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The problem is my age. It relentlessly advances while the faces staring back at me in the classroom remain the same, fixed between late adolescence and early adulthood. In short, I grow old while my students do not. (Flaherty, 2013)
I want to continue in the same vein as my previous post where I talked about keeping the focus on the student. I came across this interesting article that looks at the whole issue of using technology from the perspective of a 'middle-aged' lecturer. The lecturer has tried to cater to the digital natives' short attention span but she still questions whether given her subject area, learning is taking place. The article raises some questions that all of us have and ends on this interesting note:
"The students' digitally enhanced perspectives have certainly made me venture into new territory, trying to harness—and emulate—their quick thinking, parallel-processing energy. But similarly, my predigital perspective can also open up new territory for them, showing them the surprising amount of ground they can cover by moving slowly and reflecting deeply."(F Flaherty, 2013).
Please take some time and read the article :
Millennial Students and Middle-aged Faculty: A Learner-centered Approach toward Bridging the Gap http://bit.ly/15VJ282
Definitely we do not have the old fashioned (1970s) classrooms where the teacher was sage and students disciples. At the ehar we continue to be so,But we do't expect same from our students.
ReplyDeleteI have been a student in 1976,when every word our teacher would speak was noted down by us and notes completed for exams with some additions from standard text books. Tutorial (kind of question answer session on a given topic) was the only nteractive session.
I have moved a long way to use FB,blogs,games,quizzes of all sorts in my small group teachings.Videos are followed by QA sessions.Students prepare the questions,supply me,I moderate,add new, and we kind of play in class ,students are loving it.
But to my surprise many students do not know usage of blog in my class.Some are not that tachy with electronic media. Most of my stiudents still love that I explain complex concepts using chalk and talk.Probably that goes at a slower pace and allows assimilation.
As teachers we have to mix and match the recipies and get our students interested and engaged in learning.
But I am worried that how much will be enough.The yeilding point of each student scares me. May be they stop responding and concentrate only on just passing and not leatn.
Geeta Kurhade
Hmm... interesting idea....this reinforces our earlier discussion on digital natives and digital immigrants and the appropriate use of educational technology to reach our learners as used by us teachers.
ReplyDeleteRiann
I find myself in an interesting position. In my post graduate class many are Generation X and a few are Baby Boomers. I've found myself encouraging them to use Facebook and twitter for learning! The millennials sometimes have information overload where they use a variety of online sources with some loss of focus. They usually read the online "textbooks" or wiki sites rather than the latest journals. I think I am able to focus them to the more reliable data that they can then make their assessments.
ReplyDeleteRavindra-M
DeleteNot only can we bridge the gap... we have to bridge the gap. Our responsibility is to guide our students to search for solutions and to generate ideas. The mode by which we achieve those goals, will depend on how you align your learning outcomes with the available technology. We all agree that we are in a digital era and to be effective we all need to bridge the gap by understanding and utilizing the technological tools available.
ReplyDeleteNot only can we bridge the gap... we have to bridge the gap. Our responsibility is to guide our students to search for solutions and to generate ideas. The mode by which we achieve those goals, will depend on how you align your learning outcomes with the available technology. We all agree that we are in a digital era and to be effective we all need to bridge the gap by understanding and utilizing the technological tools available. Sherlan
ReplyDeleteI teach new technology most of my students are digital immigrants and bridging the gap is a necessity for most of them because their jobs and income depends on being "updated" with new technology. I have also see digital immigrants struggle with using technology especially in my Elearning and doing projects. Once it is necessary they will learn how to use it. I have seen the immigrants adapt when they realise the importance of knowing the technology and how it will benefit them in the long run.
ReplyDeleteSophia
Sophia
I cannot access the link
ReplyDeletesophia