Revenge of the Digital Immigrants

MassCue - Hall Davidson, Director of Discovery Education Network
Revenge of the Digital Immigrants:
Teaching with Media Technology
Discovery Education


Conference materials:
http://DiscoveryEdSPeakersBureau.com

View of digital native classroom with full technology and global perspective. Goggle Earth featured in this classroom. The whole class is multi-tasking, teaching and working simultaneously. Compared to immigrant classroom - static, fixed seats, teachers at front of room delivering information.

The way students think has changed, the the babysitter is to blame. Who is the babysitter? The television set. Who is turning the TV on? Changes in attention. Data on how media affects brain function and attention skills aka attention problems. However, children don't struggle to pay attention to media, like games. They have a "new brain". and need new ways of teaching them. We have the technology to teach them faster and better. Their brains have extra levels of potential, and learn in more fluid ways.
Studies show students spend 2 seconds on a site before deciding to stay with it or move on. They are processing very quickly, with good results. Short length video bursts to focus lessons are more effective. The day of 20 minute videos has passed. Plug for Discovery Streaming video with demo of 1.5 minute clip on earthquakes. 10 years ago this wasn't possible.
Value of making media/video with kids; the make more meaningful connections to the content.

Student learning has fundamentally changed. Childhood obesity has risen. What happens in utero affects morphology of children. Infant bodies are hardwired to store fat based on maternal nutrition - study came from Canada. Diet has changed children, and their minds have changed too.

Age compression - "I like to think of kids as the Chief Technology Officers of their families." We should use the technology to teach them. Adobe Premier Elements - video photoshop with green screen capability. Cool tricks with Photobooth on macs. Can drop in backdrops. It is the kids who learn the content when they engage in media presentations. They are engaged, invested.

Apps to Engage via Cellphones
Gcast.com audio upload from cell phones to a website - very cool
YouTube media preset so you can upload video straight from cell to site - very cool
polleverywhere.com
live polls utilizing cellphones, many class uses, free for educators - very cool

Figuring out how to build cellphone use into teaching/practice is one of the most captivating ideas I am taking away from this conference. Why not have students text writing via cell to teachers? Live polls - cool way for quick assessments. I'm going to set up an account on PollEverywhere and try this.