More key take-aways from BLC08 on the social networks of children and teenagers
---For young people the social network is intuitive.
---What is the kids’ culture? Teach from their culture not from the teacher’s culture. Things are under our own noses and we don’t see what the kid’s culture is. Some answers are already there.
---Email is for old people according to kids. Getting an email address used to be a rite of passage. Now getting a Facebook page is a rite of passage. What learning spaces can teachers create that use the ability to communicate like Facebook without using Facebook. If teachers use the children/teenagers' spaces too much, kids will move on.
---To kids the tools aren’t tools - they are the way to communicate – what’s the best way to get something done or communicated? They come from a different culture. They won’t be the same as us. It’s a culture thing more than a knowledge thing. We need to help them get what they need. “Whenever I go to school, I have to ‘power down.’” If you ask the kids what they are thinking about? The future – their passion is their future. Teachers need to integrate the future into our technology, education.
---Technology is the kids’ birthright.
---What do kids like: group wk, project, disc, connect to the world, think their own thoughts and express their own thoughts. That’s the social space of kids.