Journal 9 - NETS I & IV

"The Kids Are All Right" -John K. Waters

Waters, John K. (March 2009). The Kids Are All Right. T-H-E Journal, Retrieved March 30, 2009, from http://www.thejournal.com/articles/24104

This article is basically about how educators can take advantage of the fact that children are very skilled at using new digital tools such as the internet for self-directed learning. It all started with the study "Kids' Informal Learning With Digital Media: An Ethnographic Investigation of Innovative Knowledge Cultures", funded by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur. This was a study conducted on over 800 young people over a period of three years. Data was collected on how these young people use digital media tools and how they developed social skills through online websites such as FaceBook and MySpace. This study can be very beneficial to educators who wish to lessen the gap between them and their students in regards to using new digital tools. It was suggested that educators should participate in these social websites such as FaceBook and MySpace so that they can get a feel for how their students are learning and what their students use on a daily basis to continue communication with others.

The study identified three genres of participation with new digital media tools. The first genre is "hanging out," which is basically when students are communicating with their friends and keeping in touch with their friends through the websites like MySpace since public space for children to hang out now are more restricted than they were in the past. Through this, children are learning the social skills through they online interactions with one another. The second genre is "messing around." This is when the kids are just exploring on their own. They might jump from website to website, checking things out along the way, or browsing for information that are of interest to them. This is an example of self-directed learning. The children are seeking out the information and absorbing in what they discover. The third genre is "geeking out." This is when the children are seriously interested in the new digital tool. They are taking their time to investigate the new tool and to learn more about it. It is here that they develop expertise in their topic of interest. Through this research, it is founded that "the internet is empowering a tech-savvy generation to pursue a central element of 21st century education-- self-directed learning, performed on kids' own terms and time schedules. It's a finding that compels educators to disregard any lingering notions that the internet is strictly unproductive playtime" (Waters, 2009).

This article has really changed my perspective on kids and the internet world. I think that it is a great idea for educators to use the children's passion and skills for computers and bring it into the classroom as a way to facilitate their learning and creativity. It is very true that technology today is totally different from that from 5 years ago. I realize that the environment in which I learned will be totally different from the way in which my future students will learn. As an eduator, I believe that you have to utilize what is out there so that your students will have the best tools possible when they leave your classroom. I also believe that an educator must never stop learning, whether it be from their own peers, the news, or their students; the yearning and willingness to learn new things is an important quality for educators to possess.

Question 1: What are some ways that educators can reduce the technology gap between themselves and their students?

One way to reduce the technology gap would be to learn about the new technologies yourself. There are a lot of resources out there and a lot of different social networks that you can join to get updated information on how to utilize the new digital tools in your own classroom. Another way would be for educators to allow their students to teach them a few things about these new digital tools. Students are a lot more tech-savvy now-a-days than most educators and most of them easily pick up on how to navigate through these new digital tools like nothing. This would definitely make the students feel like they are contributing something valuable to the classroom.

Question 2: Name one of the participation genre and describe it.

One of the genre of participation is labled "geeking out." This is when the students are extremely interested in the digital tool. They invest a lot of their time investigating and learning about the new tool. They participate in self-directed learning. They learn to eventually become experts at the new digital tool.