Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
passion into professional careers are slim, students and parents alike often view
excellence in an extracurricular activity as another chit in the well-rounded college
application.
A compelling experience with service learning or volunteer work, a requirement
at every school we spoke with, is considered another valuable asset. Such service
can encompass a variety of experiences ranging from the mundane to the trans-
formational, with the latter seen as potentially meaningful and also appealing on a
college application. Whether service learning is considered a rewarding experience,
a ticket to the Ivy League, or simply a requirement for graduation, it consumes
another block of time out of the busy student's day.
According to the educators we spoke with, after-hours homework assignments
may consume up to 5 h a night of a student's non-school time. The amount of
homework varies depending on the teacher and the class requirements; some do
not assign any homework out of concern that students are sacrificing sleep in order
to fulfill their daily time commitments.
NDM's Impact on Youth Learning
Our findings indicate despite changes in certain behaviors over time, the motivations
driving their students remain unchanged. A physics teacher is fairly representative
of many of our participants, gently insisting that there had been no change in how
students learn or spend their time, what excites and interests them, and how they
make (often poor, but sometimes insightful) decisions. School remains the primary
pathway for cultivating mastery and competence in a variety of domains. An ado-
lescent's sense of self is still determined by his/her experiences, achievements and
failures; peer relationships and the onset of romantic liaisons consume their ener-
gies. As one educator puts it, “students want to be smart, popular, accepted, and
know what makes them special.”
While our study does not include an analysis of what specific NDM content youth
engage in or what youth text or talk about, we were able to capture a broad picture
of NDM usage across a variety of contexts. In some ways, NDM have been inte-
grated into the social fabric similar to earlier technologies such as the widespread
adoption of the telephone in the early twentieth century. Computers, for instance,
are no longer considered extraordinary; close to 60% of the schools we spoke with
had integrated computers for teaching by 1999 (the figures would likely be lower in
a less privileged educational environment).
Given that computers have been incorporated into contemporary homes,
workspaces, and classrooms, it is easy to forget that they have in certain ways rev-
olutionized youth learning and educational practices. The task of writing a term
paper, for instance, will never be the same. With their limitless capacity for revis-
ing, reverting back to an earlier version, spell checking, grammar checking, and
word counting, word processing programs allow for a process of writing unimagin-
able with pen and paper, or even a typewriter. With the ability to access information
