Hello!
While reading the articles this week, I considered some of
the characteristics of students today. Other than completing my student
teaching 3 years ago, I have not taught in a school environment, but I have
helped teach a class of 7th to 12th grade girls at my
church for several years. When I first began teaching the girls at my church, I
was 18, and I was only a few months older than some of the oldest girls in the
group. I did not feel as though there were many differences between myself and
the older girls, since we were nearly the same age. As I continued teaching
(and I got older) as the younger girls moved up into my group, I could see more
differences in many areas.
I am part of the Millennial Generation and all of the girls
in the class now are part of the Edge Generation (born after 1995). These girls
are very comfortable with technology and as Prensky discusses “Digital
Natives”, these girls have grown up using technology all the time. It is a part
of their everyday lives. I have found that they are more engaged in lessons
that involve using technology as opposed to just having them read text from a
page. Even while doing my student teaching it was apparent that the students
were more interested in doing projects that allowed them to use the school Mac
books, or playing computer games, or watching videos and were easily
disinterested in reading from a text book.
I believe that there are generational differences that exist
and are apparent in the Edge Generation students of today, but with all of the
technology advances that have been made in schools and tools that are available
to teachers today, students can still be engaged. I think that technology has
become such a large part of everyone’s daily life, that it can be integrated
into lessons with a little effort and actively engage and interest students.
As the week progresses, your group could focus on the difference between the term engaged vs. entertained. You stated that your students seem more engaged when technology is involved. Why do you think that is? Does that reflect in their knowledge (i.e., do they do better on material that was delivered through technology than material that wasn't)?
ReplyDelete[again, I'm just providing ideas for the discussion this week.]
I don't think we should abandon pen/paper. I believe that there is a time when using pen/paper is appropriate. Alicia's example of her math students is a good one. I think that technology can certainly enhance learning experiences, but it shouldn't necessarily replace all of then.
DeleteWhen I coached high school lacrosse a few years ago, I didn't see many differences, as you pointed out (the age gap wasn't quite there yet), but as Generation Edge takes over, there are a few differences now as you point out in your blog. It seems like they are more dependent on technology than we are, if that's even possible. I'm wondering, in my field, what's going to happen to hardcopy books as more publishers are printing directly to e-books. I remember Stephen King said if you wanted his latest book, you had to buy a hard copy (which points out a generational difference.) It seems like younger children are more engaged when learning when there is technology involved, like my Godson is (he's in elementary school.) He is more willing to learning when he is using a laptop or a tablet than doing homework using worksheets or textbooks. I think it's just a generation that's growing up on technology and since it is commonplace, they expect it to be in the classroom, at home, and eventually in the workplace when they grow up.
ReplyDeleteThe Reeves article says you do have to account for differences in the generations when it comes to instructional design. In a K-12 setting, a younger generation would expect (and most likely assume) they can use their technology on assignments and homework and will have access to some technology at some point in class, because that's how they are growing up and that's what's common place in they're lives. I'm not sure how they would react if they were only allowed to use textbooks. What would happen with their test scores? I don't think the students would feel like they would be inspired to learn. I think they would even be in a "fish out of water" scenario if they weren't allowed to use technology since that's the world we live in and that's how they have learned a lot of their information. There are plenty of educational websites online and I'm sure plenty of information they've learned either on youtube, video games, television, through a Google search, or a children's educational site (or even a video) before they opened a book (or maybe before they learned it in a classroom.)
Then, do we abandon all things pen/paper/book? If you look at kids today, outside of art/drawing, how much do they use those tools when they're not in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteI don't think we should completely abandon pen/book. They still need to learn to write. Exams as of right now are given on pen and paper. Students still have to write essays. I'm not sure how often those tools are being used outside of the classrooms. It might depend on the parent (if the parent actually physically puts a book in their hands versus just downloading a book.) Outside of art/drawing or imaginative play, (kids still do that, right?) kids today probably rarely use those tools for anything.
DeleteSome books are still not available for download due to some older authors being resistant to ebooks or older books that haven't been converted to ebooks yet.
If computers break down (and they do), then students will have to know how to use a pen and paper. I think we're already at a disadvantage relying so much on technology because everything is on a computer. Older generations can probably revert back to pen and paper in the event of a shutdown. Older generations are used to counting back change without a computer doing it for them. Yes, everyone is taught basic math but if a store shuts down, which generations can move the lines through without taking five minutes to do basic math? Gen Edge and Millennials would have a more difficult time because they are used to having technology do the work for them. They could do the math, it just might take them a little longer.
Children still have to learn how to use the basic tools though, just to get through life. Yes electronic signatures exist, but children still have to learn how to write, use paper, write their name on the spot (tests, grocery lists, appointments, and countless other things), and in case the computers ever shut down and things need to be done by hand, "basic survival skills" so to speak.
I teach mathematics in high school, and even though we use technology in my classes on a daily basis, the students have to be able to use a pencil in order to do their work. We can not abandon the pen, pencil, or paper!! Solving mathematical equations on a computer would be so much more difficult.
ReplyDelete