I have been doing some serious reflecting on a number of issues associated with young adults and their living 
and learning with new media. After working with close to 200 young adults in four sections of undergraduate courses on integrating technology into school curriculum, I have found that their responses to how they use new or social media in their lives and learning varies depending on their personal and professional goals.
In my final exams, I ask students to explain/describe what social media tools they use on a personal basis, why they use them, and in what ways do these tools benefit and hinder them. In terms of hinderances, students report that new media are used when they are "bored or looking for a distraction." One student responded:
"Social media tools can be a great tool for teaching and learning new material, but they can also distract students from the material they are trying to learn. Instead of using the tool for the class intended purpose, they may become engrossed in the tools' other features. They could get sidetracked and end up somewhere completely off topic or on another website/feature entirely. It can be difficult for students to focus on just one thing these days, especially when there is so much out there to explore."This quote struck me on many levels. Specifically, the notion of being distracted in the "other features" seemed to be a loaded statement. Do students consider exploring outside the realm of what is defined as "learning" as a distraction? Isn't exploring different facets of an application just as important as using it for its intended purpose? This led me to consider how many educators have so poisoned students thinking that being "off-task" is even considered to be a bad thing. Have we so stymied students that they believe if they are not formally "learning," if they become "sidetracked," that they are wasting their time? When did curiosity become a negative thing? (When it killed the proverbial cat, I suppose.) As I think about it, if young adults find new media a distraction, then perhaps "learning" has become too narrowly defined. This then led me to wonder how we can "measure" self-directed learning in this new media context? In other words, how can we show the different levels of learning that takes place in these new contexts?
Similar to the findings in the MacArthur report from the Digital Youth Project, only a small number of my students report using "the online world to explore interests and find information that goes beyond what they have access to at school or in their local community" (Ito, et al, 2008). My students report that they mostly use online networks to extend friendships that they already navigate in their familiar contexts of school, religious organizations, sports, and other local activities. They also question the depth of their online relationships and worry that online relationships can often be superficial, lacking the intimacy associated with face-to-face relationships.
Prior to taking my course, very few of my students read or authored a weblog, used a wiki beyond exploring Wikipedia, or even heard of social bookmarking applications. Clearly, educators have tremendous influence and responsibility in setting learning goals, particularly on the interest-driven side where adult hobbyists and educators can serve as role models. Like the authors of the Living and Learning with New Media report, I am wondering what would it mean to truly take advantage of "the potential of the learning opportunities available through online resources and networks? What would it mean to reach beyond traditional education and civic institutions and enlist the help of others in young people’s learning" (Ito, et al, 2008)?
Your thoughts and suggestions are encouraged. Lucky for me, I will have the opportunity to keep exploring these opportunities for many years to come. Hopefully other educators will too.
Reference:
Ito, M., et al. (2008). Digital Youth Research. Retrieved 16 December 2008 from http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/.
Image:
Alignment - http://www.blanka.co.uk/i/products/2201.jpg
Keywords: Digital Youth Project, educational technology, learning computing, Mizuko Ito, new media, social media, social software, teaching, young adults
Comments
Part of the problem I believe, is that many applications are released with prescriptive use requirements, with a narrative that directs play or exploration. Take Facebook ... initially requiring users to notify their status with a prefix of 'Martin is'. It may seem like a minor quibble, but it curbs a users expectations of how they use the application.
Young adults are presented with so many different interfaces, its no wonder that they often simply adopt the simplest method of use when introduced to yet another new application.
I have a strong interest in narrative and digital media. I've found that like nothing else, exploring using narrative encourages students explore and create, to engage with new applications in facinating ways. I've had great results for example, building stories using online mind mapping tools. Using colors for emotion, size to denote relevance in the story etc.
It's important that students not only explore the extra features of an application, but question the methadology of the tool they are using, twist it and hold it up to the light, see what other uses it might have.
Having said all that, it's content that is important. If a student can say what they need to using 'Martin is' ...then perhaps that's enough sometimes?
Cheers
Martin J
www.thedigitalnarrative.com
www.lightningbug.com.au
Chris,
You raise some interesting questions in your article, but you also wonder "...how we can "measure" self-directed learning in this new media context?" and that's where the problem lies; we educators must justify what we establish in our learning spaces or classrooms through some form of assessment. So when students use social media or any form of 21st century electronic medium, they might be doing so within the confines of limited interests. Educators constantly attempt to expand their students’ limited interests, based mostly on the content they teach. We should always be teaching students how to learn, but usually we teach them what to learn. We often forget that learning a cumulative process, not necessarily something that occurs from the beginning of a unit (or semester) to its end. But the dictates of our profession insist that what occurs between beginnings and ends must be measured. We are expected to do this to justify ourselves as professionals and the salary we receive.
I've been teaching high school students for 32 years and still have difficulty coming to terms with assessing my student's success. Just because a student has received a grade doesn't mean the student has successfully learned anything more than how to earn a specific grade from me. It calls to mind columnist Sydney Harris's column "Things I Learned While Looking up Other Things". The column was based on learning something as a result of getting sidetracked. I suspect that using social media allows students to learn a lot more than we ever measure, but not necessarily the content we want them to learn, the content we evaluate through the various assessment tools we've learned to use.