0.3 Digital learners: how are they expanding the horizon of learning  (Page 5/6)

Game players are encouraged to place themselves within the action, to be producers rather than consumers, to take risks, solve problems, think systemically and laterally, and perform to reach competency, providing the opportunity to self-select levels of difficulty, get additional information on demand and reward levels of solutions (Gee 2005). Most importantly, multiple studies have demonstrated that the influence of video game play has altered the way individuals learn.

Subject area content should be outlined in overarching themes that allow for integration across disciplines and flexible timeframes for discovery. Students should be challenged to investigate provocative, age appropriate questions that motivate them to inquire and research for the answers and then communicate what they have found with others. The ability to quickly identify relevant sources of information and to synthesize this information into appropriate solutions is a critical skill for student to master if they are to succeed in an information-rich environment.

Professional development with teachers should focus on their ability to manage and evaluate both information and students in the process of acquiring this information. Since most teachers are still of the digital immigrant generation, they use digital media for information gathering rather than production. Many are not comfortable with the skills of online researching and most are extremely lacking in the ability to evaluate the validity of the information gathered. Digital immigrants attended school when written materials were generally peer reviewed before publication; therefore the assumption was that if it was written it was true. Few understand that anyone can put anything on the web even if it is not creditable. Students must be taught how to filter what they see online or hear through other media channels for reliability and validity.

Teachers must also be taught how to evaluate student products. Students, more adept at multimedia tools than their instructors, can often create phenomenal productions largely devoid of any depth of purpose. Instructors must be trained to get beyond the glitz of the package to the content and push students to achieve both.

Instructional suggestions. Traditional instruction where content is delivered by any means then reiterated to the instructor for evaluation provides a linear flow from teacher to student and back. A model that places the student in a more active role of both learner and instructor would more closely align with the multi-dimensional digital world to which most learners have now become accustomed and foster the filtering of information for validity and reliability. The teacher provides a stimulus, which the student then begins to investigate using various structured methodologies, such as frequent feedback that spurs students along the right path or steers those who stray back on track thus allowing the learner to utilize the internal strategy of trial and error. Guided peer review at designated stages of completion complements the need to network. Publication of exemplary works to a wider audience whether it is the local community or the World Wide Web offers a reason to monitor product quality. Most importantly, evaluation should take place throughout the entire learning process and should not be limited to the completion of a rubric at the project’s end.