How are schools supporting, teaching the Net Generation?

Tapscott on Changing Pedagogy for the Net Generation

Can you be a Rhodes Scholar and not read books? Did growing up digital produce the dumbest generation? Are screenagers multitasking, or do they have better acting working memory and better switching abilities than most?

This morning, Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics and Grown Up Digital, invited ASCD Annual Conference attendees to meet the Net Generation. They’re the first generation "bathed in bits," and they’re lapping their parents in digital acquisition. The only other time we've see such huge leaps in learning is when comparing language acquisition between immigrants and their children, Tapscott noted.

Collaboration is another major hallmark of the Net Generation. However, Tapscott said, we have a tendency to squander or prohibit this strength in schools and workplaces.

"What do we do with this collaboration-geared generation? We stick them in a cubicle, supervise them like they're Dilbert, and take away their tools (i.e., blocking sites like Facebook and Youtube)." Tapscott calls this creating a generational firewall. "It says, 'We don't get you, we don't understand your tools, and we don't trust you to use them.'"

These firewalls ignore evidence that students are putting their online organizing expertise to positive, productive use. Look no further than student movements in Iran, student-led political organizing during the Obama campaign, and civic activity at an all-time high in the United States, for example.

You can read the entire article here.