The Chronicle

Issue date: 4/23/07 Section: News
Last update: 4/23/07 at 6:59 AM EST

Media Credit: MEGAN MCCREA A panel on digital media at Duke Saturday included the provost and officials from Durham Public Schools.

Students often spend countless hours on Facebook and YouTube, and educators are now asking how these digital technologies can be brought into the classroom.

Researchers and teachers from around the world discussed the future of learning in the digital age at a panel Saturday. The event was part of the three-day Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory conference that began last Thursday.

"We are looking at notions that young people are changing as a result of interactions with digital media," said Julia Stasch, vice president of the Human and Community Development program at the John and Catherine MacArthur Foundation, a private and independent grant-making institution.

"[Digital media] is transforming the nature of learning, how people imagine and how they develop their own identity," Stasch said.

The panel discussion began with a video that showed how people cannot survive today without some form of digital media. The question raised at the end was how to use games, videos and media as learning tools.

"The world has changed and is still changing," said Terri Mozingo, associate superintendent of instructional services for Durham Public Schools. "Educators must recognize that technology is the best tool to create learning environments."

Mozingo said educators are looking at how to define schools in the 21st century.

"Whereas 25 to 50 years ago, pencil and paper were the primary learning tools... we now see six- and seven-year-olds in front of computers," she added.

Schools have a major responsibility for capturing the interest of students, particularly those at risk of dropping out, said Nancy Hester, assistant superintendent of support services for Durham Public Schools.

"We have got to find a way to infuse technology into the curriculum and make learning relevant to the world today," Hester said.

Provost Peter Lange said students want a more intimate connection between what they learn and what they do-between learning in the classroom and interaction in the world.

"Learning continues to require a face to face along with the interface-the digital," Lange said.

Many Duke courses incorporate the use of digital technology into an academic setting.

Freshman David Brunell, who participated in the Game2Know Focus, said he had to create a video podcast for his final project on the historical, social and cultural impact of video games.

"Not only did we have to learn how to write about our opinions and what we learned, we also had to learn how to present that information in sound and video," Brunell said.

He said the incorporation of digital technology into his class added another dimension to learning.

"I enjoyed it a lot because it added a creative aspect to what could have been just an essay [assignment]," Brunell said.

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