Computerworld New Zealand (Auckland, New Zealand), March 22, 2005
Summary:
For Jason Ohler, professor of educational technology at the University of Alaska, the future is fast approaching and he’s eager to make sure our children are equipped with the tools they need for the cyber age.
Children, says Ohler, learn a lot from storytelling, something which is often forgotten as soon as they reach school. He sees digital storytelling as a vitally important tool for the future.
“Children tend to get a lot of information from stories before they come to school. Then when they get there they’re given these other books, different books, that they find quite difficult. If we reintroduce storytelling as a method of transferring information then we might be onto a winner.”
Ohler says this is fundamentally important as children are “digital natives” while we are “digital immigrants”.
“They’re growing up with this kind of access as a given. They don’t even realise what they’ve got.”
Subjects Covered: digital storytelling, education