Doug Johnson - Classrooms and Libraries for the Net Generation

http://doug-johnson.com/

Doug wanted the audience to take away two points from his talk: 1.It’s easier to change the way we teach than trying to change the Net generation. 2. Today’s students like to learn. It’s just that they don’t want to learn what we are teaching and how we teach it.

To better understand the Net generation we should all read the first two chapters of Educating the Net Generation by Educause. It’s a free download.

We need to examine the implications of the Net generations attributes on school – buildings, mission, services, and resources.

Net generation students are, as a group, a valued group (look at all the money that parents spend on them), and a sheltered group. They don’t like anything slow. They don’t like negativity. They share attributes with the Greatest generation.

How to get students involved in school – use technology as a hook, make education available anywhere and 24/7, put students on school technology teams, build a place where students want to be.

Students are bombarded with information and need and seek guidance.

In the age of digital information, the Dewey decimal system doesn’t make much sense (still a good idea for physical books). Resources can be TAGGED many different ways and found using these TAGS. Can our students add TAGS to Principia resources?

Today, Information=conversation=authority? Discrimination and evaluation skills are very important for our students. Students need guides (teachers and librarians) more than ever. Our focus need to be on organizing, creating and using information. We need to teach copyright from the standpoint of the creator.

To promote student success at school we need to give them a voice in policy. Also, we need to lead by demonstrating our commitment to life-long learning by being life-long learners.