are using, and suggest alternatives where appropriate
46. Write to your MP and the Education Secretary
47. tnk u @anna_debenham photo: nowhere77 http://goo.gl/zJMiW