The Pew Internet & American Life folks recently surveyed teachers who teach Advanced Placement courses, and who voiced some serious doubts about the benefits of teens doing digital research. While some 77% of teachers surveyed say that the Internet and digital search tools have had a “mostly positive” impact on their students’ research work, a full 87% say these technologies are creating an “easily distracted generation with short attention spans,” with 64% saying today’s digital technologies “do more to distract students than to help them academically.”
What was their biggest complaint? -- That students’ digital literacy skills have not caught up with the capabilities of the technology. Large majorities agreed with the notion that the amount of information available online today is overwhelming to most students (83%) and that today’s digital technologies discourage students from using a wide range of sources when conducting research (71%). Fewer teachers, but still a majority of this sample (60%), agree with the assertion that today’s technologies make it harder for students to find credible sources of information
Looking for ways to help your children with these issues? Check the resources in the Computers & Homework section (including the archives) and the Internet Smarts case study on Misinformation.
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