How do students learn when they all have a computer?

We are finishing up the second Students' LIVE working session and we are blown away by how learning has changed now that they have access to information (i.e. they all have computers!).

We had a guest speaker from the Vancouver Sun, Steve Ewen; before he started speaking students sitting in front of us googled his name. They already knew who he was, what he was writing, and how to find out more information about him.

We wanted to learn how to connect to potential readers. We gave the students a challenge; within a very short time, we had 600 members on our facebook page.

We have a student from the Kootenays. Her friend, also a Students Live reporter that couldn't make today was using chat and web cameras to try and participate in the session.

Finally, the students don't always seem to be paying attention. They are typing, reading, talking, interacting. We realized that within 2 short sessions, these students have written and read a significant amount of work. Interestingly, we also realized that without these face to face meetings, this type of learning couldn't occur. The students all need to see exemplars from one another; they need some accountability on the work they are challenged with; and they need clear projects.