Marrying Digital and Analog with Generation Z: Confronting the Moral Panic of Digital Learning in Late Modern Society

In some quarters, the implementation of digital technologies continues to be touted as the solution to educational challenges faced by contemporary post-secondary instructors and their students. In this paper, I examine the veracity of the claims made by the purveyors of "edu-tech," particularly in relation to what we know about learning and in light of the characterization of traditional pedagogical strategies as vestigial. The arguments advanced in that context include the ideas that "digital natives" no longer can be taught effectively by "digital immigrants," that instructors must "meet students where they live," and that changes to pedagogy go hand in glove with an understanding of the putative characteristics of today's young learners. I argue that such claims are at best inconsistent with the evidence, that major structural issues have been ignored thereby framing debates far too narrowly, and that the political and economic consequences of neoliberalism must be taken seriously if education is to be of any value, going forward. The paper offers a third, "medium" way which highlights what we know about literacy, what technology can and cannot reasonably offer, and how "analog ways" can contribute to the intellectual and social development of post-secondary students. Finally, I advance the idea that serious evaluation and implementation of such an approach might help to eclipse the "moral panic" characterizing today's educational discourse.