Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
to take longer, and, as we heard from a few educators, students are simply more
exhausted.
Changes in Information Preferences
Shifts Toward the Visual
. Students today are increasingly “keyed to the visual”,
declares one English teacher, characterizing a widespread observation among those
interviewed. We heard recurrent accounts of students increasingly attuned to images
and non-text visuals, as well as time-based media such as animation, film, and mul-
timedia. Students' preference for classroom material that resembles contemporary
entertainment activities is not new; an earlier generation of students, for instance,
was delighted when the TV cart was wheeled into the classroom. Students today,
a science educator suggests, are more visually stimulated because they are “out
there” online, and educators seek to provide corresponding teaching and learning
opportunities.
The proliferation of visual and multimedia materials online also provides
educators access to a wide array of affordable materials that they can—and do—
incorporate into their classrooms. Many of the educators we interviewed describe
using images from the Internet, incorporated into a PowerPoint presentation, as a
way to capture student attention. A musical theater educator explains that since
students today have difficulty listening without additional stimulation, integrating
more visual materials helps keep them more engaged. Identifying the interactive
nature of teaching and learning through technology as a “revolution,” a music edu-
cator believes that the primary challenge for teachers today is how best to exploit
the resources and structure of the Internet.
We also heard from a few educators about different uses and expectations for the
enhanced visual offerings of NDM, beyond serving as means to enliven classroom
practices for their students. One educator, for instance, proposes a potential shift
in the support of logic-based arguments, with future students able to rely less on
written evidence and more on audio-visual forms to build support for one's position.
Shifts in Text-Based Practices
. The rise in visual and multimediated learning sug-
gests a corresponding decline in text-based learning strategies. Whether related in
some ways to NDM or not, several educator participants more generally observe a
“gap in writing skills,” with these gaps encompassing both structural and composi-
tional problems, as well as greater difficulties with syntax, grammar, and expressing
complex ideas on paper. The reasons for this gap are not entirely clear and may be
due to factors besides NDM engagement, such as an emphasis on cultivating STEM
(science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) skill sets.
Many educators note that reading printed material, even texts assigned in school,
has declined. An athletics educator suggests that students no longer read fully, but
rather read just enough to find the answer they need. However, it appears that stu-
dents still read or at least sample a great deal of material, although it is material
that they find online. It may well be that for most youth, the practice of reading is
becoming less about digesting substantial content and more about sampling a vari-
ety of textual tidbits. A primary difference between topic-based and NDM-based
