Cate Broughton on... Parenting Digital Natives

PC’s, laptops, Play Station, Xbox, Nintendo, MSN, Mp3, mobiles, digital cameras… our children are growing up in a digital landscape that was non-existent when we were kids. How do we navigate this new space with and for our children to maximise the potential benefits and avoid the pitfalls?

With much of the media focused on the negative aspects of computer use, parents would be excused for feeling a little anxious and concerned about the role of new technologies in their children’s lives. And yet, reflecting their place in the day-to-day life of most New Zealanders, digital technologies are increasingly part of the fabric of childhood.

Many experts argue that parents have an important role to play in ensuring that computers benefit the development and learning of their children. Derek Wenmoth, e-learning director of CORE Education, a not-for-profit educational research and development organisation with a commitment to the educational benefits of new technologies, is one such voice. He says it is important to understand that the real benefits lie not in knowing about the technologies or how they work, but from the way in which their use may help develop creativity, inquiring minds, collaborative skills, or innovative and problem-solving approaches.

Some ways parents can get involved may include:

• make use of some of these technologies yourself, and model appropriate behaviours to your children (for example, cell phones, digital photography, word processing, etc)
• talk about the excitement of new discoveries and ideas you’ve been exposed to
• be prepared to learn with and from your children – play some of their games with them
• locate the family computer in a family space, and encourage shared experiences at the keyboard
• encourage the use of the Internet as a research tool – and discuss the relevance and reliability of the information gathered
• use the technologies available to you to communicate with your children – for example, text them from time to time, send them emails, etc

While older children get introduced to new technologies through school and their peers, it is often up to parents or technologically literate kindergarten teachers to get pre-school children on the road to creative computer use.
Jo Colbert, head teacher at Westmere Kindergarten in Auckland has just completed a research sabbatical year with the Ministry of Education’s “e-Learning Fellowship” and studied how new technologies could enhance pre-schoolers’ story writing and telling. During the study Jo let eight of her 4-year-olds get their little hands on a range of software such as KidPix and GarageBand, and hardware such as digital cameras and laptops to extend the childrens’ interest in telling their own stories. With KidPix children use a microphone to tell their stories alongside a slideshow of their illustrations. Using movie-making software, some of the children made a movie with either still photos of props or photos of their own artwork. Jo recommends KidPix, the art and design software, because it is open-ended, giving children lots of creative licence.

To ease some anxiety over the children’s use of the equipment, Jo says rules were set up. These included wearing the camera wrist strap; not running and not going in the sandpit while using the digital camera, taking turns on the computer and regularly saving work so as to avoid heartbreak. She says preschoolers can only do what they have been shown, so they will get more out of new technologies if parents get involved.

Maths educator, Jan Savell says computers can be used very effectively to develop children’s mathematics, but much depends on the teacher and the software. Children need software that is open-ended enough for them to explore the programme at their own pace. It must be interesting enough to motivate the child, and at just the right level of challenge so the child is eager to persevere without getting bored or discouraged. With these guidelines taken into account, Savell says, “computers accelerate children’s ability to learn at the next level”.

In Christchurch, Debbie and Shane Hollebon, parents to Joe (12) and Georgia (15), navigate their way through the relationship challenges that come with their digitally wired territory but are happy overall with the balance that they have achieved. The highly engaging, interactive, and visually appealing characteristics of many games is incredibly attractive to children. “Joe can get quite obsessed with it” Debbie says of his latest game, Rollercoaster Tycoon, though she and Shane point out that it does challenge him to think strategically and introduces him to business ideas. In the game players design their own rollercoaster park from scratch and have to test the financial viability of their “product”, opening it to customers and gauging the profit margins on each of the rides.

Though the Hollebons say the children’s use of the computer has been the cause of some conflict, they have found that taking the time to understand the games her children enjoy has helped her to negotiate with them about when to finish playing and given her an appreciation of the fun factor and challenges they involve. Shane and Debbie believe the use of the computer gives their children an additional bonus of skills and experience they would not necessarily get at school such as strategic, analytical, business, design, and calculation skills as well as preparedness for future work opportunities. Things they would recommend to other parents are:

• being aware of balance by encouraging other non-digital activities
• getting to know the digital games/products your children use
• when computer use begins, being more rigid in sticking to time slots – that way children get used to the limits on use from the beginning;
• having the computer located in the main living area so that computer use can be monitored easily and social interaction is more possible
• banning games containing graphic/realistic violence.

Another game Joe and Georgia love to play with friends is SingStarParty, a Play Station game with Karaoke features allowing players to test drive their pop star abilities and determining a “winner” based on singing ability.

Mark Edwards, a primary school teacher from Rutherford Primary in Auckland and another e-learning fellowship researcher was inspired to test the theory that music-making software and games such as SingStar Party can increase student enthusiasm for music learning after noting a interest in music seemed to be on the decline among school students. Mark designed 12 lessons utilising music technologies and software for a selected class of 9 and 10 year olds. He says “I got very positive feedback on the classes from both the students and their parents”. Mark says good compositional software, such as GarageBand and Acid Express could be better used to give students the opportunity to create their own music at school and at home – something a recent survey showed kids most want to do as part of their music education.

While new technologies can be another challenge for parents, they do play and will continue to play an important part in our childrens’ lives. It’s comforting to know that, with a little guidance and thoughtful input they can be a positive presence and not something to fear.

This article appeared in the Autumn Issue of Parenting magazine.