NEW
LEARNERS, NEW TECHNOLOGIES, NEW ACADEMIES
By: Carlos Valencia
The
academy of today seems to be one (or more) step behind from our learners; it seems
that our learners are clamoring for new methodologies that match with their
learning styles and this is creating a hassle for the construction of innovative
and up-to-date curricula. For each school system and each school and
university, there is an urgent need to prepare the academy of today for the
learners of tomorrow.
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| This picture is quoted from http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/E-Learning_2.0 |
The
school systems that I am acquainted with in the US, are rushing to equip their
classrooms with interactive boards, personal computers for each teacher and
student, wireless internet access, student response systems, Lumens cams and
even portable devices that allow teachers to have the board in their hands.
We
cannot deny the huge effort that is being made to make our classrooms digital,
in order to respond to a digital generation that has caught us unprepared to
respond to their needs and learning styles. Fortunately, most of today’s teachers
understand their responsibility and are willing to learn; however, some are
holding on to their old methodologies and are unwilling to adapt to the
unstoppable changing times.
Now,
in addition to the teacher’s hard work of getting accustomed to technologies
and web tools for use in the classroom, they need to cope with new and
innovative methods that fit with their digital natives’[1]
learning style.
Teachers
are facing and trying to educate a generation that, according to Oblinger and
Oblinger (2005)[2], is:
digitally literate, connected, immediate, experiential, social, likes to work
in teams, structured (achievement oriented), oriented toward inductive
discovery, visual and kinesthetic, and that believes that a difference can be
made and serious problems can be resolved through science and technology.
Given the
characteristics and learning styles of the N-Gen, educators need to start
formulating and applying new pedagogical approaches that end up in relevant instructional
methods that include, but do not limit to inquiry learning, problem based
learning, project-based learning, case-based teaching, discovery learning.
These methods, that are all inductive, according to Prince (2006)[3], are
“all learner centered (aka student-centered), meaning that they impose
more responsibility on students for their own learning than the traditional
lecture-based deductive approach does”.
How can we
as teachers reach their minds and truly engage this generation of kids that are
so bathed in bits that feel and see them as part of the natural landscape? One
good answer could be that we need to change from a teacher-centered instruction
(lectures, deductive learning), to learner-centered, one that opens a wide
variety of methods and methodologies that elicit students’ participation and
use the students’ previous knowledge and skills to gain new concepts, reshape
knowledge or, why not, create a new one.
Our class
sizes are growing and today, more than ever, broadcasting makes a lot of sense
and traditional class tasks such as homework, lectures and textbooks become an
analogy for the broadcast media that works perfect with a mass audience and
fits with their interests, hobbies and expectations.
The use of
some second generation web-based technologies such as podcasting, blogs, wikis,
social networking services, social bookmarking services, and file sharing, are
of immeasurable utility for educators. Our job is to become skillful in the use
of such tools, transform the curriculum and the classroom into a digital
learning center, and figure out the pedagogical approaches that will put all
the pieces together to produce real, relevant, shared learning and knowledge,
with the active and committed participation of our kids, as they are the soul
of the educational process.
[1] Prensky,
M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon (MCB University
[2] Oblinger, D & G
(2005). Educating the Net Generation. NCSU: Educause.
[3] Prince, (2006). Inductive Teaching
and Learning Methods: Definitions, Comparisons and Research bases. Journal
of Engineering Education, 95(2), 123-138.
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