Table of Contents
Educating the digital generation
Written and produced by authors and editors at CustomGuide,
Inc.
Copyright 2005
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Issue 46, October 2005
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Programs
Job training is one of many types of programs offered by Glide. Glide's
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Office Support Skills (OSS) is a TAES program aimed at teaching the computer skills necessary for success in today's workplace. Participants learn about word processing, spreadsheet, and database applications, as well as how to operate email and work with the Internet, aided by Glide's two computer trainers.
Challenges and needs
Glide's biggest training challenge is early identification of barriers
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Fall asleep before Nightline last night? Miss your Chemistry lecture on Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion? No problem. Using the new Yahoo Podcasts Web site, you can easily track down your favorite shows, and even a few not-so-favorite-but-you-have-no-choice lectures.
This free service, which is available at podcasts.yahoo.com, features a directory of podcasts, a consumer ratings system, and even a how-to guide explaining how you can create your own podcast and then publish it to the Web. You'll also come across a variety of helpful tips, tricks, and advice - all having to do with the progressive art of podcasting.
What the heck is a podcast, anyway?
Podcasts are simply audio programs that can be downloaded from the Internet.
Once a podcast has been downloaded, you can either listen to it on your
computer or sync it to a digital music player for listening on the go.
While the term "podcast" seems to imply an antipathy for all
things non-iPod, podcasts can in fact be downloaded to any kind of MP3
player, provided you have a computer that is equipped with music player
software (such as iTunes, MusicMatch, etc.).
Podcasting started out as a way for the technologically inclined to send their own simple radio programs over the Web. Since then it has turned into a cultural phenomenon, with multimedia behemoths such as ABC News, ESPN, Disney, and NPR now making some of their most popular programs available as podcasts. In addition, teachers and professors are increasingly making their classroom content available to their students in podcast form.
Yahoo Podcasts 101
The Yahoo Podcasts directory is divided into several categories, including
arts, news, education, and technology, among others. The site is extremely
user-friendly, with a colorful, easily navigational interface. To browse
for a podcast, simply type the name of what you're looking for in the
Search field, or take a peek at the regularly updated "New and Noteworthy"
and "Most Popular" sections.
Once you've found what you're looking for, you can download a single podcast episode or subscribe to an entire podcast series, in which case new episodes will be automatically downloaded to your computer as they become available. All podcasts are free, and don't worry if you don't have Yahoo Music Engine - Yahoo Podcasts is compatible with other music player software as well, including Apple iTunes.
In response to the increasing number of students and educators that are using digital music players for educational value, Yahoo Podcasts is also an excellent place for teachers and students to publish and distribute content. The "Publish a Podcast" section provides information regarding what you'll need to get started, step-by-step instructions, and a slew of helpful hints and FAQs.
Podcast forecast: not a cloud in the sky
With millions of podcasts floating around on the Web and more popping
up every day, Yahoo's timing couldn't be better. In fact, researchers
at the Diffusion Group have predicted that the U.S. podcast audience will
climb from 840,000 last year to 56 million by 2010. By that time, an estimated
three-quarters of all people who own MP3 players will be listening to
podcasts, up from less than 15 percent last year.
Podcasting is an easy way to keep up-to-date with your favorite programs and Yahoo Podcasts is a great place to start. With tens of thousands of podcasts currently available, there's sure to be something for everyone.
Sources: podcasts.yahoo.com, www.theregister.co.uk, www.cnet.com, www.techlearning.com, www.apple.com/education/podcasting.
Our OfficeClues bulletins are a great way to help people in your organization keep honing their skills and learning new ways to do things in Microsoft Office. Just click the link below and click the "Download a free issue of OfficeClues link" on the page.
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Educating the digital generation
While the debate continues among politicians, educators, and parents concerning the appropriate levels of government funding to improve technology instruction in our schools, there is also a more general debate growing alongside it: How should our schools—and workplaces—respond to the new digital culture?
In schools across the country, the level of technological integration varies widely. Some schools have just one lowly computer lab; at others, teachers sync their grades from PDAs into their computers, and parents check their students' grades online. iPods are being introduced as a way to play back lectures and store assignment data. Apple even sponsors a contest for teachers and their classes that use Apple's iMovie editing software to create educational movies.
