5 Things to Know about the Audience of the Future
June 27, 2007 at 9:47 am
One of the most popular talks at Reboot and a blogger I’ve been directing all my parent friends to is Ewan McIntosh. A teacher from Scotland who has definitely earned himself the best job in education, he’s part of a 3 person team charged with bringing technology into the classrooms of Scotland. Irish education officials take note. Time to shake up our antiquated education system (chuaigh me, teann me, rachaidh me, rachadh me. . .aris!).
Firstly Ewan made the point that the citizens of the future are now. 2007 is a significant year in that it is the first year that kids who’ve only known a world with the internet may enter the workforce. As employers, as parents, as citizens, this is what we need to know in order to not get left behind:
1. Huge Audiences
These kids are used to huge audiences, but for them it’s still local – they really care about what their family and their classmates think. The fact that they’ve got 200,000 blog readers a month is just the norm for them. Check out this animation by 6 year olds in East Lothian, it’s had 1,886 views so far.
2. Creativity
Is allowed and is good! Did you know that 98% of kids starting school are deemed to be at genius level, but by the time they leave school this number has dropped to 2%? School as a genius suppressor.
Ewan gave so many brilliant examples of kids’ creativity – some of my favourites were:
- Using Flickr groups to tell a story in 5 frames – this can be done for kids learning languages or indeed expanding their use of English.
- Art teachers teaching art appreciation through Flickr. Hover over the image for info and check the comments below. This is engaged learning.
- Kids learning French and enjoying it through animation. Lots more examples from the Pie Movie Theatre here.
My absolute favourite is this one:
Flight or Fantasy is a virtual reality game and Ewan showed us how teachers such as Tim Rylands are using this to teach English language skills. The whole class gets involved, kids get to rap about what they see, how they’re feeling, they all go on a journey together in this virtual world and make decisions about what to do next. Check this out for amazing vocab.
[God I wish I was back in 2nd class!]
3. Genuine
Kids who were brought up on the internet can smell bull a mile off. They don’t go for it, so don’t do it. Lower production values but genuine win hands down every day over shmalzy talking down stuff.
4. Authentic
Addressing the ‘but why do we have to do this?’. When the learning experience is authentic, you’ve captured their minds. An example of this is a teenage girl who was so inspired by a school trip to France that it brought the whole first world war history lesson to life. She wrote her history essay, with lots of added input about how she personally felt and put it up on her Bebo page. Networking your homework – she got her friends to critique her essay before handing it in. Imagine how awesome it must be for teacher and student alike to have that level of attention!
5. Tools
They all have mobiles in their pockets, many with built-in cameras and videos. As a school don’t suppress it! Embrace it by using social networking sites like Flickr and Youtube and others. Think of those mobiles as creative aids waiting to happen.
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