Leave it to the digital natives

What if the "digital native generation" is already learning to be tech savvy innovators? What if their playing "epistemic games" is giving vast numbers of teens the "natural ability" to create new tools, enterprises and communities?

What if we are "preaching to the choir" who already get it? What if all we are saying about informal learning and use of Web 2.0 tools is patently obvious to the under-20 population? What if they already learned what we're talking about by gaming, by doing in simulation and by iterative trials learning? What if their experience have convinced them to learn informally and use the tools before anyone told them about these "good ideas"?

What if we, digital immigrants, are having trouble getting it, making the transition, reinventing ourselves -- because we've been schooled? What if the damaging effects of formal instruction have crippled the over-20 generations? What if we are stuck in the talking stage -- over-analyzing what is occurring emergently? What if those teens dropping out are missing out on that damage? What if they will get out with their creativity and love of learning intact.

What if we are the last generations to understand content? What if the digital natives won't get it when we speak devoid of context: personal experience, experiments or expressions? What if they are becoming fluent in a foreign language of creative action? What if they are learning "epistemic frames" that make much more sense of how to create value, attract a following and monetize their contributions easily? What if they will create enterprises in the near future that will naturally implement the "starfish", "long tail" and "blue ocean" principles without having read the books?

What if we "bloggers about eLearning" are the transition team? What if we are in a perfect position to make sense of this wrenching transition? What if we can provide the change models, support systems and communities to help the over-20 generations make sense of the disruptions and to trust the discontinuous change process? What if we don't need to make the change happen, only serve others as these changes emerge?

Technorati tags: Web 3.0, digital natives, epistemic games, elearning