Some argue that technology in schools is harming students by taking away market-share from books and other tried-and-true educational materials; others want to see much more technology in schools. The key issue, according to technology proponents, is making sure that technology is being coupled with teaching methods that can reach today's digitalized students.
According to educational consultant Marc Prensky and others who favor overhauling the pre-digital education model, there is a major disconnect between today's students, who have grown up in the digital age—and are thus "digital natives"—and their older, pre-digital teachers, the "digital immigrants." Because the students natively "speak" the language of computers (the Internet, cell phones, etc.) and the teachers speak, at best, with an "accent," critics contend that the current education system utilizes inadequate techniques that are not very effective in teaching today's type of students.
Studies have, in fact, shown that the brains of today's young people—under the influence of video games, MTV, and instant messaging—have grown in different patterns than their parents. These patterns are typified by a penchant for multi-tasking and a desire for visual stimulation. They aren't more or less capable learners than previous generations, they just learn in a different way. As a result, students may not be engaged by traditional teaching methods, and both students and teachers are often left frustrated.
Among the suggestions offered to alleviate the digital differences are: integrating technology into learning in the same ways students are accustomed to using it, and teaching material in ways that mimic the jittery learning styles of today's students. For example, creating a simple interactive video game to teach a concept and using a more random method of teaching-instead of the traditional step-by-step method-are offered as ways for teachers to connect with students and get them excited about learning. Going beyond the obvious importance of effective technology use in classrooms, critics contend that even more importantly, educators need to go a step further to better understand the digital environment of their students, so they can learn to communicate using language that their students understand. And, they say, while the staples of reading, writing, and arithmetic will always be important, it is also important that schools teach more "future" skills, such as working with software and robotics.
Unfortunately, the challenges of dealing with the digital generation don't end at graduation. Today's "digital native" students are already spilling into the workforce. There, older bosses and young staff people butt heads over the use of technology and struggle with the different work styles of digital natives and immigrants. If you know an aging executive who has his secretary print off every e-mail for him, or a new hire who prefers to instant message his colleagues from his cubical rather than meet face-to-face, you have seen that the issues aren't just for schools to reconcile, but for our larger culture as well.
Some day, of course, all the "digital immigrants" will be gone and the "digital natives" will naturally formulate their ideal ways of learning and working, but until then, there's some work to be done.
To learn more, visit www.techlearning.com, www.marcprensky.com, and www.ed.gov.
Nielsen/NetRatings notes that between September 2004 and September 2005 the traffic to education and reference Web sites grew 22 percent on average. However, two sites that also happen to lead the ratings of education sites— Wikipedia and Yahoo! Education—experienced triple-digit increases in traffic over the past 12 months.
In September 2005, Nielsen/NetRatings found that 53 percent of the individuals who frequented the educational reference category of sites were college-educated adults aged 35+. Overall, adults 35-49 led the age groups in usage, garnering 37 percent of the category's audience, compared to 16 percent of Web users under age 18. Sixty-nine percent of reference site visitors attended college, while nearly half had received some type of college degree. Grammar school students comprised more than 11 percent of the audience, as high school-educated students comprised nearly 19 percent.
The number of residential VoIP subscribers worldwide is predicted to rise to 197.2 million in 2010, up more than 40x from 4.8 million in 2004. This will drive worldwide wireline VoIP equipment revenue to $24.5 billion in 2010, more than three times the $8.04 billion in sales in 2004. In 2005, VoIP equipment revenue is expected to be $12.9 billion, up 60 percent from 2004, iSuppli reports. With the rapid rise in consumer subscribers, the residential segment will be the fastest-growing portion of the entire VoIP equipment market, with revenue expanding to $10.6 billion in 2010, up 650 percent from $1.4 billion in 2004.
Broadband subscriber growth started to slow in 2005, according to Kagan Research. There will be 9.3 million net new broadband subscribers in year-end 2005, down from the 9.5 million in 2004. That figure is seen dropping off to 8.1 million net new users in 2006 with continued decreases thereafter. For 2009, Kagan forecasts 5.6 million net new broadband subscribers for a total of 72.4 million.