Tapscott on Changing Pedagogy for the Net Generation

Can you be a Rhodes Scholar and not read books? Did growing up digital produce the dumbest generation? Are screenagers multitasking, or do they have better acting working memory and better switching abilities than most?

This morning, Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics and Grown Up Digital, invited ASCD Annual Conference attendees to meet the Net Generation. They’re the first generation "bathed in bits," and they’re lapping their parents in digital acquisition. The only other time we've see such huge leaps in learning is when comparing language acquisition between immigrants and their children, Tapscott noted.

Collaboration is another major hallmark of the Net Generation. However, Tapscott said, we have a tendency to squander or prohibit this strength in schools and workplaces.

"What do we do with this collaboration-geared generation? We stick them in a cubicle, supervise them like they're Dilbert, and take away their tools (i.e., blocking sites like Facebook and Youtube)." Tapscott calls this creating a generational firewall. "It says, 'We don't get you, we don't understand your tools, and we don't trust you to use them.'"

These firewalls ignore evidence that students are putting their online organizing expertise to positive, productive use. Look no further than student movements in Iran, student-led political organizing during the Obama campaign, and civic activity at an all-time high in the United States, for example.

So how do schools embrace the Net Generation?

"We can’t just throw technology in a classroom and expect good things," notes Tapscott. We need to move away from an outdated, broadcast-style of pedagogy (i.e., lecture and drilling) toward student-focused, multimodal learning, where "the teacher's no longer in the transmission of data business; she's in the customizing-learning-experiences-for-students business."

To reshape pedagogy, Tapscott says that we must consider eight norms for the Net Generation: freedom, customization, scrutiny, integrity, collaboration, entertainment, speed, and innovation.

This generation doesn't silo skills or access the way past generations might have. Likewise, we need to break down false barriers among work, learning, collaboration, and fun. We need to make good on kids’ right to the learning tools of their time and embrace the potential for technology to facilitate our rebirth as teachers and learners, Tapscott continued.

"In the U.S., the smartest kids don't go to lectures," he said. "When these kids that have been online since adolescence hit colleges, sparks are going to fly."

Tapscott's next book, Macrowikinomics, comes out in the fall.