Article: Generation Expects

Last week I was talking about primary schooling with a local teacher and she said that the focus these days is to teach skills rather than simply learning facts or direct learning from textbooks. Technology was being used in classrooms but there are not specific computing classes. This sounds a bit strange at first but, after a little while thinking about it, it starts to make sense – education in the 21st century will not be the same as in the 20th century.

I also came across an article by Don Tapscott (author of Wikinomics) talking about “net-geners” (the young people in their twenties who have grown up digital), how they will expect to work when they enter the workforce, and how companies will have to adapt. This is to be the subject of his new book. It starts off by mentioning that it is this age group that helped Obama to the White House.

At the moment a number of people are looking at how Obama used the internet and technology to get support -and the “net-geners” are the ones who live this way. They are one of the main groups that actively supported him and actually went out and voted. It is interesting, and worth making the connection – the Tech Weekly show is good on this.

• The Guardian: Generation expects

• The Guardian Tech Weekly: How technology helped win it for Obama