Students have always been shaped by their environment. 21st century students are shaped and influenced by an environment that is media rich, immediate, fast, engaging, dynamic and instant. It's electronic and digital. It's a communication medium with instant gratification. Students today are digital natives. