Saturday 2 February 2008

In class, I have to power down

At a recent digital education conference in San Francisco, one of the more memorable remarks quoted came from a child: "Whenever I go into class, I have to power down." That roughly translates as: "What I do with digital technology outside school - at home, in my own free time - is on a completely different level to what I'm able to do at school. Outside school, I'm using much more advanced skills, doing many more interesting things, operating in a far more sophisticated way. School takes little notice of this and seems not to care."

This is a direct quote from an article written by David Puttnam. Children have been quick to grasp the joys of new technology so why are schools lagging so far behind?

He considers the difference between the children's experiences in school compared to those outside of school. We should be looking at ways to harness their skills, knowledge, engagement, in a way that can feed into, complement, or act as a catalyst for formal learning.

Click here to read the complete article.

The document produced by Demos, entitled "Their Space", is available for download in Clounagh's VLE. The accompanying podcast is also available. Click here to access these resources.

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