While it is commonly believed that digital natives require new teaching strategies, the author argues that this assumption lacks evidence. The author acknowledges that digital natives are immersed in technology but asserts that multitasking may hinder learning. Lectures and discussions, when implemented engagingly, can still effectively teach digital natives traditional content while allowing for different learning styles. More research is needed before concluding that new strategies are necessary for digital natives to learn.

1. Counterpoint Presented by Jessica Nikula for EDES 545 January 2009

2. Do digital natives require new and different teaching strategies for them to be successful, engaged learners? No! (At least that’s what I’ll be arguing this week.  )

3. So what is a “digital native” anyway? According to Prensky (2001), these are students “K through college [who] represent the first generations to grow up with [digital] technology.” These young people “have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age.” (Prensky, 2001)

4. It is generally believed that because these young people have been immersed in technology, they require new and different teaching strategies in order for them to be successful, engaged learners. Frand; Oblinger & Oblinger; Prensky; and Tapscott (as cited in Bennett, Maton and Kervin 2008) believe that they are “active and experiential learners, proficient in multitasking, and dependent on communications technologies for accessing information and for interacting with others.”

6. How is today’s multi-tasking different from the multitasking that we once did before the arrival of the digital age? I can clearly remember, as a teenager, sitting at the kitchen table in a strategic spot where I had the television in full view, trying to do my homework, and if a friend phoned, talking on the phone at the same time. I remember thinking that if I wasn’t trying to watch TV and do homework, I would have probably a) finished my homework a lot sooner, and b) also had a better understanding of the material.

7. From personal experience, I believe that when we are multitasking, we are not doing any of the tasks particularly well. Rubinstein, Meyer and Evans (2001), and Sweller (1988) suggest that it may not be as “beneficial as it appears, and can result in a loss of concentration and cognitive ‘overload’ as the brain shifts between competing stimuli” (as cited in Bennett, Maton and Kervin 2008).

8. What about the gaming argument? As you may have read in my blog post, I am not a gamer, nor have I played a computer game since Pacman and Donkey Kong came out when I was a teenager. But I have made some observations in my school’s library about who the majority of gamers are, and I can safely say that this is a predominately male past time, and that there are students who don’t enjoy playing games because everything happens too fast for them.

9. Furthermore, there is no “clear evidence that the interactivity prevalent in most recreational computer games is applicable to learning” (Bennett, Maton and Kervin 2008). I would agree that computer games are popular amongst students, in particular males, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that we are going to be able to take the high levels of interest and enthusiasm experienced by many gamers and use it to motivate them to learn (Bennett, Maton and Kervin 2008).

11. Traditional teaching styles that incorporate lectures, and discussions, allow for both teacher-centered and student-centered situations in today’s classrooms. I believe that it is not new and different teaching strategies that will engage our learners, rather it is engaging teachers who help to develop classroom environments conducive to successful learners.

14. “ [L]ectures still serve as effective ways to not only engage learners, but also to develop positive relationships with students by tapping into their various emotional and cognitive intelligences; attending to unanticipated student concerns in a timely manner; seasoning lectures with timely questions to keep students active and attentive; and creating positive, academic, democratic , and supportive group environments where students listen to [teachers] as well as one another” (Sweeder, 2008-09).

15. Engaging Lectures When we think of lectures, many of us will think back to our high school and university experiences, and possibly cringe at the memory. However, with the advances in technology, lectures no longer need to revolve solely around using the chalkboard and the overhead projector. We can choose to “spice” up our lectures using some simple techniques:

17. This 4 minute video from YouTube is a good example of the effectiveness of lecture style teaching combined with discussion.

18. Lecture + “Spice Up” Technique = Engaging Class Discussion In many cases, if our lectures have been engaging, then a class discussion will evolve naturally. These discussions can begin as a result of students asking questions; however, they can also result from specific, probing questions that teachers ask to start off the discussion.

21. Is there enough evidence to support a move for different teaching strategies in order for so called “digital natives” to be successful, engaged learners? No! Bennett, Maton and Kervin (2008) believe that “[p]roponents arguing that education must change dramatically to cater for the needs of these digital natives have sparked an academic form of ‘moral panic’ using extreme arguments that have lacked empirical evidence.” What do you think?

22. References Bennett, S., Maton, K., & Kervin, L. (2008). The ‘digital natives’ debate: A critical review of the evidence. British Journal of Educational Technology. 39 (5) 775– 786. Retrieved January 17, 2009 from EBSCOhost database. Charlton, B. (2006). Lectures are an effective teaching method because they exploit human evolved 'human nature' to improve learning. Medical Hypotheses 2006 (67) 1261-5. Retrieved January 13, 2009, from http://www.hedweb.com/bgcharlton/ed-lect.html Crosling, G. (2006). Making Lectures Interesting For Your Students. Retrieved January 15, 2009, from http://www.monash.edu.my/adm/Making%20lectures%20interesting.pdf Knight, A. (2006).  LECTURES: Organizing Them and Making Them Interesting. Retrieved January 15, 2009, from http://www.ou.edu/pii/tips/ideas/lectures.html

23. Larson, B. (July 2000). Classroom discussion: a method of instruction and a curriculum outcome  [Electronic version] Teaching and Teacher Education , 16(5-6), 661-667. O’Sullivan, R. (2008). Classroom Discussion in Intermediate Macroeconomics: Does the Use of Interpretative Question Clusters Impact Student Learning? Draft Retrieved January 13, 2009, from http://www.aeaweb.org/annual_mtg_papers/2009/retrieve.php?pdfid=444 Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon , 9 (5), 1 – 6. Retrieved January 11, 2009 Retrieved from https://vista4.srv.ualberta.ca/webct/RelativeResourceManager/Template/Articles-2009/Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants.pdf Sweeder, J. (2008-09). Should Podcasts Replace Lectures? [Electronic version] Learning & Leading with Technology , December/January, 8-9.

24. Images Background image and photos courtesy of Flickr .