Education Matters: “Benefits to hanging out online” pp. 54-56
Step 1: pinpoint Ms Dong’s ideas and purpose for writing
The author seeks to overcome her reservations with regards to the use of technology in the classroom and proves that there is some benefit from online work.
Authorial voice (See p. 9): Although Ms Dong extols the virtues of technology, she remains rather sceptical based on her real life experience as a mother of three teenagers. She candidly professes her ignorance and lack of professional experience in order to direct her audience’s attention towards recent studies that present technology in a favourable light. She seeks to maintain her impartiality and defer to the experts. However, her statement – “I hope they realise where they’re heading” – challenges the educators to take their responsibilities seriously and sets the scene for an open and frank discussion based on the premise that the advantages of online learning outweigh the disadvantages.
Step 2: Identify the author’s reasoning tactics and their purpose: (See p. 10)
- Real life experience: the author reveals her own experience with three teenagers; she tends to be sceptical because of the distractions afforded by technology; she believes that there is an increase in the rise of technology-related ADD; depicts teenagers as people who are easily distracted and difficult to trust for this reason
- Study, source and experts: The study appears to have sound credentials and seems reliable as it was undertaken by a not-for-profit organisation, the MacMill Foundation. It was supervised by two of Australia’s leading universities, the Coolabar National University and the University of Herbert City.
- “reputable study”: she seeks to increase the credibility of the study by referring to it as a “not-for profit” and distinguish it from gamers and Googlers. She believes that the study was thorough — the supervisors interviewed more than 800 young people and parents over 3 years and spent more than 5000 hours observing teenagers. Most importantly, as Ms Dong points out, the Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation and thus did not have a vested interest to promote the benefits of cyber-space.
- Findings are presented in such a way as to extol the virtues of technology-related curriculums. The study also concluded that “hanging out online” helps their technical skills as well as academic independence as they learn in “self-directed” ways. This challenges the traditional teacher-student role as the teacher becomes a facilitator.
Write two paragraphs based on your notes above. Compare her views with Dr Jim Scott’s.
See Sample Student Responses and Assessor’s comments.