Never mind the technology, where’s the learning?

In the latest large scale US research shows that time spent by teenagers online aids their development. The £31 million project financed by the MacArthur Foundation and undertaken by the University of Southern California and the University of California, Berkeley involved interviewing over 800 young people and conducting over 5000 hours of observation on the use of media by youth.

The research showed that most youth use online networks to extend the friendships that they navigate in the familiar contexts of school, religious organizations, sports, and other local activities:

“They can be “always on,” in constant contact with their friends through private communications like instant messaging or mobile phones, as well as in public ways through social network sites such as MySpace and Facebook. With these “friendship-driven” practices, youth are almost always associating with people they already know in their offline lives. The majority of youth use new media to “hang out” and extend existing friendships in these ways.”

A smaller percentage use the online world to explore interests and find information that goes beyond what they have access to at school or in their local community:

“Online groups enable youth to connect to peers who share specialized and niche interests of various kinds, whether that is online gaming, creative writing, video editing, or other artistic endeavors. In these interest-driven networks, youth may find new peers outside the boundaries of their local community. They can also find opportunities to publicize and distribute their work to online audiences, and to gain new forms of visibility and reputation.”

Critically though the research shows that in both forms of activity,

“youth create and navigate new forms of expression and rules for social behavior. By exploring new interests, tinkering, and “messing around” with new forms of media, they acquire various forms of technical and media literacy. Through trial and error, youth add new media skills to their repertoire, such as how to create a video or game, or customize their MySpace page. Teens then share their creations and receive feedback from others online. By its immediacy and breadth of information, the digital world lowers barriers to self-directed learning.”

Despite youth using new media to learn from their peers, adults and teachers still have a role in setting learning goals, particularly were adult hobbists function as role models and more experienced peers, the report states.

Finally, the researchers make a clarion call for educational institutions to keep pace with these rapid changes:

“Youths’ participation in this networked world suggests new ways of thinking about the role of education. What, the authors ask, would it mean to really exploit the potential of the learning opportunities available through online resources and networks? What would it mean to reach beyond traditional education and civic institutions and enlist the help of others in young people’s learning? Rather than assuming that education is primarily about preparing for jobs and careers, they question what it would mean to think of it as a process guiding youths’ participation in public life more generally.”

Listen to the Research Leader, Mizuko Ito:

Image credit: Marcus Linder