Engineering Pop Culture!
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Test_engineer
Dudes, at the end of the day it doesn't really matter what these texters have to ...
FillG
What gets me is that people get into this mode where they are issuing two to ...
Digitally coming of age
Naomi Price
11/14/2011 1:24 PM EST
An article in my local newspaper today discusses whether growing up digital and immersed in social media is helpful or harmful to the current generation of students. As someone who works online to promote STEM education and an editor, I have a few differing views on the topic.
Social media is a terrific way for people to reach, engage, and connect with each other. Just last week, I went to a gathering of people I’ve worked with off and on through many company moves, name changes, and company sales. People showed up who I hadn’t seen in ages and everyone commented on how great it was to see each other after so long. How was the gathering arranged? Through LinkedIn, Facebook, and email.
My son got a new co-op job a few hours from where he currently lived near his college. He announced his luck on Facebook and within an hour had a friend comment that she also worked there, lived near the company, and would be happy to rent a room to him. Housing problem solved. Next my son organized a celebration party…how…Facebook, of course!
Social media is as useful to students as it is to everyone else. Probably more so. Suddenly, friends are reachable where ever they are and whatever they’re doing. Lost your homework assignment? Need help figuring out the physics problems? Can’t find your new classroom? Solutions are a few keystrokes away.
But all this convenience has its price. As Robin Welch, principal of the Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in Framingham, MA, said in the MetroWest Daily News article, the Internet “can be a wonderful educational resource,” but he bemoans “the lost art of spelling, grammar and writing.”
Lynne Viti, senior lecturer in the writing program at Wellesley College, has a practical take, “There have always been speech codes,” whether in the 1960s or now, and “most students” distinguish between the way they should communicate in the classroom and in the peer group.
And there’s another side to the sloppy writing coin. Students who would probably otherwise not write at all are now doing so, and if not neatly or at great length, at least frequently. I would wager that illiteracy has declined dramatically just as digital engagement has grown.
So does social media help students engage or hinder their concentration? Does it connect friends who would otherwise drift apart or turn students into couch potatoes? And should good grammar be a priority all the time or just in the classroom?
Social media is a terrific way for people to reach, engage, and connect with each other. Just last week, I went to a gathering of people I’ve worked with off and on through many company moves, name changes, and company sales. People showed up who I hadn’t seen in ages and everyone commented on how great it was to see each other after so long. How was the gathering arranged? Through LinkedIn, Facebook, and email.
My son got a new co-op job a few hours from where he currently lived near his college. He announced his luck on Facebook and within an hour had a friend comment that she also worked there, lived near the company, and would be happy to rent a room to him. Housing problem solved. Next my son organized a celebration party…how…Facebook, of course!
Social media is as useful to students as it is to everyone else. Probably more so. Suddenly, friends are reachable where ever they are and whatever they’re doing. Lost your homework assignment? Need help figuring out the physics problems? Can’t find your new classroom? Solutions are a few keystrokes away.
But all this convenience has its price. As Robin Welch, principal of the Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in Framingham, MA, said in the MetroWest Daily News article, the Internet “can be a wonderful educational resource,” but he bemoans “the lost art of spelling, grammar and writing.”
Lynne Viti, senior lecturer in the writing program at Wellesley College, has a practical take, “There have always been speech codes,” whether in the 1960s or now, and “most students” distinguish between the way they should communicate in the classroom and in the peer group.
And there’s another side to the sloppy writing coin. Students who would probably otherwise not write at all are now doing so, and if not neatly or at great length, at least frequently. I would wager that illiteracy has declined dramatically just as digital engagement has grown.
So does social media help students engage or hinder their concentration? Does it connect friends who would otherwise drift apart or turn students into couch potatoes? And should good grammar be a priority all the time or just in the classroom?
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Naomi Price
11/14/2011 2:12 PM EST
Educators weigh in: Will Cook, chairman of the English Department at Framingham High School in Framingham, MA, says, "There's a significant part of the population who'd be disinclined to write anything. At least these kids are texting"...
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Frank Eory
11/14/2011 6:48 PM EST
Like any new technology, social media can be both a help and a hindrance to students. The hindrance aspect probably comes more from excessive use, or use at inappropriate times when you should be focused on something else. The same was true with the telephone, TV and radio in an earlier age.
I recently saw a photo of an open book, with the caption: "Study (verb) -- The act of texting, eating and watching TV with an open textbook nearby." To that list I would add "and Facebooking".
I shared that a few nights ago -- on Facebook, of course -- with my college student daughter. The fact that it took her about 30 seconds to "Like" it sort of illustrates the point :)
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PennyLHarvey
11/16/2011 4:09 AM EST
Facebook and Skype allow my nephews to connect with each other and with out of state friends in a richer interactive experience than by phone. It also keeps me in touch with what's going on with them, and what they are thinking (I live far from them) in a way I would never have access to by phone. They have shared pretty deep thoughts on Facebook notes. They have done amazingly fun and creative things with video on YouTube. I think teenagers will be teenagers, theses days they just have a wider palette of tools and channels of communication. Social media worries me less than TV - where watching can tend to produce a zombie-like trance with my nephews!
