Learning and the E-Generation

Chapter Eleven The Future of Learning

Introduction

In this book Learning and the e-generation we have questioned the impact of digital technologies on learners and their learning process. In contrast to a number of excellent texts addressing this question, we have focused specifically on the ways in which technology is influencing basic skills such as language, communication and problem-solving and how such changes impact the way people learn. As we noted in the introduction, the perception that digital technologies are deskilling this and future generations of learners continues to be a concern both within educational circles and society in general. Throughout this text we have questioned whether this concern is valid or whether it is time to accept that change is inevitable and by doing so focus on how to exploit the many benefits that accrue from using these digital technologies.

There is little doubt that the rise in digital technologies is having an effect on how people go about their daily lives and it would seem self-evident that changes in how we learn are inevitable. Learners are now engaged with an increasingly complex, problem-orientated and intellectually challenging digital world and these experiences are promoting a new subset of skills. We have of course come down on the side of accepting that change is inevitable, however there is some truth in the assertion that the net generation is not honing many of the skills that previous generations have valued. ...