Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

Take this example from the home of Scott Lange. He was making dinner with his children and poured olive oil in the spaghetti water. A simple question about why the oil wasn't mixing with the water turned into an hour long trip to web sites as a family, where Scott pulled up interesting answers and even a few experiments that they tested out in the kitchen. Instead of an "I don't know" or a simplified answer given in the hopes that kids would pick up interest to research later, Scott turned this question into an instant science lesson for the family.

Education is instantaneous in a world where kids learn that when they hear see something on the television, they can run over to the computer and type www.whatever.com and get the results they want most of the time. Education is also exploratory, and collaborative...

"My son was learning about his address in school, about cities and states. He came up to me and asked: Well, what is an address? What is a city? He was asking questions about things you take for granted. When I explained this hierarchy of place I could see him get the puppy dog look in his eyes, he didn't understand...

But now I was able to pull up Google Earth, and pull up our house and point to our driveway. This is our house, and then I zoomed out, and this is our city. And I zoom out more and more until we get to our planet, and I could see his eyes light up as it became clear."
Scott Lange

Many of us learned this hierarchy of place through repetition, through people just telling us that it was so. But, that moment of collaborative exploring in the Lange household made the concept stick and made it real. It's the ultimate in Montessori method of self-directed learning, of discovery and connection.

But even more impressive, it's bringing traditionally challenged children to the table for an equal opportunity to learn and explore...

"My 9 yr old daughter loves club penguin and webkins, which I think are fine. I think it's great how much ease she has with the computer, and it's especially good for her to be using a keyboard since she is dyslexic - she doesn't have to worry about forming the letters, which requires so much effort - with the keyboard her ideas can just flow."
Jocelyn Startz

Has there been a better argument for online all the time than this... always connected means always learning, always growing.

Well, tomorrow we are going to explore that idea further. Is all of this dependence on technology for socializing and for education completely positive? Is there a trade-off? Are we losing some very basic and vital skills by outsourcing some of our work to technology?

Please do revisit the series and leave your thoughts:
1. The Definition, what makes a "digital native" different
2. Play Time, technology is changing relationships
3. Work Time, technology is changing learning
4. The Trade-Off, technology is changing human beings

Marta Strickland