Ultranet+-+3.Why+elearn?

This section aims to provide research findings and qualified sentiments on the impact ICT has toward teaching and learning students

**Do They Really //Think// Differently?**
[|Marc Prensky]


 * "Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.** **What should we call these "new" students of today? The most useful designation I have found for them is** //** Digital Natives .**// **Our students today are all "native speakers" of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet.**


 * Digital Immigrant instructors (Teachers), who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language. "**

//** Different kinds of experiences lead to different brain structures **.// -Dr. Bruce D. Berry, Baylor College of Medicine

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The educational software wiki has an ICT Pedagogy section with great Ideas, research and examples of ICT use in the classroom.

[|Dianne McCordell’s post] //Many school-aged children spend unsupervised time on home computers. Conscientious parents are alarmed by stories of online predators and cyber bullying but don’t have the skills or knowledge to instruct their children in digital safety. The classroom is the logical place for students to receive safety instruction and participate in guided practice.// //Our children and teen-agers must have fluency in communication and collaboration to be successful in the world they inhabit. Rather than encase them in armor, we should arm them with knowledge.// Reacting with fear and shutting down opportunities does not seem to be the best response.

[|Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds] //A national Kaiser Family Foundation survey found children and teens are spending an increasing amount of time using “new media” like computers, the Internet and video games, without cutting back on the time they spend with “old” media like TV, print and music. Instead, because of the amount of time they spend using more than one medium at a time (for example, going online while watching TV), they’re managing to pack increasing amounts of media content into the same amount of time each day.//

//As a result, a widening gap has formed between the knowledge and skills students are acquiring in schools and the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the increasingly global, technology infused 21st century workplace (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2005b).// //While many different terms have been used to describe what students need, such as digital literacy, technological literacy, and 21st century skills, education leaders, nationally and internationally, are beginning to come together around a new common definition of what students need to know, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy. ICT Literacy reflects the need for students to develop learning skills that enable them to think critically, analyze information, communicate, collaborate, and problem-solve, and the essential role that technology plays in realizing these learning skills in today's knowledge-based society. Representative of the ICT literacy skills are the following six arenas critical to students' success in the workplace (Kay and Honey, 2005)//

In their meta-analysis review of research conducted between 1993 and 2005 on the effectiveness of ICT, Murphy et al (2001) found evidence of a positive association between use of ICT products and student achievement in reading and mathematics, an association consistent with earlier reviews of the research literature on the effectiveness of computer-based instruction (e.g., Kulik & Kulik, 1991; Kulik, 1994; Fletcher-Flinn & Gravatt, 1995; Ryan, 1991).
 * RESEARCH RESULTS**

** Personal Research into Millennial Learners (Posted by Michelle Meracis) ** Millennial Learners are:  Millennial Learners:  (Taken from Richard Sweeney, //“Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education Focus Group Results: How are Millennials different from previous generations at the same age?”// 2006) 
 * More //warm and outgoing// (Warmth)
 * More //abstract than concrete// (Reasoning)
 * More //adaptive and mature// (Emotional Stability)
 * More //dutiful// (Rule Consciousness)
 * More //socially bold and adventuresome// (Social Boldness)
 * More //sensitive and sentimental// (Sensitivity)
 * More //self-doubting and worried// (Apprehension)
 * More //open to change and experimenting// (Openness to Change)
 * More //organized and self disciplined// (Perfectionism)
 * Less //solitary and individualistic// (Self Reliance)
 * Expect more selections and options, as well as more personalization and customization in their products and services – to meet their changing needs, interests and tastes
 * Have no tolerance for delays / require almost constant feedback to know how they are progressing (Impatient)
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Strongly prefer learning by doing (Experiential Learners)
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Adapt faster to computer and internet services because they have always had them / still clearly want and expect expert teachers in a face-to-face environment, they expect the speed, convenience, flexibility and power provided by digitally provided services and resources (Digital Natives)
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Love the constant interactivity, full motion multimedia, colorful graphics, the ability to learn and progress to higher levels, and the ability to collaborate with friends in their learning and competitions (Gamers)
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Are prolific communicators / love and expect communication mobility; to remain in constant touch wherever and whenever, un-tethered (Nomadic Communication Style**)**
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Most enjoy interactive full motion, multimedia, graphical presentations and audio although they will use any (Media/ Format Agnostic)
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Respect intelligence and education (Intelligence)
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Don’t want to work 80 hours a week and sacrifice their health and their leisure time, even for considerably higher salaries, yet they typically expect incomes exceeding their parents (Balanced Lives)
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Know how and when to work with other people more effectively (Collaboration)
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Prefer to keep their time and commitments flexible longer in order to take advantage of better options; they also expect other people and institutions to give them more flexibility (Flexibility / Convenience)
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Do not read literature or newspapers as much as previous generations of the same age (Less Reading)

The integration of Information Technology (IT) into schools is provoking an ever–evolving discussion. Conflicting research findings, new hardware and software, a lack of understanding of new technologies, plus the high costs of IT implementation will fuel the debate for some time to come. Against this background, in 2005 Atlanta International School (AIS) began the process of updating its classrooms with grade–appropriate IT hardware and software. This case–study charts the questions we asked, our insights and discoveries, our successes and failures, and our progress to date. [|What have researchers found regarding introducing IT into classrooms]?