Overview
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This free course, Childhood in the digital age, delves into the lives of children and discuss the potential benefits and limitations of technology in their lives.
Syllabus
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- Week1Week 1: How different is a digital childhood?
- Introduction
- 1 A family discussion
- 1.1 From zero to eight
- 1.2 A moral panic?
- 1.3 Why is technology so appealing?
- 2 Are children and adults today really so different?
- 2.1 Introducing ‘digital natives’
- 2.3 Digital natives: fact or fiction?
- 3 Digital pessimists
- 3.1 Reflection time: are you a digital optimist or pessimist?
- 3.2 Back to the experts
- 3.3 Digital parenting
- 3.4 Creating responsible digital citizens
- References
- Further reading
- Acknowledgements
- Week2Week 2: Social identities in cyberspace
- Introduction
- 1 ‘Homo interneticus’
- 1.1 Social media: positive, negative or just different?
- 1.2 Friendship made easy?
- 1.3 What is a friend?
- 2 Play in an online world
- 2.1 What is a virtual world?
- 3 Forming an identity
- 3.1 Experimentation and the virtual self
- 3.2 Identity and social behaviours
- 3.3 Navigating the digital landscape
- References
- Further reading
- Acknowledgements
- Week3Week 3: Learning to think in a digital age
- Introduction
- 1 A pyramid of digital engagement?
- 1.1 Learning through communication
- 1.2 Texting is killing language
- 1.3 Ebooks are killing reading
- 1.4 Multitasking as a new way of learning
- 2 Brain development in a hyper-tech world
- 2.1 A young brain and video games
- 2.2 The good, the bad and the ugly
- 2.3 Your view on video games
- 3 The strengths of new technology
- 3.1 Digital books
- 3.2 Costs and benefits
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Week4Week 4: The future of childhood education
- Introduction
- 1 What could the future look like?
- 1.1 Flipped classrooms
- 1.2 Creating a new curriculum
- 2 Virtual schools replacing teachers?
- 2.1 The School in the Cloud
- 2.2 One Laptop per Child
- 2.3 Tablets and apps in Malawi
- 3 Tablets and apps in schools and pre-schools
- 3.1 Can apps help children learn?
- 3.2 What does the research evidence say?
- 3.3 Have your views changed?
- 3.4 A new educational future
- References
- Further reading
- Acknowledgements
