Expertise

In the early pages of part two of Grown Up Digital, Tapscott explores the shifting relationship between student and teacher when Internet and web resources are thrown into the equation. This is a fascinating discussion because it not only reflects what is going on right now and where things are headed, but also completely changes who or what we consider an expert.

Traditionally, teachers are considered experts in the classes they lead; however, with online resources anyone who understands the fundamental concepts of a subject may very well be able to use the pool of information that exists in the ether to build upon that foundation and approximate "expert level" knowledge by augmenting things with these digital resources. I don't think this completely changes the role of teachers or experts, but it certainly changes the student/teacher relationship because both are "students" of the digital resources and the teachers are facilitating access, filtering, or remediating that information for the students. I suppose this forces experts to become more expert in using this information rather than just knowing and sharing facts. The building process no longer stops at the expert level; in order to stay ahead of non-experts, experts have to do something with the information they have.

Much like the change from orality to literacy, we're starting to see a change in how information is perceived and used. In fact, one might also be able to argue that we are reverting (not in a bad way) to some of the traditions of oral cultures in the way there could be increased engagement with the author/text on a more direct or immediate level. If we have areas to reach the authors of information online, we directly change that information through our questions. Maybe this is the next step, a return to the core benefits of orality, but in a different context/medium.