Networked Teens

The Pew Internet & American Life Project calls Millennial teens “networked learners.”  Growing up in the digital age has altered the way they learn.  The report says that teens are (my notes in the indented bullets):

• More self-directed and less dependent on top-down instructions
  • more independent and forward-thinking
    
  • willing to try new technology
  • groan when assignments have a long list of instructions
    
  • want more freedom in learning and in styles of presenting their learning
• Better arrayed to capture new information inputs
  • used to new technology arriving constantly
  • aware of the many multifaceted opinions on varying subjects
  • aware of the massive amount of information that is created everyday, but they may not be great at sorting, analyzing, or interpreting it all
• More reliant on feedback and response
  • numerous methods of communication (email, text, cell phone, etc) make the feedback process easier/faster
  • have a hard time editing oneself, especially with the advent of editing technology such as spell and grammar check in Microsoft Word
  • social networks are built on this
    
• More attuned to group outreach and group knowledge
  • studying in groups
  • look at crowd-sourced ratings of products online (starred ratings, customer reviews, Yelp.com, etc.)
  • the collective writing of Wikipedia entries
• More open to cross-discipline insights, creating their own “tagged” taxonomies
  • hyperlinks enable one to make connections among all kinds of topics
  • Social networking sites that allow users to post their own tags for books, movies, etc
  • non-linear media and learning experiences
• More oriented toward people being their own individual nodes of production
  • self-publishing (blogs, twitter, etc) and the downfall of giant publishers and editors who are the “gatekeepers”
  • create music, art, video, etc through easy-to-use computer software
  • easier ways to start something new (a charity, a business, a website, etc)

Taken from Evaluating Teen Services and Programs by Sarah Flowers