TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Alviva shares leap higher on R3-billion take-private offer

      30 June 2022

      Datatec to sell Analysys Mason for as much as R4.1-billion

      30 June 2022

      Futuregrowth launches start-up fund, targets R600-million raise

      30 June 2022

      Eskom is killing the rand

      30 June 2022

      Eskom ramps up load shedding as crisis deepens

      30 June 2022
    • World

      Graphics card prices plummet as crypto demand dries up

      30 June 2022

      Bitcoin just had its worst quarter in a decade

      30 June 2022

      Samsung beats TSMC to 3nm chip production

      30 June 2022

      Napster plots crypto comeback

      29 June 2022

      Pictures: Chinese spacecraft acquires images of entire planet of Mars

      29 June 2022
    • In-depth

      The NFT party is over

      30 June 2022

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022

      Everything Apple announced at WWDC – in less than 500 words

      7 June 2022
    • Podcasts

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E04 – ‘The story of Intel – part 2’

      1 June 2022
    • Opinion

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022

      How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

      8 April 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»Editor's pick»Thinking deeply in the digital age

    Thinking deeply in the digital age

    Editor's pick By The Conversation5 December 2014
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    man-laptop-640

    Two people walk into a seminar: one takes photos, video and an audio recording of the presentation, while the other takes hand-written notes. Which person do you think will better recall the information?

    The former can use their digital notes to create something new that builds on the topic, the latter — not so easy.

    Yet we still keep reading reports, such as one recently in New Scientist, which suggest that writing notes on paper gives a person a definite advantage in terms of remembering content. That report was based in part on an article in Psychological Science on the advantages written notes have over those typed on laptops.

    The argument has been around for many years and is usually based on the idea that handwriting is slow and deliberate, which allows the reader a deeper understanding of ideas and information, and therefore a better ability to remember it.

    That, so the argument goes, is at odds with digitally recording ideas which typically is a quick, haphazard action that limits understanding and therefore recall.

    Similar arguments are made over our ability to remember things that we read from a screen, such as a smartphone, tablet or e-reader, as opposed to a paper-printed form.

    The question, though, is should memorising information still be a priority?

    Time shapes knowledge and how we work with it. If it didn’t, we’d still be waiting on those handwritten books produced at the monastery. Important changes have emerged regarding the ideas and information available to us, and the ways we can engage with them that are worth considering.

    We now have more information available to us than ever. There’s almost an infinite number of ideas and resources available at the tip of our keyboard, and the information is not just presented in writing.

    Digital technology allows a range of visual, audio and word-based information and ideas. On a daily basis we can access podcasts, vlogs, videos, audio recordings and animations to name just a few.

    In addition, the interactive aspect of screen-based content means that we can do more with the information and ideas than just read them. We are reading more than ever (three times more since the 1980s) but interactive components allow us to work with and develop information in many different ways.

    It’s common for children today to be able to create a multimodal presentation for a school project that has writing, images, video, sound, animation features and hyperlinks to websites. The days of photocopying information for a project and gluing it to cardboard are long gone.

    Against this backdrop, the question of whether we should be expected to, or even need to remember large amounts of information to develop knowledge becomes more complex.

    There are of course times when we need to remember information but there are many more times when we do not — our smartphone usually helps us with whatever we need. Both standpoints have their value depending on the circumstance.

    We need to remember things such as mum’s birthday, things that are beneficial to our health and wellbeing and those things that can cause us harm such as certain poisonous things, or how to get from home to work (although in all cases we can let technology remind us). At times we also need to understand some ideas deeply and have a very good memory of them such as knowing how to drive a car or how to do our job. Most professions expect you know and remember what to do.

    On the other hand, there are many more times we need to use pieces of information for only a while — we don’t need to remember them but they help us to learn at the time: details of an event, how to cook a recipe or finding out the breadth of changes in a recent government policy change.

    Today’s school curriculum focuses on 21st century skills, which are about processes of applying information, problem solving and collaborating.

    A key skill in our current era is the ability to draw on lots of different types of information and bring them together to work out a solution, to gain a new perspective on a situation or to develop our knowledge of something.

    Is it important to remember all the research you did for your trip to Hawaii? Probably not. As long as you can access, organise and use the information while you’re there is what most people would need.

    We also all have different learning styles. The availability of a range of platforms to create information and from which we can access information is important for all. Handwriting and reading text doesn’t necessarily suit everyone.

    Deep thought
    If remembering and understanding are linked to deliberate action, then editing some footage or composing a script for a YouTube clip needs to be well thought through. It’s not about if it was written on paper first but just that deep thought has been given to it.

    Also, if the argument for turning back to books is about not being distracted by online ads or checking our social media or e-mail accounts, then it’s important that we learn to work well in our e-society. Technology is not going away.

    The shift away from pen on paper has been driven by convenience (our devices are always close by), cost (as cloud-based content eliminates expensive printing costs) and the thrill of the latest innovation.

    These are important factors and suggest screens will become an even greater part of our lives in the future.

    Some may suggest that we are losing opportunities to learn because of our love affair with our screens, but our era today is about understanding and managing information and then developing knowledge from that. A turn back to focusing on remembering information is simply not important now. The Conversation

    • Joanne Orlando is senior lecturer in educational technology at the University of Western Sydney
    • This article was originally published on The Conversation
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleSA falls way short of R&D goals
    Next Article Committee decision ‘unfair’, says Tshabalala lawyer

    Related Posts

    The NFT party is over

    30 June 2022

    The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

    22 June 2022

    Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

    19 June 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Billetterie simplifies interactions between law firms and clients

    30 June 2022

    Think herding cats is tricky? Try herding a cloud

    29 June 2022

    How your business can help hybrid workers effectively

    28 June 2022
    Opinion

    Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

    21 June 2022

    Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

    13 June 2022

    A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

    19 May 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.