One of my colleagues said that an innovative course he’d taught recently led to his learning as much as the students, and one of those lessons was that “students present themselves in images and [sound-]bites, not words–they are learning differently than we are trying to teach them. ”
That assertion is probably increasingly true as time goes on. But the lessons that can be drawn from it differ depending on the perspective from which one views the situation, and it’s not quite as simple as “old guard” and “young Turk.”
For instance, the fact that kids’ learning outside of school is more video- and bite-oriented only means that they’ll enjoy those learning modes more in school, not necessarily that they shouldn’t have to work with other modes. As an example, I find kids’ outside reading going really down, but I don’t think the appropriate conclusion to draw is that reading is no longer a useful skill.
An implication of my colleague’s observation is that since students are used to video, sound-bites, and texting, using such tools in class will catch their interest more and engage them more.
However, it is possible to engage students in other ways and thus gain the advantages of active engagement using techniques other than video and sound-bites. I would say that the observation that kids learn better with more active engagement is as close to an empirical fact as one gets in the educational world. Yet, that observation can be used to further all kinds of things, from “traditional” things like AP courses to video- and tech-supplemented courses to (really) almost anything.
The fact that reading is going down and video use is going up could lead to diametrically opposed conclusions depending on what you’re looking for.
As an example, kids are getting information in shorter times and smaller bursts. For certain kinds of thought/action/interaction, that’s a plus and should be exploited/encouraged. If you want to aim for reflection and deeper implications of the information you’re getting, though, it’s a problem and needs to be avoided/addressed/discouraged.
As is often true, what you see depends on where you stand and what you’re looking for.