ODYSSEYWARE

This is a powerful video that I felt needed to be shared.  Listen closely to the student’s perspective of how today’s schools are structured for a paradigm that is shifting away through either outsourcing of labor or learning patterns that arguably do not apply for today’s digital natives.

Much has been made about digital learning, especially on this blog, for the reasons it can transform in our country and I believe this movie gives a good opportunity for comment. The reason digital content presents a new opportunity for learning is not because it suddenly makes learning fun or more enjoyable, though that might be a byproduct. The reason it works is because students today are truly wired in a different way than their older counterparts. Through a digital culture, they have learned to e-mail perhaps before they learned to read a book. They don’t remember what it was like to have to wait in line to buy a textbook – they research the relevant topics on Wikipedia or through Google search results. The outcome, and why digital learning works, is that students have become much more motivated in finding the answers to their questions. They cannot wait (or maybe afford)to purchase a new textbook with a chapter on the topic they need to know. With the democratization of information, they can get it quickly through a iPhone or some other handheld device.

Though scary to many teachers, this is not a bad thing. What many researchers, such as Clayton Christensen of Disrupting Class have noted is that this new digital culture will actually make students more involved and interested because they can learn in mediums that they do everything else in. The teacher’s role, as such, is indispensable because they will need the guidance to seek the overall answer to a problem, but with digital opportunities they can seek out the short term answers toward the larger equation. Think of it as a coach setting the ultimate goal of getting into the endzone and allowing the Quaterback (in this case students) to devise the way to get there, yet coming along side them to help when needed. Either way, this was a fantastic video I wanted to share with all. Enjoy!