A New Way To Teach...
A brief look around us shows that the world today is very different to the world that we, as educators, grew up in just a few decades ago. Up until the early 1970’s, television was still in black and white, and a personal computer was a figment of our imagination. Research for class work was done in a library using tedious card catalogs, and term papers were written, and then re-written, on typewriters using black ink ribbons. Households had one phone a piece, and back then, it was permanently attached to the wall by a cord.
One can get dizzy when considering the immensity of the changes, specifically technology changes, that have come about in just a brief amount of time. When we then extrapolate the possibilities forward into what may, related to technology, exist in the future , say in the next 10 years, we begin to realize how imperative it is that we as educators stay abreast with the changes that are occurring in our world. What is even more important for us to realize is that though many things seem to be change to us, to our students, it is not, it is the world in which they grew up in.
Let’s take a look at today’s student. What does a digitally minded generation look like? They are growing up with computers, video games, cell phones and many other gadgets. They truly live in 2 very different worlds – meat space, or our physical space and digital, or virtual space. In the virtual world, they operate with multiple online personas, where age does not matter and they can figure out, and sometimes even create, their identity. In a digital world, individuals are respected for what they say, their content, and the contribution they can make – not how old they are. They have broken down the idea of authority – online there isn’t much authority over one another, things like age, race, sex, don’t really matter. Value structures change, those with knowledge and technical skills, what you do and can do, is greatly valued in online arenas, with video game prowess being highly praised. Society is changing, teens and young adults are spending more time on the computer and other tech devices and less time sitting in front of the television.
As a society, what are we facing, and how does this digitally minded generation impact us? We are facing a breakdown in the age barriers. We used to be able to say to a 15 year-old that they have no idea about the world. As far as life experiences, that is probably true. In meat space, they haven’t experienced much, and they still have plenty to learn. In the digital world however, they probably sent out 15 to 30 emails today, had 10 to 20 conversations with friends through text/instant messaging, have figured out how to bypass the school firewall, have updated their website for their video game clan or family, sold and/or bought something through an online auction, etc... Your average 15 year old then begins to sound like the type of person that is highly skilled and experienced in the information age.
How do we, as educators, now reach this digitally minded society? First, we need to see the skill set that is being naturally developed over the next decade as a result of digital media. Some of the skills we see are… Communication skills, Self-direction, Technically adept, Problem-solvers, and Collaborate with people around the world on projects. We then need to realize that Students desire instantaneous feedback – similar to the video games they play. Complete a task and they get rewarded. They take a test and sometimes don’t get results for days. You have a great discussion, but what and where are the results? What was accomplished? Is the test seen, by the student, as completing something? Kids will play/work a video game for hours to get a task completed. Through observing teens in a digital world, we see that teens definitely show what they can do, when they are interested. If they focused on school work the way they do video games, we would call them workaholics. In fact, they may even be respected for their “work” prowess. Guess what , in their digital world, they are respected, but not by us, the digital immigrants, but rather by the digital natives. They achieve their praise the same way workaholics are praised for their behaviors at work, but not typically praised for the same behaviors by their families. This digital generation is rewarded for behaviors that we educators, the immigrants, find useless and counterproductive.
As educators what do we do? Do we make learning more like the games, that which seems to consume our students lives? If so, what in the world does that mean? Is it even possible? Or do we simply tie the two worlds together? Do we encourage our students to collaborate to solve problems that are relevant to them right now. Is there any reason that a programming curriculum couldn’t revolve around building video games? It is a $25 billion dollar a year industry. I’m sure a teen that learns how to program a video game can put together a custom program for a company that is simply looking to build an insurance simulation. Math is all about solving problems, and how to approach problems. Language arts needs to include the medias that are becoming predominant. In 20 years, do you see children writing letters? Most schools still teach them how to do it. Why not teach them the appropriate way to address someone in an email, chat, blog, listserv, social networking page, or whatever the digital medium is? Is the skill of writing a letter disappearing? Not sure, but let me instead ask you, what is the skill of using a pen and inkwell? How long ago did we get rid of scrolls? Why? It was because books replaced them. The jump from pulp to electrons seems to really bother those of us that spent our entire academic career learning to express our ideas through writing and printing it out on paper. Until we get over ourselves and our way of doing things, the digital natives will be the ones deciding the best way to use the new digital forms of communication, and the digital immigrants will continue to shake their fists.
