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Used mindfully, how can digital media help us grow smarter?  My years of study and experience have led me to conclude that humans are humans because we invent thinking and communicating tools that enable us to do bigger, more powerful things together.

etter than anyone else, he helped me to understand the importance of attention as the ultimate, finite, precious resource, one which must be constantly attended to, strengthened as a muscle, husbanded for our productivity.   “When it comes to the interacting with the world of always-on info, the fundamental skill, on which other essential skills depend, is the ability to deal with distraction without filtering out opportunity.”

Rheingold’s chapter on Attention offers valuable suggestions for strengthening our mindfulness by using meditation, goal-setting, “intentionality,”  and other tools to become more metacognitive and more intentional about how we concentrate in the times when we choose to do so. 

Researching What for Why? I enjoy research. I spend much of my time reading it. I also often find myself in sustained and vigorous conversations with colleagues from some of the leading research institutions from around the world...and it's time that I value very much. Indeed, the Foundation maintains a register of some of the leading research around 1-to-1 on our site....however, I am also sick and tried of the unrelenting practice of political leaders and educational policy makers who continually seek to justify inaction and limit the scope for innovation in the name of research. One only has to review the mountains of literature around the most effective ways to teach reading and the efficacy of small classes to conclude that too much educational research is based on loose assumptions, inappropriate methodologies, a blatant lack of rigor and ideological bias. Too often the funding base for educational research creates preconceptions about the outcomes, real or perceived, and the volume of research that swamps the education market seems to be more related to tenure or the attraction for doctoral topics, than a genuine need. It really is about time we took stock of the situation. For more than three decades we have seen an increasing stream of research that has targeted our use of technology in schools. What purpose has much of it served, other than to often significantly distract educators from continuing to develop innovative practice, and seek new ways to enga

How can we support innovative teachers taking risks, if every move is covered by a researcher measuring outcomes?

Why don't we start by working on the culture of our schools, and encourage those that are seeking to create a culture of innovation. Why don't we start thinking carefully about what it really means to support risk-taking in our schools; it seems the only risks people are interested in are about the evils of the net and beyond...how about we support our educational leaders who are creating new agendas for learning within their schools and seeking to genuinely leverage technology within an immersive environment to truly create worthwhile, authentic learning opportunities.

Where do you stand as an educator? Should we transform classrooms to embrace the multitasking technology-rich world, or create environments where students must focus on a singular task? What strategies have you seen which use multitasking as a benefit to student learning? Or what strategies have you seen which help students block out distraction? Have you ever witnessed a teacher help students compare whether multitasking or singular focus was more helpful to learning?

“I click and something happens,” he says, explaining that, by comparison, reading a book or doing homework is less exciting. “I guess it goes back to the immediate gratification thing.”

“It’s the kids’ fault if they are distracted and earn horrible grades.”

“We know there is no education in social networking,” said Ken Sanders, the principal of a middle school in Michigan that has one of the firmest bans: students can work only on computers provided by the school, and cellphones are banned, too, since smartphones can’t be blocked on schools’ systems. “Kids should be in school to learn, so we have a system that blocks all personal access,” he said.

The OU is familiar with the kind of learning facilitated via distance, but Lea admits the web has opened new avenues for students. "In the past, a distance learning course was written and delivered and because it was in print, did not change much for the next few years," she says. "Now, we are talking much more about design, where there is an integration of a range of media which has implications for the course content, not least in the ways that it is possible to integrate student-generated content."

"I wouldn't say there are any profound changes in the way we should be thinking about theories of learning."

The internet established itself in academic institutions and is a vast library of information. It has transformed access to and production of knowledge, both factual and socially constructed. Yet our understanding of learning remains the same. It is still practitioners' responsibility to design spaces that push students away from the distractions of pop bands' websites towards outcomes that make the grade.