My college students are trying to juggle traditional school/college with the explosion of media available to them. Can my daughter REALLY perform effectively in her online college class if she’s got IM and Facebook running in the background and she’s bouncing between the three? Oh, and her phone is either ringing with calls or buzzing with texts at the same time. I think not.

As for college — I’m not convinced that developing more online classes is the answer. Our kids, by using so much technology and being continually connected, are doing so in an isolated fashion. They don’t call each other — they IM. They don’t talk to each other — they text. Many of my children’s friends are socially delayed because they find it so difficult to carry on a conversation or discussion in person, particularly with people they don’t know.

In my mind the purpose of college is to teach young adults to think critically, discuss intellectually and find their places in society. Because we’ve raised a generation of huge media consumers, we need to find the right combination of technology and human interaction that will result in successful, contributing members to our society.

Now that’s a huge job.

My college students are trying to juggle traditional school/college with the explosion of media available to them. Can my daughter REALLY perform effectively in her online college class if she’s got IM and Facebook running in the background and she’s bouncing between the three? Oh, and her phone is either ringing with calls or buzzing with texts at the same time. I think not.

As for college — I’m not convinced that developing more online classes is the answer. Our kids, by using so much technology and being continually connected, are doing so in an isolated fashion. They don’t call each other — they IM. They don’t talk to each other — they text. Many of my children’s friends are socially delayed because they find it so difficult to carry on a conversation or discussion in person, particularly with people they don’t know.

In my mind the purpose of college is to teach young adults to think critically, discuss intellectually and find their places in society. Because we’ve raised a generation of huge media consumers, we need to find the right combination of technology and human interaction that will result in successful, contributing members to our society.

Now that’s a huge job.

Thanks for posting this video on “Education in the Digital World.” I’ll definitely be thinking about it the rest of the day and how I can make an entry around it that relates to nonprofit organizations, education, and our changing world.

(I’m also wondering how you came across it.)

Maya Norton

The New Jew: Blogging Jewish Philanthropy
http://www.TheNewJew.wordpress.com

Thanks for posting this video on “Education in the Digital World.” I’ll definitely be thinking about it the rest of the day and how I can make an entry around it that relates to nonprofit organizations, education, and our changing world.

(I’m also wondering how you came across it.)

Maya Norton

The New Jew: Blogging Jewish Philanthropy
http://www.TheNewJew.wordpress.com

I say this as someone with an Ivy League education and a JD, that the education was important to make me an informed, critical thinker, and helped me discover things I would not have otherwise. But I do not think it is the only pathway for critical thinking, and I do not think professors need to spoon feed students, but we have to make th education contextual and meaningful.

However, at 17 & 18 yrs old, you have no real perspective on what that will meanlater on in your life, either. That’s why being made to take electives in other course areas is important- you need to know what else is out there, and what else might interest you.

If a single minded approach was the only way to go, I would either be a doctor or a biologist, or have given up on both of those dreams from high school when organic chem did me in.

I say this as someone with an Ivy League education and a JD, that the education was important to make me an informed, critical thinker, and helped me discover things I would not have otherwise. But I do not think it is the only pathway for critical thinking, and I do not think professors need to spoon feed students, but we have to make th education contextual and meaningful.

However, at 17 & 18 yrs old, you have no real perspective on what that will meanlater on in your life, either. That’s why being made to take electives in other course areas is important- you need to know what else is out there, and what else might interest you.

If a single minded approach was the only way to go, I would either be a doctor or a biologist, or have given up on both of those dreams from high school when organic chem did me in.