Learning and the E-Generation

Foreword ix 1 Learning in a Digital World 1 Starting points 1 Hopes, dreams and nightmares 4 Why Is the Supportive Evidence so Hard to Find? 5 How does psychological Theory Illuminate the Educational Debate? 11 How Can We Bridge the Home School Digital Divide? 15 Risks, skills and opportunities 16 Conclusions 16 2 How do People Learn? 18 Introduction 18 What is learning? 19 Beyond General Theories of learning 22 What About the Quality of Learning? 23 Active Versus Passive Learning 24 Preferred Learning Styles 26 What About the Learner? 28 Risks, Skills and opportunities 30 Conclusions 30 3 Social Interactions and Written Communication 32 Introduction 32 Communicating Online 33 Changes in Written Language 36 Abbreviations Mediated Through Technology 39 The Effects of Text Abbreviations on Literacy Skills 41 Risks, skills and opportunities 44 Conclusions 44 4 E-Books, E-Readers and Tablets, Are they the Way Forward? 46 Introduction 46 E-books: Are they Effective Teaching Tools or an adjunct to Real Reading Activities? 47 Promoting Collaboration and Peer-group interactions 51 Adult instruction is Still Important 53 The benefits of Kindles and iPads 55 Mobile technology and Second Language Learning 58 What About Those at Risk of Reading Difficulties? 59 A Multisensory Experience 61 Risks, skills and opportunities 64 Conclusions 64 5 Becoming Digitally Literate 66 Introduction 66 Engaging with New Forms of literacy 67 So Which Literacy Skills are required to become a Digital Native? 68 The Multimodal Landscape 70 Visual Literacy and Visual Representations 71 How Can Visual Representations Support Learning? 73 Risks, skills and opportunities 76 Conclusions 77 6 Social Networking as an Educational Tool 78 Introduction 78 Facebook as a Popular Networking Tool 79 Social Capital 80 Social Networking in Educational Contexts 82 So why is the Educational use of an SNS different from Using a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)? 86 Where Does This Leave Us? 87 The Need to Establish Rules of the Game: Netiquette 88 Risks, Skills and Opportunities 89 Conclusions 90 7 Absorbed by Technology 92 Introduction 92 Addiction and Wellbeing 93 Time Wasting 96 Driven by the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) 97 The Interplay of Cognition and Internet Activity 98 Are Multitaskers Always at a Disadvantage? 102 Going with the Flow 103 So what are Young People Learning? 104 Risks, Skills and Opportunities 105 Conclusions 105 8 Games, Learning and Education 107 Introduction 107 The Nature of Games 108 Simply Addicted to Games? 109 Games and Learning 112 Is Gaming a Panacea for Educational Ills? 116 The Future of Games for Learning 120 Risks, Skills and Opportunities 122 Conclusions 122 9 Misbehaviour or Merely Misunderstanding? 124 Introduction 124 What is Academic Dishonesty? 125 Prevalence rates of Academic Malpractice 126 Why do Students Take the Risk? 128 Do they Know what they are Doing? 130 And the Solution is? 132 Risks, Skills and Opportunities 134 Conclusions 134 10 Being Emotionally Intelligent and Risk Resilient 136 Introduction 136 Shades of Light and Dark 137 Overcoming Risks and Building Resilience 139 Self-disclosure and Social Networking 142 So are Emotional Intelligence and Resilience the Key to Reducing Risk? 144 How do We Cultivate a State of Emotional Intelligence and Risk Resilience? 147 Risks, Skills and Opportunities 149 Conclusions 150 11 The Future of Learning 151 Introduction 151 The Skills of the Net Generation 152 Bridging the Home-School Divide 156 Can Psychological Theory Inform Educational Practice? 158 Promoting Educational Change 160 Learner, Teacher and School Level Characteristics 161 Many Possibilities but No Certainties 165 References 167 Author Index 202 Subject Index 214