I was asked to comment on the video for an E-learning orientation for my Griffith Masters course. I ended having a good giggle because I went to a public primary school in an under-funded socio-economic area in the 90's.
When I started primary school the use of devices for learning was extremely limited. Mobiles had only just come into existence. Touch-screen tablets were a flight of fancy fit only for sci-fi. As for my primary school's computers? Those were old for the 90's... and use was restricted to early teaching games and touch typing programmed. The idea of searching 'the web' for information was in its infancy and it was to the school's outdated textbooks children were referred. In my life I have lived through the advance from Atari to Xbox, wii, and PS4. I now walk around with a mini-computer 'smart' phone, read e-books off a tablet, and essays that I had to submit in awful handwriting are completely drafted, revised and submitted via Electronics.
The use of electronics as advanced so quickly that younger generation no longer understand how to cope offline. Social scientist debate as too the nature of this revolution. Is it advancing our intelligence or is it limiting it? While we know, do we over rely on the knowledge that is readily at hand.. Will future scientist become so adjusted to using software to do their thinking that they no longer understand the knowledge they seek?
My only answer is that the digital age has opened up more doors for education then the world ever did for me, and my pursuit of knowledge will be coupled by a desire for deeper understanding.
