The Digital Generation Project

Henry Jenkins talks about how difficult it is to mix new technology and old time teaching. He says that schools are currently shutting information because they do not really know how to use information on the web. I think that it really depends of the school because I have seen many teachers that, even though they are not familiar with all the programs out there, they still encourage students to participate and help them to find accurate information from the web and how to use it in respect to the authors. He also mentions that schools have block information because of vocabulary matters that seems to be offensive when in fact it is found in one of the most famous book in the world. It is true that sometimes that kind of information should not be block because they are classical piece of work but there is so many bad texts and bad language on the web that you cannot avoid having filters. They are also blocking access to youtube which has rich information. Schools and teachers are, according to Jenkins, detooling students from what society expects them to learn, technology.

Also, he is talking about the participation gap which means that students who do not have access at home to technology like cameras and video editing programs and so on are even more behind the others because they cannot learn it in school. I totally agree with that because it is not fair for students who do not have the opportunity to practice with technology. Sometimes teachers give computer based project assuming that everyone would understand what to do and, many won’t say a thing but, due to lack of experimentation, they won’t be able to perform the task.

This creates problem between generations because youngsters will be ask to work with technology but their teachers are not able to follow. The best way to avoid such a problem is by creating online communities for teachers. This could help them not feel alone. Also, another solution mentioned by Jenkins is to go see and get in touch with people from the community who are able to help. These people could be resources for both teachers and students which could reduce the gap between them. This could mean a better communication and better collaboration between students and teachers. It could create collaborative classroom which is the aim of bringing technology in the classroom. This means other ways of teaching and learning then the empirical way it used to be.