Technocation

I just returned from the University of Illinois's Faculty Summer Institute, a conference regarding the use of technology in education. First impressions: Good, but I may be a bit too advanced. While many of my conference mates were confused by the terms blog and wiki, I'm already using them both (er...obviously the blog), so I didn't necessarily get the sort of update I was hoping. I did, however, gain a new idea on how to use wikis and some information on items to add to my ePortfolio. Most of the sessions were about Blackboard/Web CT and since my college uses ANGEL, well you get it.

Now, I'm sure you don't really care about my conference, but I was really using it as an introduction into the following thought multitasking. At the conference, people kept harping on the idea of multitasking in our students - how students today want to listen to the lecture while IM'ing and listening to their iPod. One colleague even said he doesn't allow laptops in his classrooms anymore because the students are always trying to do two things at once, which in his opinion means the students are doing neither well.

Welcome to the digital age. We grow up bombarded by information from various media simultaneously. I grew up watching tv while reading a book; listening to music while writing a paper; IM'ing while listening to music while chatting with someone in the room and writing a paper. And you know what - I did rather well.

Someone else at the conference mentioned that digital natives do not process information in the same manner as digital immigrants (terms used to really denote age: those who grew up with computers are natives, those who didn't, immigrants). Digital natives do not need to focus in on one specific task at a time, but rather we are capable of doing two or three things simultaneously. Now, I am not saying that everyone under the age of 30 is capable of doing this, but quite a few are or at least can be further trained to be. Just like with anything else, there are various skill levels.

But banning laptops in your classroom is not the way to go. Let them use the lappy, just make sure that your lecture is interesting, relevant, and necessary, and the students will still pay attention. Don't make them turn their iPods off; have them remove one earbud. For all you know, they will concentrate better.

For instance, I have to have the television or music playing while I'm writing or studying. If I sit and try to write in silence, I get antsy, frustrated. I have always been like this much to the dismay of my mother and grandparents who were convinced I wasn't giving the writing 100%. I was; I just function in a way unfamiliar to them. They still laugh at me when I'm reading a book while watching a movie; they've come to accept that I'm capable of this after numerous times where I had to explain the plot of each after the movie was over.

Perhaps students can explain the lecture and the IM conversation when class is over.