Thanks to John Connell and his excellent blog for pointing this out -
- it comes from the Pearson foundation. Worth watching as a quick summary of the way people are thinking about the future of education.
Friday 16 May 2008
Thursday 1 May 2008
Marc Prensky, computer games and "digital natives"
You'll notice I've got a bit of a posting frenzy on today - I have come out of a long tunnel of projects and pitches, and wanted to start blogging again, particularly given that I wanted to comment on the cancellation of Jam as per below. This marks my first non-Jam related post - breathe a sigh of relief.
Late last year I went to the Handheld Learning conference. Mark Prensky was one of the keynote speakers, and his notion that kids are digital natives and the rest of us are digital immigrants was aired (again). He was - perhaps unsurprisingly - talking about his latest book, "DON'T BOTHER ME, MOM -- I'M LEARNING" : How Computer and Video Games Are Preparing Your Kids For Twenty-first Century Success -- and How You Can Help! His presentation was charismatic - but, frankly, a little patronising in places.
Prensky's ideas are helpful - but I think, only up to a point. They seem to have been unthinkingly accepted as universally true, without a lot of research. I even saw them in a document distributed by an LA to its primary schools the other day. Yes, lots of kids are naturals with the technology. Yes, they are often much more savvy with digital devices than their teachers, and many end up helping their teachers and parents with their Word woes. But - there are lots of kids out there who don't like the technology, or aren't interested in it: just as there are girls that like football, and men that like ballet. My (utterly unresearched) opinion is that there are plenty of kids who think that computer games are really dull (in most cases, my view as well). Computer games are not a cure-all for educating our kids in the 21st century. It's simplistic and lazy to accept Prensky's ideas unquestioningly. Let's challenge them a lot more.
Late last year I went to the Handheld Learning conference. Mark Prensky was one of the keynote speakers, and his notion that kids are digital natives and the rest of us are digital immigrants was aired (again). He was - perhaps unsurprisingly - talking about his latest book, "DON'T BOTHER ME, MOM -- I'M LEARNING" : How Computer and Video Games Are Preparing Your Kids For Twenty-first Century Success -- and How You Can Help! His presentation was charismatic - but, frankly, a little patronising in places.
Prensky's ideas are helpful - but I think, only up to a point. They seem to have been unthinkingly accepted as universally true, without a lot of research. I even saw them in a document distributed by an LA to its primary schools the other day. Yes, lots of kids are naturals with the technology. Yes, they are often much more savvy with digital devices than their teachers, and many end up helping their teachers and parents with their Word woes. But - there are lots of kids out there who don't like the technology, or aren't interested in it: just as there are girls that like football, and men that like ballet. My (utterly unresearched) opinion is that there are plenty of kids who think that computer games are really dull (in most cases, my view as well). Computer games are not a cure-all for educating our kids in the 21st century. It's simplistic and lazy to accept Prensky's ideas unquestioningly. Let's challenge them a lot more.
The film I really wanted to make...
Those of you who know me will know about my interest in things Tibetan and Bhutanese, following my travels to Tibet in my gap year seventeen (gulp) years ago. As part of the Religious Education project for BBC Jam, we were going to make a film about young people in Bhutan and their changing attitudes to society, religion and the Bhutanese concept of Gross National Happiness. I'm bittersweet that somebody has made a film close to our idea, and it's available online. It's well worth watching here - Christof Putzel has made a thought-provoking film.
One year on, the BBC have cancelled Jam forever
The sharp-eyed amongst you may have spotted the BBC Trust's effective complete cancellation of Jam, with a few caveats, published on 27th February. This is very sad. I hope that at least the SEN materials (some of which we are proud to have worked on) will see the light of day. Thus far, we have not seen very full details of the BBC's plans to "meet its educational purpose for children and young people by enhancing its existing portfolio with some new online educational initiatives which are skills based". I hope they are brave and big, in line with my post of a year ago.
At the moment, it feels like corporate greed has won the day, and removed any space in the market for the development of truly innovative and exciting public service educational online materials. As I have said previously, commercial publishers can create good stuff, but I firmly believe that there is material which can and should be created as a public service, and for which there will never be a commercial market. I suspect David Attenborough would agree, given his comments about the BBC last night (and I share many of his views as reported, by the way!).
At the moment, it feels like corporate greed has won the day, and removed any space in the market for the development of truly innovative and exciting public service educational online materials. As I have said previously, commercial publishers can create good stuff, but I firmly believe that there is material which can and should be created as a public service, and for which there will never be a commercial market. I suspect David Attenborough would agree, given his comments about the BBC last night (and I share many of his views as reported, by the way!).
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