Generation M?

I was reading The Committed Sardine Blog and saw an entry entitled "Gen M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds." The reason this entry caught my attention was it immediately reminded me of earlier entries that I have posted on this blog (see - Do today's students think differently?, Will the virtual classroom redefine what it means to be a student?, and Students with neomillennial learning styles).

This Generation M entry was discussing a report that have just been released by the Kaiser Family Foundation called "Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds" which focuses on media-use amongst American children. Based upon the findings of the study, Jukes has some interesting questions which he poses, such as:

Questions range from broad societal issues... to issues of cognitive development (can new media offer educational content in an appealing and effective format or do they distract from more substantive pursuits such as reading and homework?). Do media stifle or inspire creativity in young people? Empower or disenfranchise them? Offer powerful tools for health education, or model unhealthy habits?

The ones here that jump out at me are those that deal with how students learn. Does children's access to and use of various media change the way that they process information? If so, what are the nature of those changes? Also, how can we change how we design and deliver learning experiences to accomodate these changes?

These are the questions that I have, anyone out there have any answers...

Tags: virtual school, cyber school, high school, education