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PennyLHarvey
11/16/2011 4:23 AM EST
On a completely different note, the digital world can be a great help in supporting students and young kids in dealing with grief and loss. I am a volunteer at Griefnet.org, which provides email support group for adults. Its subsidiary website, kidsaid.com, offers support groups just for kids. There is a place for kids to express themselves through poetry and art. There is some touching and amazing stuff on here. I know this sounds like a plug - it's not meant to. It's just a great example of how kids' natural engagement with the digital world can be harnessed to give them support they can access anytime, anywhere and share with other kids who can be anywhere. Great use of digital!
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Duane Benson
11/16/2011 12:25 PM EST
A parent weighing in here - Games such as Ultima Online and World of Warcraft greatly increased the reading speed and the speed at which my kids learned how to write. I can instant message my son at college and he can do the same to me throughout the day.
One of the down sides is that risks, that back years ago, might come only from the local area, can now come from essentially anywhere in the world. My rule is that computers are only allowed in public areas of the house, so that helps. Educating them on the risks and benefits helps as well.
My kids both have a significantly broader understanding of the world than I did when I was their age. They can find out about just about anything about science, geography, politics, etc. on their own time and their own schedule.
Of course, they don't know their own home town nearly as much as I did at their age.
Facebook "friend collectors" don't make a lot of sense to me. I consider that to be not much different than collecting business cards from any random person you might run across. It doesn't help. There is no real social purpose to having 500 "friends." However, Facebook can help keep a circle of genuine friends and family much closer than than the old tools of paper letter, telephone calls and driving.
People who are socially awkward and otherwise would have limited or no social opportunities can connect up with people and develop more of a sense of belonging than is possible when face to face is required.
The digital world has many double edged-swords, but the net is far more positive than growing up without it.
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Naomi Price
11/16/2011 12:44 PM EST
PennyLHarvey - very good points -- my daughter is in college far from home and Skype has become a wonderful way to avoid homesick blues. We've even done the silly walk-the-computer-around to show eachother what's going on, meet her friends, or let her talk to her cat (the cat was only minimally on board for the visit). And thanks for sharing the info about the grief site for kids -- that is a fabulous use of technology.
Duane Benson - more good points. I especially agree with keeping the kids' computer/s in common rooms. Worked for my kids too. And computers are indeed an amazing tool for people with limited mobility. I wonder how computers have changed kids' ideas of what is socially acceptable behavior...for that matter I shudder to think what reality shows have done in that respect...
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DutchUncle
11/23/2011 2:10 PM EST
"We've even done the silly walk-the-computer-around ...."
Just a few years ago, when my son was in college, this didn't exist - a laptop with wireless and webcam couldn't handle it. Certainly when we were in school, making our scheduled weekly phone calls because long distance was expensive, it was inconceivable. Even commercial broadcasts being "Live Via Satellite!" was still a big deal; nobody expected live video to be in everybody's hands, from almost anywhere, all the time. One forgets how fast this change has happened - and that today's kids don't remember it NOT being there.
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Duane Benson
11/16/2011 1:01 PM EST
I don't really think that computers have changed kids' ideas on what is socially acceptable. What it certainly has done is allow kids to exhibit their behaviors to the entire world. My guess is that someone who is a Facebook exhibitionist or gossip king probably would have been the same back in 1975. Their audience would have been much, much smaller though.
Reality shows, trash media and the entertainmentization of news probably have changed limits of good taste regardless of the vehicle used to get to an audience.
Skype is a great tool for adding in a face to face component to long distance chats. I've done that with my kids while traveling for business. I can understand why your cat wasn't so excited about it. The only things that cats like about technology are keyboards when in use and warm surfaces to curl up on.
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sharps_eng
11/16/2011 5:20 PM EST
Yes, with our family becoming the 'skipped generation' of their grandparents, far-flung relatives across the planet can stay in touch, either by direct skyping etc or by the subtler eavesdropping on Facebook. Just don't wade in on your kids' Facebook page, watch but don't talk. They soon forget you might see stuff, it's up to you to deal with it while 'keeping Mum' (q.v.).
And of course when something goes wrong, there is nothing like a long call to reassure and the web to rally the family around.
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WKetel
11/19/2011 7:37 PM EST
The down side of technology is that it has provided a new generation of raving idiots with an effective disguise. It used to be that they would have such poor grammar and spelling that their writings quickly warned one about the source. Presently the word processor can correct those mistakes and so it takes much more effort to find out that some writer is "quite nuts".
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FillG
11/23/2011 4:26 PM EST
A major contributing factor to the poor grammar, abbreviations, coded speech (eg BFF)and the likes is the input mechanism. Cell phone keyboards are not easy to use and typos are easy. Voice recognition doesn't help, because that hurts privacy. As one commentor mentioned, the kids recognize the difference between peer to peer communication and public speaking.
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FillG
11/23/2011 4:30 PM EST
What gets me is that people get into this mode where they are issuing two to five text messages to complete a conversation over the period of 10 minutes instead of calling and talking directly which would complete the conversation in two minutes max.
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Test_engineer
11/24/2011 9:00 AM EST
Dudes, at the end of the day it doesn't really matter what these texters have to say. It's just more random noise added to our increasingly dumbed-down western civilization. Yesterday, here in Toronto, the cops rousted a whole crowd of occupiers from one of our parks. All the mutts who were kicked out made a big deal of this on social networking sites.It wasn't. Just more losers who will probably end up on welfare or working for the government.
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