Net Generation Learning Style

My group read and worked on a presentation from:

Barbara R. Jones-Kavalier and Suzanne L. Flannigan (2006). Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century. Educause Quarterly, 29(2), Retrieved July 4, 2007. from http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm06/eqm0621.asp


I wrote the following script to accompany our presentation, but this idea was abandoned and Lynda went off to create her own version of this with video...

Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21^st Century

1. Literacy then—‘literate’ defined a person’s ability to read and write, separating the educated from the uneducated. In ancient Egypt, scribes recorded the journey of pharaohs in the afterlife.
2. In ancient Greece, the dialogues of Plato and Socrates were recorded for students of philosophy.
3. The illuminated manuscripts of Medieval monks…
4. …and the scrolls of Asian calligraphy recorded brilliant poets and philosophers.
5. The proliferation of the printed word in the 19^th century, and then radio and television in the 20^th century.
6. Science fiction writers prophesized the current age of PDAs with information and communication literally and figuratively in the palm of our hands.
7. But the magnitude and scope of the E-generation literacy is only now being realized.
8. How do educators bridge the digital gap between the linear, analog, old-school educators…
9. …and the technological savvy generation who navigate the plethora of informational input as nonchalantly as we flip through channels with our remotes.
10. We will lose the opportunity to provide a meaningful learning experience if we don’t re-align our instructional focus and methods.
11. If the digital 21^st century is in constant flux—perhaps our teaching methods should reflect this dynamic. Even this presentation could morph into a different arena tomorrow because we received fresh input that alters our point of view.
12. Old methods of instructions do not engage these new learners. Students should play a more pronounced role in the creation of the learning experience.
13. It’s critical that we see beyond the flash and zing of new technology and bring a new understanding of a dynamic environment where both the teacher and the learners interpret, assimilate, recreate learning and attempt to connect the dots of the digital 21^st century.
14. What are the digital dots? They are multifarious and multidimensional—but what does it mean to connect the dots?
15. Digital literacy means effective interpretation of multi-media input and proficient manipulation & participation in a digital environment. Possession of sound judgment in a sea of online sources is a critical trait.
16. Visual literacy involves design, imagination, and mutable recreation of visual input to produce meaningful new learning, new realities.
17. kill this slide?
18. Marshall McLuhan said “the medium is the message.” As instructional designers, “the interface is the instruction.”
19. keep
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23. Far better to have the skills and competencies to comprehend and discriminate within a common language than to be left out, unable to understand. But in the 21^st century, it is a language that is ever in flux with multiple competing perspectives that are simultaneously considered.
24. We’re connecting the dots, but the dots are connecting us.