> My name is Hilary LaMonte and I work at the National School Boards Association developing online communities and a resource clearinghouse.

> I am also in graduate school onnline.

> Between these two activities, I spend a great deal of time online and using new technologies. I believe that they offer us many new opportunities and tools, both in our daily lives and in the world of K-12 education.

> I have noticed in my work and study, however, that I still prefer working directly with text on a page than with cybertext, even though the latter is more pliable, searchable, etc. I think this preference is due largely to the years of habits formed using textbooks, before laptops were an option.

> My question is a simple one. In working with and observing students who use laptops instead of text books, are there skills, habits, approaches that they are developing that appear to be new, innovative or markedly different from the kinds of study and learning habits that us "text-based" dinosaurs share(d)?

Very interesting subject... you've opened up an entire area of discussion.
The combination of ease of search and eye-tiring display may be contributing to the decline in attention span that many educators are reporting.
However this is anecdoatal evidence and a VERY preliminary explanation.
Another possibility is that the decline in attention span is simply a product of other influences in our environment.
Learning in the Real World has a modest grant giving program and this is one area in which I would expect more reseach in the next few years.
Another point... one of the benefits of extended attention span and an inquistive mind is learning through serendipity... looking for one thing and finding something else (perhaps more important.)
At some point in the future search engines may master fuzzy logic so well that they can approximate what we do now.
For the present... a fundimental (but not obvious) limit to on-line research is that we're often limited to searching for that which we already know we want.
A lot of students (both K-12 and university) don't seem to be aware of the difference between research and a search with a search engine.

• Re: More Research Required Whitey, February 22, 1999 (1)
  • Re: More Research Required William L. Rukeyser, February 22, 1999 (0)