ANALYSIS ESSAY

From Learning as Torture to Learning as Fun

Don Tapscott

An expert on the application of technology in business, Don Tapscott (b. 1947) cofounded Digital 4Sight, a company that researches and designs new business models for Global 2000 organizations. He earned a B.S. and B.A. in psychology and statistics from Trent University and an M. Ed. in Research Methodology and an honorary doctor of laws from the University of Alberta. He has authored or coauthored seven books, including Digital Capital: Harnessing the Power ofBusiness Webs (2000), The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence ( 1996), and Paradigm Shift: The New Promise ofInformation Technology ( 1992). The following essay is an excerpt from Growing Up Digital: The Rise ofthe New Generation ( 1998), which, as Tapscott explains in the initial pages, was written on the Internet: "The research team collaborated with several hundred children and adults located on six continents. The analysis, drafting, and editing were conducted by a core team in five locations using a shared digital workspace, electronic mail, and computer conferencing. The main reference source was the Web." Tapscott welcomes your views and related experiences at <http://www.growingupdigital.com>, where you can find additional information and links to related topics.

Maybe torture is an exaggeration, but for many kids class is not exactly the highlight of their day. Some educators have decried the fact that a generation schooled on Sesame Street expects to be entertained at school-to enjoy the learning experience. These educators argue that the learning and entertainment should be clearly separated. As Neil Postman says, "... Sesame Street does not encourage children to love school or anything about school. It teaches them to love television."

But doesn't that say more about today's schools--which are not exciting places' for many students--than it does about the integration of learning and entertainment? I'm convinced that one of the design goals of the New School should be to make learning

fun! Leaming math should be an enjoyable, challenging, and yes, entertaining activity just like learning a video game is. And it can be! Besides, Sesame Street let the entertainment horse out of the barn. So did video games, the Web, FreeZone, MaMaMedia, and a thousand others.

It is said, however, that if learning is fun it can't be challenging. Wrong! Try getting through the seven levels of Crash Bandicoot or FIFA soccer on your kids' video game if you think entertainment and challenge are opposites. The challenge provides much of the entertainment value and vice versa.

Why shouldn't learning be entertaining? Webster's Ninth College Dictionary gives the third and fourth definitions of the verb "to entertain" as "to keep, hold, or maintain in the mind," and "to receive and take into consideration." In other words, entertainment has always been a profound part of the learning process and teachers have, throughout history, been asked to convince their students to entertain ideas. From this perspective, the best teachers were entertainers. Using the new media, the teacher becomes the entertainer and in doing so builds enjoyment, motivation, and responsibility for learning.

Leaming is becoming a social activity facilitated by a new generation of educators.

The topic is saltwater fish. The teacher divides the grade 6 class into teams, asking each to prepare a presentation on a fish of its choice covering the topics of history, breathing, propulsion, reproduction, diet, predators, and "cool facts." The students have access to the Web and are allowed to use any resources they want. Questions should be addressed to others in their team or to the others in the class, not the teacher.

Two weeks later, Melissa's group is up first. The students in the group have created a shark project home page with hot links for each of the topics. The presentation is projected onto a screen at the front of the class as the girls talk. They have video clips of different types of sharks and also a clip of Jacques Cousteau discussing the shark as an endangered species. They then go live to Aquarius--an underwater Web site located off the Florida keys.

they can approach the teacher (called the facilitator). He then will work with them as a team member to find a solution or a resource which can help them.

In this class, there were only 15 computers for 30 kids--so they had to share the technology. The class was also very diverse, with children from Korea, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Russia. There were 15 different languages spoken in the class, with several of the learners having poor English skiHs.

Several kids were petrified to give presentations, but they got a lot of support from the class. One boy who spoke almost no English had to be coaxed by the others to stand up in front of the class. He mustered up the courage to approach the front of the room, then., turning stood there and said, "My Web page .. First time ... Graphics ... See link. Thank you." All the other kids applauded. "It was a very emotional moment for everyone,!' says Richard. "Everyone knew what an accomplishment it was for this boy to speak in front of everyone else in another language, presenting his first Web page." Afterward, outside the classroom, he approached Richard and said to him, smiling broadly, "I am proud."

For Richard, "There is something that happens when you decide for yourself that you're going to learn something and do something. This is much more powerful than when someone else says you have to do this."

"The kids not only learned about the new media and developed language and presentation skills, they learned about how to interact with clients and meet deadlines and, most importantly, they learned about how to share expertise and how to source it as well, " says project coordinator Vicki Saunders. "The kids work 10 times longer because they are so excited about their projects."

After the first week the learners launched into Web design for real clients. One group built the software for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation movie Web site. Another did the design for a New York-based artist named Carter Kustera--who came

into the class for a week to work with them. IBM hired the group to do a CD-ROM about a conference called "Minds Meeting Media," where 1,900 kids came together in Toronto to present their projects to other kids from across the city. Kids from grade 2 to 13 presented their animation and multimedia projects arid all this was captured on a CD.

For their midterm "exam," the students had to create a three­ page Web site or a three-minute video. They were placed in groups of four, selected intentionally to help them overcome their obstacles to development. For example, all the "blockers" were put in one group. The project had to have a purpose. The students also had to discuss their own individual contributions and to assign marks to each other. The kids really had to wake up and work hard. A lot of buttons were pushed.

