Essay: Analyzing Don Tapscott's Insights on Education and Technology

This essay analyzes Don Tapscott's ideas on the transformation of the education system in the digital era, based on his TEDxToronto talk. Tapscott emphasizes the impact of digital natives, who are adept with technology, and the need to update outdated pedagogical models. The essay highlights the shift from passive learning to active participation, leveraging the internet and globalization. It explores how traditional teaching methods are being replaced by student-focused, computer-based programs, where teachers guide students in accessing information. The essay also discusses the importance of communication and the evolving relationship between students and teachers, reflecting on how technology has become an integral part of learning and how students are the driving force behind educational changes. The essay concludes by emphasizing the benefits of broadcast-based learning and the importance of preparing students for a globalized world.

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Essay on TEDxToronto - Don Tapscott
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In the video author and business executive Don Tapscott explains many ideas related to
the education and learning system that has been existed globally (YouTube). However in his
discussion he mainly focused on transformation that the learning system has been experiencing
due to emergence of digital era. He proposed certain learning models that could be implemented
to change the education system more effective for the students.
Technology has always been part of the transformation in the changes in various
professions. However Model of learning has not changed for centuries and it has been found that
the institutes of education are hard to change. Don Tapscott believes that a new force is more
likely to change the static situation and the force is the people who belong to the era of digital
revolution. He identifies them as digital natives. The people of this generation know all the
sophisticated technologies He has written a book named Growing up Digital that explains his
ideas on this. The Baby boomers spent most of their time in televisions, but millennial are using
more than one technological device simultaneously for their homework, learning and
entertainment. The students are no more the passive recipients, they actively participate in
thinking, collaborating, researching and learning. The students do not find the relevancy of
reading a physical book. He gave example of Joe O’Shea who without reading any physical book
managed to get a scholarship and master of philosophy degree from Oxford (YouTube). What
Tapscott means is that students of this generation do not need to be locked into the educational
institutions to acquire knowledge.
Model of Pedagogy is outdated and for communicating with the students of this
generation the model has to be reinvented and remodeled in order to make the universities more
suitable for this century. As a child of the digital revolution we experience the active
participation more than our previous generation of students. Internet has become a part of daily

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life from communication to learning it has become an integral part of our existence.
Globalization with the help of digitalization opened up new worlds new possibilities for us. The
conventional method of teaching cannot be applied effectively for the students of this generation.
The students has come a long so did the technology, so it would be most effective for the
educational institutions to utilize those technologies according to the need. It is true that the
institutions are based on certain rules and regulations that are difficult to change. The students
are the driving force that can implement the changes effectively. We are the students of this
generation who knows the technology more than any other generations and we are learning and
adapting those changes continuously. To the new generation the books are not limited to the
paper made pages, the same knowledge in the links, websites, blogs, and videos or in online
pages.
Teacher is the transmitter of data for the student and the student act as the active short
term working memory that builds deeper cognitive structure through repetition and practice.
However this not appropriate for knowledge economy. According to him the entire generations
of students in the developed countries are rejecting the traditional model of pedagogy. It is
failing because of its one way quality and here the teacher is in the focused instead of the
students. Knowledge is an activity of collaborating, learning and working. This model is multi
way customized, student focused. In the Virginia Tech University there is no classroom lecture
of mathematics as students learn through the computer based programs (YouTube). The math
professor is there just to help the students in accessing the software. Quite contrary to common
public belief the method is about more than the technology, it is about the communication, it is
about the transformation of relationship between the student and teacher. Teachers should not
fear this new technology rather they should reinvent their knowledge through this new medium.

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It is not just the books the digital medium has truly become our teachers. What Tapscott
suggests has already established its usefulness and significance in the education world. The
traditional method of a classroom dominated by a teacher is getting replaced by more students
friendly computer based programs where students get engaged more effectively with the
information more freely under the guidance of the teacher. The teacher is no more the only
source of knowledge and the students are not only the recipient. We engage ourselves into many
interactive sessions that not only help us to present our ideas to others but also we get to know
about others’ thoughts as well.
The theoretical discussion over the traditional education system helped to identify many
issues that the students have been facing for years. The broadcast based learning model not only
expands our knowledge but also broadens our world view. The world is globalized so it is
necessary for us to train ourselves in order to fit in the global space and this new broadcast based
learning model is a great way to achieve that.

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Bibliography
"Tedxtoronto - Don Tapscott - 9/10/09." YouTube. N.p., 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2017.