Net Generation Learning

Teaching Homo Zappiens

Wim Veen / 7/5/2005

1

Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management

Homo Zappiens

Homo Zappiens

The generation § Playing Games

• Grand Theft Auto, World of Warcraft, PS2, Xbox, LAN Parties

§ Communicating 24/7• Via SMS, MSN, chatrooms, mobile

§ Integrating f2f and virtual friends§ Never reading a manual§ Not interested in technology

The generation for whom learning is playing

Daily Media Uses

Homo Zappiens

nThe generation inventing games §Without winners or losers, without start or end, and changing the rules continuously….

MSN 24/7: 10 simultaneous conversationsMore than 150 contacts

Flickr: Tagging and Sharing Images

Homo Zappiens is

n Skateboarding up the stairs n Surfing the waves and snowboarding instead of skiing n Searching for extremes

School is for meeting friends rather than for

learning

Multi-Tasking

Homo Zappiens at Work

Iconic Skills

Processing DiscontinuedInformation

Non-Linear Approach

Integrated scanning skillsIntegrated scanning skills 6 | 316 | 31

'ZapLab‘, A Visual Environment For Associative Information Retrieval of Learning Assets and Objects'ZapLab‘, A Visual Environment For Associative Information Retrieval of Learning Assets and Objects

Listening tofavorite music

Calling a friend

Surfing or MSN

Doing Math homework

Multi tasking

Processing discontinued information

Channel 1

Channel 2

Channel 3

Zapping is the skill to construct meaningful knowledge from discontinued audio-visual and textual information flows

Non linear approach

Linear

B CA E FD

Non-linear

B

C A

EF

D

Non-linear learning strategies demand a redesign of content: learning assets, objects to be accessed just-in-time

Gaming as a learning environment

Using Different Media leading to

Different skills

Parents are good at reading….

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingshuinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredrthe ltteers in a wrod are, the olnyiprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsatltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

Homo Zappiens’ writing

My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York. It’s a great place.

My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we used 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 : kids FTF. ILNY, it’s a gr8 plc. *

* Daily Telegraph, Sun Mar 2, 2003, British Girl Baffles Teacher with SMS Essay

…. but less good at visual clues

Homo Zappiens learns differently...

Homo Zappiensn twitch speedn multi taskingn non linear approachesn processing discontinued

informationn iconic skills firstn connectedn collaborativen activen learning by playing

n instant payoffn fantasyn technology as friend

Homo Sapiensn conventional speedn mono taskingn linear approachesn processing single information

flowsn reading skills firstn stand alonen competitiven passiven separating learning and

playingn patiencen realityn technology as foe

courtesy: Mark Prensky

Conclusion 1

n Homo Zappiens develops a range of metacognitiveskills:§ Enquiry based approaches§ Networked learning: thinking as part of networks§ Experiential learning: no punishments§ Collaborative learning: teams and roles§ Active learning: making choices, act§ Self organisation: setting goals§ Problem solving strategies§ Expliciting knowledge to others

Conclusion 2

n Homo Zappiens has a multimedia reference framework and communicates accordingly § Jungle Book, The Matrix, Kill Bill 1 and 2, South

Park, TMF, The Box, MTV, Manga, Kollaboration

n Homo Zappiens thinks menus and keywords§ Computers, cell phones, ipods, pdas, search

engines

As a consequence

Homo Zappiens isn a creative problem solvern an experienced communicatorn a self-directed learner

Conclusion 3

n Students are digital n Universities are analoguen Regular education is still linearn ICT is used for substitution, not for transformation

Digital and Analogue?

n Analogue data are fixed§ Math formulas on paper§ Texts and graphs

n Digital data can be manipulated§ Math Java Applets§ Kazaa, LimeWire§ Roller Coaster

Consequences for Education

nCurriculumnCoursesnSubject mattersnWhole classroom teaching

nTimeslots of 45 minutesnSchool yearsnExams

nJust-in-time contentnInterdisciplinary approachnAppropriate communitiesnLearning in groups of interestnTimeslots of 4 hoursnPersonal itinirariesnPortfolios

Consequences for Content

Resources for Individual Learning

Learning the Wiki Way

“Wiki," the Hawaiian word for "quick," allows groups to jointly create and edit Web pages, using a special formatting style that is different from the HTML format used for regular Web pages

Content is nolonger

King

Did you start a project using the Omidyar Network?

Consequences of ICT for learning

nLearning is searching for meaningnKnowledge is communication about meaning

nDigital data and information become a tool for knowledge construction

nLearning with ICT goes beyond understanding of others’ thoughts by generating new ideas of your own