Digital Does Not Mean Dumber.

The LA Times just ran an article discussing a widespread myth/theory  - the age of Web 2.0 tools and digital transformation makes students (or just people) dumber. As a library media specialist, connecting curriculum with new tools, technology, and methods to enhance learning is my job. Do I think my job makes my students dumber?! Of course not...

Though, I will admit...there were times I had a small doubt in my mind. Maybe Web 2.0 and tech gadgets did not make students (or people) dumber, but I've often caught myself thinking they add to an already super-fast, on demand, over stimulated intellect and culture. So the doubt was more related to a bigger question - is knowing how to get information easier and faster the same as being intelligent? Is that learning? I've never admited that to anyone because somewhere in my thoughts was the opposite hope - that I was missing out on how these tools and transformations make my students SMARTER! That yes indeed learning to be faster, more resourceful information seekers IS learning.

Thanks to Mr. Chabris and Mr. Simons, there is some validity and support for this new kind of learner. A major fact the article pointed out is the difference between being distracted and paying attention. It is not the Web 2.0 tools or the technology causing intellectual problems. Students are not dumber for texting, typing, or using the internet. The culprit here is DISTRACTION! And if students were not distracted by a text message or Facebook, it would be something else! Distraction and what distracts us has just evolved along with technology. Instead of doodling, instead of looking out the window, students' attentions are pulled away by quicker, faster, more tech heavy means.

This is where an educator, like myself, can use these new Web 2.0 tools and technologies in her or his favor - to take back that attention! To cut down on distraction! Students LIKE these new means of communicating, why not USE them to hook students attention to what they are learning? Instead of ignoring the shift in learning, let us embrace it and use it. Let us acknowledge that it is not the textbook or student alone anymore, that "it may make more sense to think about the individual plus the cloud of technology and information that he or she has access to at any given moment" (Simon/Chabris), which includes textbooks, teachers, and ANYTHING on the internet. That's right, anything.

Anything.

We must prepare our students to be navigators of this "cloud of technology and information" or they will get lost in that cloud, the classroom content along with them. The cloud is available anywhere. Anytime. We are not. This seems like an insurmountable obstacle, but it is not.  Let us look at our practices with new questions in mind - how well am I using this new information cloud? How well am I incorporating new methods and tools where needed and appropriate?  Can I be more accessible and available to my students without losing my sanity and my life?

Educators no longer have to be alone in addressing these issues. Turn to a friendly Library Media Specialist! Or Technology Specialist! Or whoever is ready, willing, and able to work with you to create opportunities for you and your students to best utilize the "technology and information [we] have access to at any given moment" (Simon/Chabris).  Only when educators begin accessing the cloud of information more and more in classrooms, will the potential for students to see the tools they play with as possible tools for learning. Until teachers feel confident in using all the cloud has to offer, the tools will remain just one more mode of distraction to already distracted students.