Observations from the 2006 Educause Learning Initiative Meeting

The inaugural Educause Learning Initiative (formerly NLII) is meeting this week in San Diego (which is nice because I’m from Utah and it’s 65 degrees here).

Without attempting to provide a comprehensive summary of the conference, I want to share a few “a-ha” ideas about learning.

Monday Keynote: Marc Prensky

Prensky argued (convincingly) that today’s kids (in high school today, in our higher ed classrooms tomorrow) are increasingly sophisticated digital natives. They are hyper-connected to each other and to the vast world of information available online. Not only are they engaged, they’re engaged and connected almost all of the time. They play interactive games, they IM, the chat, they use their cell phones (almost constantly), etc.

The exception to this astounding level of engagement and connectivity is when they go to school. Students report having to “power down” or “slow down” in the classroom. They are also chagrinned that their teachers don’t know more about the rapidly evolving digital world they live in.

This is striking because (from a learning perspective), we often fail to achieve the first “event of instruction” (http://ide.ed.psu.edu/idde/9events.htm) –gaining attention or engaging learners. If we fail to engage learners, promoting learning (the goal of teaching) is an uphill battle every step of the way. On the other hand, if learners are engaged, it’s almost impossible to keep them from learning. Our lectures and books can be bland and dense—if learners and engaged and motivated to learn, they will learn. Of course, stimulating lectures and textbooks are often the keys to provoking engagement. But the salient point seems to be that higher education is not adequately engaging the current generation of students who are used to being engaged all of the time, except when they go to class.

This has to change. Academics, professors, instructional designers and instructional technology support staff have to refocus their energy and resources. There’s far to much time and attention given to content presentation and distribution. But if learners aren’t engaged, no amount of presentation and content will make them learn.