I have started watching the Digital Youth Portrait series offered by Edutopia. The videos there provide a peek into the lives of various children and how technology impacts their lives.

So far I have watched four of the ten videos available at Edutopia and there are lots of takeaways. For example, one thing that struck me about the portrait of Dana was something her mother said about the use of technology at home and in school: “They are more digitally native at home than they are at schools.” That’s a scary thought but I think that is real in Dana’s context and in an increasing number of kids’ contexts in our part of the world.

I think that I will incorporate these videos as part of the ICT course that I facilitate. I could use them at the beginning or end of each session to provoke discussion or reflection. Or I could integrate them into the course where we focus on digital natives and 21st century learning.