The Shift from Broadcast to Interactive Learning

As educators today, we need to understand how the N-Gen learners are learning and adopt new ways to engage them in learning. Here are some takeaways from Don Tapscott's Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation.

1. From linear to hypermedia learning
"N-Gen's access to information is interactive and nonsequential. They usually participate in several activities at once".
My say: This is highly evident in my classroom. Learners are toggling between a few windows at the same time, multi-tasking and parallel processing. I used to be quite concerned - are they listening? Are they following the lesson? Apparently they are. All that toggling has trained them to focus on the important aspects of things and filter out the rest.

2. From instruction to construction and discovery
"Schools can become a place to learn rather than a place to teach". "Constructionism as opposed to instructionism".
My say: Instead of teaching content, I'd see my role as a designer and a builder - laying scaffold to help make the learners' discovery more interesting and fulfilling. I personally believe in constructivism. However, from experience, I feel that student factors play a big part (will reserve this discussion for another blog post).

3. From teacher-centred to learner-centred education
"Learner education begins with an evaluation of the abilities, learning style. social context and other important factors of the student that affect learning. The teacher's key role is to create and structure the learning experience".
My say: Yep, needless to say more.

4. From absorbing material to learning how to navigate and how to learn
"For DIs, when we don't know how to do something, we ask or we read the manuals. DNs will engage directly with the unknown and synthesize things".
My say: Well, if DIs like us are heavily 'accented', reckon we'll still ask. But this time round, let's ask the DNs and learn from them.

5. From school to lifelong learning
"Learning has become a continuous, learning process and the knowledge base has to be reinvented all the time".
My say: Perhaps this is part of a knowledge economy anyway.

6. From one-size-fits-all to customized learning
"Digital media enable learners to be treated as individuals - to have highly customized learning experiences based on their background, individual talents, age level, cognitive style, interpersonal preferences and etc".
My say: Same point as learner-centred.

7. From learning as torture as learning as fun
"Teacher builds enjoyment, motivation and responsibility for learning through the use of new media".
My say: And our job description gets longer...

8. From the teacher as transmitter to the teacher as facilitator
"The teacher acts as a consultant and resource to teams of learners. He is also a facilitator to social learning whereby learners construct their own knowledge".
My say: Teacher as transmitters to teacher as a motivator or facilitator and bearing in mind, to facilitate means 'to make easy' and not to tell. Then again, I find that the calibre of a learner matters, whether this pedagogy will work for those with limited or less experience, or those with no prior knowledge.. (I'm thinking of constructivism).