Internet Safety

TCDSB Surf Right Policy and TCDSB Resources (Questions and Answers)

Knowledge Relationships

Teachers should consider that students have a different relationship with knowledge than they themselves would have had in the past.  As a teacher, I must realize that I do not have a monopoly on knowledge.  Shouldn't we allow students to take advantage of their skills as, borrowing from M. Prensky, "Digital Natives"; rather than letting them learn by themselves without any guidance?

From Teaching and Learning with the Net Generation by Kassandra Barnes, Raymond C. Marateo, and S. Pixy Ferris

. . . But Net Geners Learn Differently

Although they value education highly, Net Geners learn differently from their predecessors. This generation is unique in that it is the first to grow up with digital and cyber technologies. Not only are Net Geners acculturated to the use of technology, they are saturated with it. By the time he or she has reached 21 years of age, the average NetGener will have spent

• 10,000 hours playing video games,
• 200,000 e-mails,
• 20,000 hours watching TV,
• 10,000 hours on cell phones, and
• under 5,000 hours reading (Bonamici et al. 2005).