Gadgets, Games and Gizmos: 1994 was a Milestone Year

In 1994, Time Magazine named the "Internet" the person of the year. In that same year, Sony released the Playstation One in Japan and the next year in the United States and Europe.

If you were born in 1994, you have grown up with the Internet, video games and the cell phone. To you, these are not new inventions, they have always been around.

As you turn 13 this year you have been surfing the internet, collaborating with friends, and playing video games your entire life.

In fact, 44% of you own a computer AND a cell phone or PDA. Thirteen year olds call "email" snail mail. They even wonder aloud if land line phones aren't "obsolete."

Designers and developers of instruction are not digital natives, we have not grown up with this technology, we learned it along the way. We have trouble thinking like digital natives, we try but are not always successful.

To better create instruction in the future, we need to immerse ourselves in the gadgets, games and gizmos of the digital natives while simultenously enlisting them to help us create learning events and assets that they find relevant.

Look at your learning and development team. How old is the youngest member? Can you get an intern from college or better high school or middle school to help you think about the future of learning?

At 13, in a mere five years the first all-net, all-video game, all-cellphone connected generation hits the workforce...is your organization ready?

See Defining a Gamer for more information and discussion on this topic.
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