Up Front: Dive into the Future of Learning
Welcome to the Digital Generation Project. Edutopia's in-depth coverage of students from around the country reveals how young people are using new media to learn, communicate, and socialize in new and exciting ways.
by David Markus
Always On:
Today's kids are born into a media-rich, networked world of infinite possibilities.
Credit: Chris Walsh
Parents live with it. Teachers see it daily. You can't observe young people and not notice how smoothly and seamlessly they dive into new Web 2.0 communication technologies. With a flick of the cell phone, they share more texts, photos, music, and video than any other demographic group on Earth.
A decade ago, kids led the charge to Napster and IM and then to MySpace, Facebook, and Flickr. Now, they're on to Flip, Twitter, and Wii. Youth are encamped at the farthest outpost of digital technology -- and you can be sure they'll be on to the next cool thing quicker than you can say "Guitar Hero World Tour."
Where does that leave us not-quite-young folks? Some of us grouse about the bewildering circus of gadgets, games, and groups intruding on our social circles. Others long to join in the fun -- if only someone would show us how. Either way, the teachers, moms, and dads among us find ourselves on the outside peering into a world we neither know nor understand. Too often, we draw conclusions that miss the point -- and the promise -- of what these new communication tools offer.
Sound familiar? Perhaps it's time for all of us to explore the Web 2.0 frontier. Throughout this site, you'll meet unique kids who will show you how they've mastered digital tools. They'll show you how they create, collaborate, and teach in ways that kids before them could scarcely imagine.
As you watch and listen, you'll learn, too. If you're an educator, you'll understand how digital tools are changing the classroom. You'll find practical ideas on how to leverage the unique skills of this generation. If you're a parent, you'll access ideas and resources about how to support, protect, and better guide our children as we all continue to explore the digital age.
Have fun, and don't forget to email, text, or tweet (@EdutopiaDG). We're all on this journey together.
This article was also published in the June 2009 issue of Edutopia magazine as "Talkin' 'Bout My Digital Generation".
The Digital Generation Project is produced with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Content for this project is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND License.
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English I
I have had the pleasure of introducing my clas to wikis last year. I know that many of them felt empowered to publish their work and publish it with all of the bells and whistles that they could find. Many of them are able to express themselves as artists without worrying about whether or not they could draw or write. The Web 2.0 tools provided to them freed them up to not just being called upon to compose a poetry notebook but compose it, decorate it with music and pictures, and add a self-made MovieMaker movie version of one of their poems that they posted to their wikipage. The use of wikis brought the quality of some of their work that I was literally blown away. It was their responses that made me commit to including technology into my class. I want to teach them using podcasts, movies, wikis and allow them to teach me using the same mediums.