What media are you most comfortable with?
Breakfast time, when I was a child, was a quiet time when everyone read the morning paper or a book. When we eat breakfast at my house today, my husband and I talk about what we plan to do that day. We don’t read an actual paper, but we get our news from newsfeeds online or Google News. One’s preferred method for getting information whether it’s via print or online media is often a generational preference. I can’t imagine going back to reading the paper any more than my mother can imagine listening to a radio show after dinner instead of sitting down to watch her favorite programs (now recorded for her on Tivo).
Imagine how some students feel today when they have read and respond to content using only pen and paper. These students read most of their content online or they download content to read on their ipods. In an article I read recently on Edutopia, one teacher, Diane Hamstra, actually tested her students’ responses to passages in Nathanial Hawthorn’s work having them read the text and type their responses on computer screens and then later read the books and write in pen and paper essays. She discovered that ” the students’ responses “were deeper than with pen and ink.”
As I read this article, I had to wonder if the students’ electronic responses were ‘deeper’ because writing using a word processor or any text writing tool allows you to rearrange your thoughts and arguments via cut and paste. You also can easily reword and restructure sentences and passages on the fly without having to cross out or use an eraser or liquid paper. Also, perhaps the students had access to commentary and and notes to the reading online. Wouldn’t this information help them craft better responses? It does seem that students in this class were more motivated to learn once they were engaged with tools they felt more comfortable using.
According to the same article, more teachers are applying technology to deal with administrative issues, such as classroom communication, grades, and homework assignments; however, unlike Ms. Hamstra, many teachers still don’t use the technology to ‘teach.’ Many teachers who responded to a survey indicated that they just didn’t have the training to help them integrate technology into their teaching.
Marc Prensky makes a compelling argument that educators are not doing enough to reach out to students using the media and tools they feel most comfortable with. In his article, “Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First-Century Digital Learner, ” Prensky shares some of the feedback given by students about how teachers teach today. He panels of students them the following ’set-up’ questions:
- What experiences in school really engaged you?
- How do you use technology in school as opposed to outside of school?
- What are your pet peeves?
Many of the students expressed frustration with many of their teachers’ inability to change their ways. As Prensky noted, they were “often skeptical that things are going to change much.” One student responded: “You (adults and teachers) think of technology as a tool. We think of it as a foundation – it’s at the basis of everything we do.” The consensus among the students was that school, for the most part, was boring.
Even though these students are bored, unlike their predecessors and parents, they can more easily access educational information and more enriching learning activities outside of school. Prensky believes that it’s dangerous to ignore the needs and opinions of these Net Generation learners. He argues that the key to change is not in the students, but in training teachers how to teach in new ways.
As we’ve discussed in previous blog postings helping teachers bridge the generational gap using technology integration is a crucial step to developing 21st century classrooms. But how do we help teachers get started when the breadth of knowledge and the ‘newness’ of technology can be overwhelming?
After a little searching, I discovered that Edutopia offered a structure or outline for introducing technology integration to teachers.
http://www.edutopia.org/teaching-module-technology-integration
I like this approach because it includes both a “Guided Process” and involves teachers with “Group Participation.” Teachers who participate get a brief into to technology and how to integrate it in their classroom as well as involves them in developing a vision of this integration as well as brainstorm ideas for actual applications.
Resources for Edutopia’s Technology Integration Unit:
