Sep 03 2007
Learning tools for the social networking generation
Image Source: Grunwald Associates - http://www.nsba.org/site/docs/41400/41340.pdf
In a recent study conducted by Grunwald Associates LLC in cooperation with the National School Boards Association (with support from Microsoft, News Corporation and Verizon), one meta trend has emerged: Teens and tweens have adopted online social networking to an extent that it now rivals television for their attention.
The study also throws up other interesting findings:
1. Many of the early adopters of social networking technologies have average B or C grades - from an official grading standpoint, they are average kids
2. Many school boards and administrators have imposed restrictions on the classroom or official usage of social networking technologies as aides to classroom learning
Why are most school teachers and principals so afraid to admit that most of the learning in schools happens as much on the edges as in the classrooms…that students learn as much by observing and miming other students…that social networking platforms if effectively used will do more for students than simply dumping PCs and crappy e-learning software into schools?
And finally, how will the social networking (or ‘Facebook’) generation change the way most software is designed?
