Technology and Learning Articles

Although connected in a general sense, the articles read this week each contain a different nugget of interesting information.  The WebQuest page is highly accessible for educators.  Examples of others' work and the established template make creating web based projects easy.  I plan to use this resource when creating a technology module for World Music, MUED 305.

The Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants article provides new perspective on the effect of the information age.  As technology moves forward at a rapid pace, I find the definition of 'generations' to be somewhat blurred.  No longer does the word apply solely to levels of ancestry with a large span of years dividing the levels.  Learners 5 years my senior or junior have varied comfort with technology than my own.  For example, those 5 years older went through undergrad just as email became mainstream.  Their ways of communicating with classmates and professors, of taking notes and preparing for exams, and of researching varied greatly from own 5 years later.  The difference is then magnified for the youngest of students that I teach and, as the article points out, this has critical implications for strategies of teaching and learning.

My only concern with the article is its dependence on games for teaching.  Yes, digital games are effective and there are ways for students to work collaboratively, as stated in the last article.  However, where does human interaction fit in?  How do students learn to make sense of the world around them if they use non-realistic methods of exploring that world?  Can a digital game lead to the same valued experience of make-believe play or play in general?  Is the effectiveness of most technology tied to novelty?  What happens when students are so used to technology it no longer has the same capacity to engage?