Joost Robben

I'm sure you have seen these movies before:

 
Social Media in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

These movies that are made to explain tough or new concepts into plain English are made by a company called Common Craft and are therefore most often called "common craft movies".

In my opion, the proces of desiging such a movie is a great way to learn more about concept itself. Wouldnt it be great to have your students script, design and film such a movie about one of the concepts you are trying to teach them?

This week i was invited to present at a high school in the Netherlands on the topic of the Net-generation. The seminar was organized by the commity of parents from that school. This aspect made it quite interesting for me as i am used to present for education/ learning professionals.

Its amazing to notice how committed these parents are with the well being of their kids. There lots of concerns on the use of internet by young people, what i tried to do in this presentation is to give a more positive view on the posiblities that the internet has to offer. I think lots of parents have allready opened their eyes and see that the internet can be a great thing, but are also aware of the risks. Sometime there also might be a gap here into some understandings of the social rules on the Net. Parents just understand things different. I hope that parents will (start) talking with their kids about the use f the internet, so kids can tell their point of view, and parents can tell theirs.

The presentation that was used is embedded below (unfortunately slideshare cant handle al the fonts i've used).

 

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I've also used a movie from the dutch VPRO. Stephen Johnson is interviewed and gives a great view on what would have happened if video games were invented before we used books...:)

you can view it here:

The Poynter Institute in Florida has done some interesting research on the way people consume media. The study Eyetrack 07, is a large scale research which investigated possible differences in reading news in print versus online.

From an e-learning point of view, the Eyetrack research gives us some intruiging new insights:

• The people that read online are reading the articles they choose more in depth then readers of printed boradsheets or tabloids.

This is an absolutely surprising result. It appears that most readers of both online and printed news are scanning the news and if something interesting is found, online readers were reading more in depth.

• Website visitors first see navigations menu's
• Readers are more interested in advertising then in interactive elements such as video, blogs, discussion boards.
• Alternatve story forms help readers remember facts.
• Readers of printed versions tend to remember more facts then online readers.

For more information:

http://eyetrack.poynter.org/

http://www.nrc.nl/media/article811194.ece/Kranten_lezen_is_als_snorkelen (Dutch newspaper article on this research)

Herewith, the final publication of my master thesis.

Title: Learning environments for Net-generation learners (click on link for PDF file)
Author: Joost Robben
Supervisors: Dr. A.A.M. Wognum; Dr. M.R.M Meelissen

Abstract
Based on a written questionnaire among 224 students of preliminary vocational education in The Netherlands, the present paper explores the use of digital media and web technology and the characteristics of Net-generation learners as being the next generation of workers. Two developments in digital media and web technology have been taken into account: 1) virtual social networks and 2) multi-user virtual environments. These incorporate the general use of the internet, instant messaging, weblogs and gaming. Empirical findings from this study have shown that responding students from preliminary vocational education are intensive users of digital media and web technology. A social nature is exposed through the use of technologies that enable them to create and maintain relations or social networks. Further data analysis provides insights into possible differences caused by e.g. Social Economic Status, gender, and educational track. Furthermore, this paper explores the design of learning environments based on concepts of networks and communities of practice that make the most profound use of the digital media and web technology most used by Net-generation learners.

Key-words: Net-generation, learning environments, digital media, web technology, internet, communities of practice

I hope you enjoy reading it, please remind the CC licence if you want to use the information from this paper.