A new study by the Pew Research Center has found that though digital technology has reshaped the way students conduct research, it has been harmful in the way students process material and their overall ability to distinguish quality content from unreliable sources.
87% of teachers in the study — performed in conjunction with the College Board and the National Writing Project — said technology is creating an “easily distracted generation with short attention spans.” And 64% of teachers (from middle and high schools) say today’s digital technologies “do more to distract students than to help them academically.”
Teachers, though, remained somewhat optimistic about digital impact, with 77% saying Internet search tools have had a “mostly positive” impact on their students’ work. Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet Project, tells Mashable that the problem could be the lack of digital literacy training students receive, not the technology itself.
The study found 47% of teachers strongly agreed that courses and content in digital literacy should be incorporated into a school’s curriculum.
And, surprisingly, Rainie says that though the teachers taught students of various ages, the results were similar across grades and subjects.
This could be because search engines and Wikipedia have created an entire generation of students who are used to one-click results and easy-to-Google answers. Sixty-five percent of teachers said the Internet is making for more self-sufficient researchers but, at the other end, 83% of teachers say the amount of information online is overwhelming to students.
Rainie says that the overwhelming nature of technology could be attributed to the inability for students at such young ages to be able to master time management.
"Teachers say a big skill parents can pass down is attention management," Rainie says. "Being an effective citizen in the network age is being shrewd about when you're on the grid and off the grid, when you're open to being diverted and when it's time to buckle down."
Moreover, Rainie says, teachers have already begun to adapt to the "new media ecosystem that they know their students are living in" by encouraging students to use tools like cellphones in useful ways that can improve their methods of education.
How are you helping your child to be more digitally literate? Share in the comments below.