#creationgeneration

There has been much reporting and debate about the Internet and the consequential attention span deficiency, and the fact that this leads to a dumbing down of kids. Of course there are always arguments of merit on all sides of this debate. I think like all other advances in the world there is an amount of trepidation about how things are being done “today”, it’s what I call the “The way I used to be - angry old man syndrome" (an SNL sketch).

I know, I know, that is an unfair categorization albeit a funny one. Back to the argument at hand, a couple of days ago I read a nice and unbiased piece by @MarianneStenger titled "Is the Internet creating a more easily distracted generation of learners" - this piece went about delving into a Pew research report about research in a digital world. I’ve been meaning to discuss this topic (specific to younger - K12 learners) and reading this article prompted me to put my argument to paper.

Most folks using the Internet look at it as a consumption medium and not primarily as a creation medium. Surprisingly, the fact is that it provides the greatest opportunity to create and has spawned some of the largest companies in history that thrive on user creations & contributions - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram… (you get the idea). So what gives? It’s the instructional model -educators and learning facilitators need to adjust their expectations and assignment structure to accommodate the new realities. When research entailed browsing material at the local library the process forced the kids to review a lot of material to complete assignments, this process in itself promoted reflection and exposure - today they can get multiple sources at the tap of their thumbs (the mouse is dead in a mobile world). This is the new reality so here are a few things that could work (this is focused more on K12 instruction),

student generated content as an integral part of curriculum (not just as occasional projects), forcing kids to learn as they create

assignments should not be about presenting links and digital assets, but there should be critical argument as to why a specific link or research material was used

assessment and grading should be on a continuum that looks at appropriate use of web stuff, quality of the critical argument, and presentation

Last week I was conversing with a rockstar mom who had reached out to us about things she’d like to see on Themeefy.com. I was very intrigued and started conversing about digital creativity & how she was using Themeefy. I was amazed at some of the cool ideas she had and I jotted them below as they look like great ideas for classrooms and parents. In addition I went through our archive and dug out samples on each of the project idea.

1. Make kids build an “About Me” theme (every six months - they change quickly)

One of the best projects in her opinion was to have her kids build a “about me” theme. She told me and upon reflection this is very true, kids get asked this question “tell me about yourself” a lot but most people don’t reflect on themselves so asking kids to stop and create something about themselves is an invaluable way to let them self-reflect. Sure enough on searching our DB I found a classroom and teacher that had done just that, here is a wonderful sample.

2. “Travel & Places” theme - ask kids to create a Theme about where they live and about their town. Better yet have them build Themes about a vacation they are about to take or have taken. This mom had a great idea, she took pictures of a recent trip to DC and had her kid create a Theme with these pictures and describing what was unique about the monuments and places they visited. Here is a sample travel Theme.

3. “Interest Themes” - kids are always into something, pop culture, music, movies, etc. Have them select their own interest and create a Theme. On searching I located an entire class project with superhero Themes and selected an awesome one on Superwoman.