Blog 1: Increased use of technology in the classroom.

Deferred gratification is one of my sticking points in the development of the digital native, it is a foundation for success in adult life. Constantly switching from one media to the next is likely counter-productive in working towards this goal but it's probably going to happen at home anyway, so yes, increased use of technology in the classroom is a positive step forward.

Growing up without the ability to delay your gratification can potentially have very negative effects not only for individuals but for society as a whole. There are also some recorded negative effects on attainment, something which will be discussed in relation to modern teaching methods, however; this is mostly a social behaviour concern (Wulfert, Block, Santa Ana, Rodrigues & Colsman, 2002).

This could be difficult to overcome as children raised with technology may actually just think differently from those of us who learned to use it later on. They develop what has previously been referred to as 'hypertext minds', thoughts that run parallel, not sequential. Benefits of increased technology use in the classroom are related to two aspects of brain function in the digital native. It takes 100 minutes of focussed attention a day, five days a week for five to ten weeks to make any changes to thought patterns, children's use of technology, even with split-attention could easily match these figures. This can lead to neuroplasticity and malleability of the brain which benefits tasks such as representational competence, visual-spacial skills, mental maps and attentional deployment or 'multi-tasking' (Prenski, 2001).

Lambirth (2003) is sympathetic towards the position teachers are in with regards to popular culture in schools, it is difficult to find a balancing point between culturally accepted teaching methods and the need for newer, more interactive and engaging methods. There is a stigma attached to digital natives in schools which I personally have heard many times, phrases such as "attention span of a gnat"; this is a rather negative outlook on what is potentially the future mindset of all children (Prenski, 2001). I personally have witnessed this lowered attention and its effect on quality of work during an animation topic I ran. The children were all very keen to use the Ipads and create a piece of work, however; they often paced on ahead with little regard for simple things that would affect the quality. I resolved this issue by using mini-plenaries modelling and sharing types of effective animation styles and capture methods, by allowing the children in interact and practice these had an overall better effect on their own work.

If children do now think differently from those of generations past, current teaching methods are potentially becoming more redundant. Merchant (2007) and Higgins, Xiao & Katsipetaki (2012) seem to agree with this statement, both urging for changes in the use of technology within the classroom. They agree that the use of technology should indeed increase within the classroom, but rather than replacing normal teaching it should be used to supplement and engage. They both place emphasis on using a varied and interesting range of technologies and how this will allow a greater depth of understanding, as well as the requirement for further exploration of these methods. There is also a clear message for the need to train and educate the teachers.

In conclusion, increased use of technology is a positive step forward in terms of meeting the children's needs, but there is still a general consensus that it needs to be used carefully to bring meaning to a solid core of real learning. 

Bibliography:

Higgins, S., Xiao, Z. and Katsipataki, M. (2012) The Impact of Digital Technology on Learning: A Summary for the Education Endowment Foundation. Durham University: Education Endowment Foundation.

Lambirth, A. (2003) ‘”They get enough of that at home”: Understanding aversion to popular cultures in schools’ Reading 37(1) pp.9-13
Merchant, G. (2007) Writing the Future in the Digital Age. Blackwell Publishing: Oxford.
Prenski, M. (2001) 'Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently?' in On the Horizon. 9:6 NBC University Press:Online. http://britannia-spb.ru/downloads/Prensky-Digital-Natives-Digital-Immigrants-Part2.pdf.
Wulfert, E., Block, J., Santa Ana, E., Rodrigues, M. & Colsman, M. (2002) 'Delay of Gratification:
Impulsive Choices and Problem Behaviors in Early and Late Adolescence.' in Journal of Personality. 70:4 Blackwell Publishing: Malden.