At the Consortium for School Networking's annual conference, held this year in Austin, Texas, March 10-12, issues such as the prevalence of Web 2.0 tools and the recession had school administrators and chief technology officers acknowledging the changing times--and what they must do not only to keep up, but to help give students the 21st-century education they deserve.

The local area's slogan, "Keep Austin Weird," seemed to come alive during CoSN's welcoming reception on March 10 as vendors in business suits mingled with the sounds of a live mariachi band, and as educators tried to balance their smart phones in one hand and homemade guacamole in the other.

From the 96-year-old blues musician Pinetop Perkins at Nuno's club on 6th Street to the South by Southwest music festival, and from the horse-drawn carriage rides on cobble-stoned streets to the architecturally innovative Frost Bank Tower, Austin gave the impression of being a city balancing the old and the new.

And that's an apt metaphor for the key challenge facing educators today, as opening keynote speaker Don Tapscott confirmed.

Tapscott--author of Grown Up Digital, chairman of nGenera, and adjunct professor of management at the University of Toronto--discussed how today's educators need to catch up with the tools students are familiar with, without disregarding all of the teaching principles that make for a good education.

For Grown Up Digital--the follow-up work to his best-seller Growing Up Digital--Tapscott surveyed about 11,000 students and teachers in 10 countries and concluded that young people are, in fact, more productive, and process information differently, than older generations, owing to the effect technology has played in their development.

"There's this negative view out there that young people today who are part of this digital world are the ‘Dumbest Generation,' and in fact, there's a book titled just that. Funny thing is, it's not supported by any data or research, and it's completely inaccurate," said Tapscott.

In an interview with eSchool News, Tapscott explained how this is the first time in history that children have the upper hand on the technology that's shaping the future.

"They are the authorities on this huge cultural change. The way young people can use technology is astounding. ... Unfortunately, people fear what they don't understand, and that's why there's all this mean-spirited criticism out there," he said.

In his new book, Tapscott describes how young people today process information differently from older generations.

"If you're a young person today, you don't just watch television, you authenticate the information you're receiving," said Tapscott during the keynote.

He compared how different generations watch TV shows, saying that older generations would watch something like Dallas and simply absorb the show. However, today's kids are watching 24, noticing the product placement, looking up the park at which Jack Bower was filmed, and checking out Wikipedia to see whether or not the conflict described by the show is factually accurate.