"The problem is that often people look at only the front end of what technology has to offer instead of the back end, or the outcome. An elementary principal told me that his fifth- and sixth-grade teachers are having problems when assigning research projects. The students view it as a procedure where they cut and paste information off a Web site, add some sentences of their own and turn it in. The information passes too quickly from the screen to the homework papers and isn't processed through the mind. The speed and ease of the digital resources actually conspires against producing long-term understanding."
"You improve your writing only when you are pulled up and challenged. The blogs keep them [young people] networking only with their peers and that holds them at the same level."
"The Internet allows people to create their own little universe. They only make contact with things that interest them. They enclose themselves in [things] they like..."
"I think they [young people] know the media is unhealthy for them, but very few authority figures are willing to say so. They appreciate hearing someone saying that there is no substitute for sitting and reading a novel uninterrupted. And reading online is different from reading pages. Youth readers read in an F pattern when they read online. They are trying to get snippets of information they can use, not actually acquiring knowledge."
This reminds me of Narayanan's important work on slow pedagogy. Looks promising... and of course it needs some references to verifiable findings, but it is encouraging to see reference to epistemologies, the dangers of instant access to information, and an answer-driven pedagogy.
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