Digital Generation Theme: Teaching

Given their fluency with digital tools, today's youth can become teachers for younger and older children. They maintain content-rich Web sites, share favorite resources, lead online workshops and classes, and develop multimedia products designed to share their knowledge with others. This teaching role enables youth to gain confidence and reinforce their own learning, because the best way to learn something is to teach it.

They can also teach their parents, teachers, and other adults -- a new role for children that reverses traditional authority. As cultural anthropologist Mimi Ito put it, "You're seeing the shift in expertise in authority, so that kids may know a lot about certain things, but parents can also bring really important expertise to the table, and that's when you see a really productive shift in power dynamic around learning." Eleven-year-old Cameron agrees: "It's fun sometimes doing it the other way around -- instead of your teacher teaching you, you help them out on something."

Favorite Tools

• Presentation tools (Prezi, Microsoft's PowerPoint, Apple's Keynote, Techsmith's Jing)
• Online video tutorials (YouTube, TeacherTube)
• Blogs (Blogger, WordPress)
• Online course systems (Moodle, Blackboard)
• Webinars and online meetings (WebEx, GoToMeeting, Google Hangouts)
• Virtual worlds (Second Life, OpenSimulator)

See "Teaching" in Action

» Watch how Virginia uses Woogi World to teach younger students about digital citizenship and online safety.

» See Luis teach Lego Robotics to kids and help his parents learn computer skills.

» Watch as Sam teaches college students about the virtual world OpenSim.

Explore All Themes: Creating | Collaborating | Teaching