Learning from Cyber-Savvy Students: How Internet-Age Kids Impact Classroom Teaching

As the Internet has become a common household utility, more and more students are coming to school with Internet experience.

How do students' and teachers' roles, and schools as institutions, change when these Internet-Age kids enter classrooms that are fully equipped with networked computers?

This book offers a unique analysis of the issues and challenges teachers face as their classrooms become fully connected to the Internet.

Anne Hird spent six months observing a class in a school with fully connected classrooms. She presents a vivid and insightful account–often reported through the students' own words—of how young teens use computers in and out of school; how they perceive the world shaped by the Internet; and how these factors shape their expectations for classroom learning.

She observes and reflects on the paradox which confronts teachers in this environment. They are expected to guide students in learning with a cognitive tool that was not part of the teachers' experience as students, while students' familiarity with the Internet calls into question the authority of the teacher on which the traditional teacher-student relationship is based. She offers a strategy for professional development which recognizes and builds on this inevitable shift in the teacher-student relationship.

This is an absorbing, thought-provoking and practical book for all educators—individual teachers and administrators alike–concerned about the integration of computer technology into elementary and secondary school classrooms.

As the Internet shifts from novelty to common household utility, more and more students are coming to school with Internet experience.How will students' and teachers' roles, and schools as institutions, change as these Internet-Age kids enter classrooms that are fully equipped with networked computers? This book offers a unique preview of the issues and challenges teachers will face as their classrooms become fully connected to the Internet. Anne Hird spent six months observing a class in a school where the future has already arrived. She presents a vivid and insightful account often reported through the students' own words — of how young teens use computers in and out of school; how they perceive the world shaped by the Internet; and how these factors shape their expectations for classroom learning. She observes and reflects on the paradox which confronts teachers in this new environment. They are expected to guide students in learning with a cognitive tool that was not part of the teachers' experience as students, while students' familiarity with the Internet calls into question the authority of the teacher on which the traditional teacher-student relationship is based. She offers a strategy for professional development which recognizes and builds on this inevitable shift in the teacher-student relationship. This is an absorbing, thought-provoking and practical book for all educators — individual teachers and administrators alike concerned about the integration of computer technology into elementary and secondary school classrooms.

American School Board Journal

For six months [the author] interviewed [eighth-grade] students and teachers regarding their Internet use at school and at home. The school was highly progressive in providing the most current technologies to its teachers and students. She was surprised to discover the students' feelings about their teachers knowledge of the Internet. The students did not believe their teachers were qualified to provide the knowledge and guidance they needed. Hird makes a compelling argument for serious changes in teachers professional development. She writes that until teachers become fluent online learners alongside their students, schools run the risk of becoming increasingly irrelevant to students growing up in the Internet age.

Anne Hird describes herself as living with one foot on the ground and one foot in "cyberspace." She has worked with computer technology in schools and libraries since 1982. Her experience ranges from teaching in the Providence Public Schools to directing a $1.1 million grant across 27 elementary and middle schools. She holds degrees from Brown University, Simmons College, and the University of Rhode Island-Rhode Island College.