Elliot: That article about “digital learning” in USA Today was really well-written and interesting!
Cathie: You sound surprised; oh that’s right, you are an east coast, New York Times snob.
Elliot: <broadly smiling> … you left out Martha’s Vineyard-vacationing, lefty, liberal, yellow-dog Democrat, New York Times….
Cathie: I did that on purpose of course…
Elliot: “One of these days Alice, straight to the Moon!"
Cathie: Yes, the USA Today article described many studies that show that the computer, with distracting apps such Facebook and email always one mouse click away and its cousin the Internet, with its hyperlinked, media-rich documents are actually harmful to students’ learning!
Elliot: This theme is echoed in a new book by Nicholas Carr – The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brain – where he warns: “The danger is you don’t encourage people to think critically and, ultimately, you don’t encourage them to think creatively.”
Cathie: The USA Today article interviews a student who says he actually prefers textbooks to using eBooks and the Internet.
Elliot: I mentioned this issue to my 21 year old, Michigan State daughter and she said that during finals her friends, by mutual consent, change each other’s passwords on Facebook precisely because of its distractive influence!
Cathie: While some might say that the proper response to the distractive influence of the computer and the Internet is “Turn off the computer; cut off the Internet; go back to textbooks” the reality is this: there is no going back!
Elliot: Indeed…
Cathie: …you always say “Indeed” just before you are about to pontificate…
Elliot:… who talks like that.. “pontificate”?.... ahem! … Indeed, 21st century knowledge workers are continually faced with the distractive influence of the computer and the Internet and…
Cathie: … we educators need to prepare our children to be effective 21st century knowledge workers and going back to textbooks will do our children a disservice.
Elliot: What better place to teach our children the discipline and focus that is needed to deal with the distractions of the computer and the Internet than in school?
Cathie: Indeed, indeed!
Elliot: I think you are poking fun at me again.
Cathie: <this time SHE is smiling broadly> Carr’s book sounds like Clifford Stoll’s old and sad and tired book “High Tech Heretic: Why Computers Don't Belong in the Classroom and Other Reflections by a Computer Contrarian.”
Elliot: When it came out in 1999 Stoll’s book caused quite a stir; now no one remembers it. That says a lot.
Cathie: Nicholas Carr, however, is definitely a serious thinker who has published a pile of well-received books about information technology and its impact on productivity in the business world.
Elliot: The bottom line is this: yes, the computer and the Internet are distractions of the highest order, but they are both here to stay and thus protecting students from those distractions is, in the long run, not a helpful strategy. We must help our children learn to deal with the challenges in order to take advantage of the opportunities.
Cathie: Indeed.
Thanks for your posting; Hope you can keep going.
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