Learners 2.0 (Pt. 2.0)

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Let's start with a question to get you motivated...

What impact does technology have on the 21st Century (gifted) learner?

With the development of the Internet, students are no longer limited to the information provided by the gatekeepers of knowledge.  As James Gallagher points out in Gifted Education in the 21st Century (2002), some of the effects of technology include:

The Effects of Technology

Pre Computer	Computer Age
Teachers and professors were the gatekeepers of knowledge, controlling one's access to understanding the wisdom	The internet opens access of information to students who no longer have to be dependent on their teachers.
This powerful position controlled the flow of information and often limited gifted students' growth.	An unsolved problem is how to evaluate valid from invalid information and how to rate the sources of information.

The good news about this is that gifted students can no longer be held back or denied access to information by the "gatekeepers."  However, students often do not have the ability to judge the good stuff from the bad.  Furthermore, to quote Dr. Rick Schwier (shameless namedrop), "I think a large number of kids are skilled at operating technology to accomplish a particular range of tasks, but they aren't as literate in the sense of being able to use technology on their own to learn effectively. We have a big job ahead of us as educators to help our students become intelligent consumers and creators when they use technology."

Indeed.

Part of this delicate task, especially for teachers of gifted students, is to modify the models of instructional strategies so that they are infused with sophisticated content.  As the stimulation of higher order thinking has long been at the core of instruction for gifted students, it is important to maintain higher level thinking, while implementing new strategies.  Gallagher notes this change as:

Paradigm on Instructional Strategies

Old Paradigm	New Paradigm
Teach advanced thinking processes to gifted students (creative problem solving, logical analyses, etc.) with the assumption that they can be applied to various fields.	Teach students instructional strategies that encourage student independence and inquiry (e.g. Problem-based learning) within the framework of specific curriculum content.
Emphasis placed on mastering systems of thinking (Sternberg, Gardner, Guildford, etc.)	Emphasis on mastery of content standards through inquiry, problem finding, etc.

Technology lends itself well to this new paradigm, and as our web tools continue to grow and improve, and teachers master the art of scaffolding in this new reality, gifted learners will become the masters, constructing their meaning through independence and inquiry.

Coming up next...Create!

Gallagher, James.  Gifted Education in the 21st Century (2002). Gifted Education International.