According to Vicki, "Richard is able to find the hook that turns kids on."

Richard has a radical view of the role of the teacher. "I don't teach. If I teach, who knows what they will learn. Teaching's out. I tell kids that there are no limits. You can create whatever you want to create. If it's impossible, it will just take a bit longer. My main function is to get kids excited, to consider things that they haven't done before. I'm working to create citizens in a global society."

He also de emphasizes his role as a judge. "We're trying to create a stage for them to present their ideas and their work to others. If a student hands something in to a teacher, she doesn't necessarily learn. The intention of the work becomes to satisfy the teacher's vision. We're not expanding the student's vision ..

"For example, I whisper to a student who is doing a project on his home country, 'What about if you were to present this project on the Web?' The student realizes people will read it and see it. They might e-mail him back. They might set up a newsgroup. Maybe someone from their home town might join the conference. He may be able to share his ideas with others around the world."

The class can ask questions of the Aquarius staff, but most inquires are directed at the project team. One of the big discussions is about the dangers posed to humans by sharks versus the dangers to sharks posed by humans.

The class decides to hold an online forum on this and invite kids from their sister classes in other countries to participate. The team invites the classes to browse through its project at any time, from any location, as the site will be "up" for the rest of the school year. In fact, the team decides to maintain the site, adding new links and fresh information throughout the year. It becomes a living project. Other learners from Other countries find the shark homepage helpful in their projects and build links to it. The team has to resource the information, tools, and materials it needs.

The teacher acts as a resource and consultant to the teams. He is also a youth worker-as one of the students was having considerable problems at home and was not motivated to participate in a team. Although the teacher can't solve such problems, he takes them into account and also refers the student to the guidance counselor. The teacher also facilitates the learning process, among other things participating as a technical consultant on the new media. He learns much from Melissa's group, which actually knows more about sharks than he does (his background is art and literature, not science). The teacher doesn't compete with Jacques Cousteau, but rather is supported by him.

This scenario is not science fiction. It is currently occurring in advanced schools in several countries. The teacher is not an instructional transmitter. He is a facilitator to social learning whereby learners construct their own knowledge. The students will remember what they learned about sharks as the topic now interests them. More importantly, they have acquired collaborative, research, analytical, presentation, and resourcing skills. With the assistance of a teacher, they are constructing knowledge and their world.

Needless to say, a whole generation of teachers needs to learn new tools, new approaches, and new skills. This will be a challenge--not just because of resistance to change by some

teachers, but also because of the current atmosphere of cutbacks, low teacher morale, lack of time due to the pressures of increased workloads, and reduced retraining budgets ....

What is the new teacher like ? Small miracles have been occurring over the last three years

at William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate in North York, Ontario. The Emerging Technologies program mixes grades 10 to 12 to work on projects involving teams and the new media. The students learn by discovery. Through teams they source answers to their questions and resources to conduct their projects-from other students, outside parties, and the Net. The learning model is one of student-centered discovery enabled by emerging technologies. .

When the program began, teacher Richard Ford told the students on their first day of class that their first project was for each to design their own Web page and present it to the group by Friday. When he asked how many knew how to design a Web page, 6 of the 32 kids in the class indicated they had some experience. Richard then suggested to the class that they should remember those faces, "because they are your mentors."

The students learn to cooperate, work in teams, solve problems, and take responsibility for their own learning--by doing. If there's something they don't understand, they must ask everyone else in the class before they can ask the teacher. Right after the first class, one girl asks, "What's a Web page?" Richard shrugs and says, "I don't know." Within a few days the kids have gotten the message. " And who's the last person you ask for help?" says Richard. Everyone replies in unison, "You are."

The model is that everyone relies on everyone else, sharing their expertise. Richard told them that if everyone didn't present their Web page on Friday, then everyone would get a zero. On the second day of class some of the kids were going around asking others if they needed help. However, when the learners have exhausted all routes and cannot find a solution to something,

Richard acts as a facilitator to set a hook. "If they grab hold, they're off on a voyage of discovery. We both discover. I learn through each of them. I learn about how people carry each other from village to village when he puts a photo on the Web. I learn about his culture when people begin to communicate with him from the other side of the globe.

"Everything you do affects others. We're asking kids to create their place in this global society. Whatever you want is possible. There are no limits. You create who you are in your space."

Student Aziz Hurzook took Richard literally. Aziz is a real innovator. He learned how to use a music synthesizer for his project and then created an audio CD. For his presentation he told the class to listen to campus radio at midnight. The radio station played the world premier of his music. He later set up a booth advertising Web development services at a conference on the new media. The experience was very positive. People were buzzing all around his booth and he realized there was a big opportunity here: Aziz created a company called "Caught in the Web" and took on his first client. The company had $1.5 million in revenue last year.

Says Richard: "If they can't create their own network, then they'll have to go to an authority figure. But if they stop and think about it, they are the authority! They are in charge of their own learning. Only they can decide to do something. And if they choose to do it, there is nobody on this earth who can stop them. Not only will they do something far more creative than you can imagine, they will probably break new ground while doing so."