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According to Marc Prensky, Digital Natives have a different way of “speaking”. They want information fast, they prefer graphics before text, and they prefer random access to linear access. Most discussion boards are based on threaded text displayed in a hierarchy. The discussion is quickly diverted from the original poster’s question to the last person’s comment. A few people who are frequent posters can dominate where less frequent posters are left behind in the conversation.
VoiceThread offers a real alternative to traditional discussion boards by doing away with the hierarchy of comments. The original image is in the center of the screen with the original poster’s comment on the top left. New comments appear as small boxes that begin to encircle the center. You can quickly see who has responded and click the responses that interest you, then add your comment.
It will be interesting to see if other systems adopt this style over the hierarchical threads that dominate online conversations today. This provides a more social and customizable experience, because each user can decide which comments to view.
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With editing stations on laptops and video cameras everywhere, students and teachers have become moviemakers. Making and watching movies is fun and engaging. Yet, not every piece of video will be worth sharing beyond those who made it. At the same time, there will be those gems, the videos that perfectly capture a concept, a moment, or an emotion that deserve to be shared beyond the classroom door.
Steve Springett, Vice President of Technology & Engineering at New Dimension Media sees the future of learning as incorporating existing learning assets with those generated in the classroom–on a smart board, video, audio or other sources, into new learning materials. Students and teacher learn by the process of assembling the media and make it available to other classrooms in their community.
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As we bring technology into schools, we have to recognize that new tools will change the way the organization operates. I recently reread Release 2.1: A Design for Living in the Digital Age (1998) by Esther Dyson of EDVenture Holdings. This pre-Facebook, pre-YouTube book has a lot of great insights into why we go online and how to think about the governance of online spaces. Read more »
