​Parenting in the digital world, part 1, What is this digital world and how does it fit with education?

Most of the people actively parenting now have had a very different experience of computer technology in education and in the rest of our lives than our children are having.  For many parents computer technology was introduced into their school and work lives at some point.  We can remember the days before smart phones and constant internet access.  Our children have none of these memories.  For them technology simply exists and has always been part of their lives.  For this reason, parents can sometimes feel that they lack the skills or knowledge to support their children to make good decisions about using technology.
 
It has been my experience as an educator that technology is a key part of student’s lives not only while they are in our classrooms but when they venture out into the world beyond school.  Parents who are keen for their children to excel at school and in the world beyond school will naturally be looking for ways to support their children as they learn in this new and different world.   
 
For an excellent example of the way that technology can be used to support education check out the Manaiakalani project website http://www.manaiakalani.org/.  The project began in decile 1a schools in East Tamaki and has been intensively researched by the university of Auckland.  They have been able to demonstrate some great outcomes with increases in learning but also in school engagement.  This is particularly heartening as the children and families in the project come from a socio economically deprived area of Auckland.  For a short and heart-warming video check out this clip of Will. i. am of the Black Eyed Peas fame when he comes to visit Point England School, https://vimeo.com/65790714.  This is a true example of the power of being interconnected through technology.  Technology can cut through socio economic, cultural, geographic and age barriers in a way that many other methods of communication are unable to. 
 
Sometimes we as educators and parents can take the view that what children are doing on the internet is simply passive entertainment or information gathering.  Much of what occurs on the internet is much more than that and requires us to actively participate in social relationships and in making meaning of information and even contributing information to the world in a way that was much more difficult before the invention of computers and the internet. 
 
Our current world is saturated in information.  In the 19th and for most of the 20th century teachers and educational institutions such as schools and university were holders and creators of information.  The key job of primary and secondary schools was to impart as much of this information as possible while children attended school.  In the 21st century the internet is the way that we access much of this information.  All the information we could ever need is available on the internet.  Arguably, one of the key roles of schools in the 21st century is to teach children how to make meaning of this information, how to access and judge the usefulness of the information and how to contribute to the available information in a useful way.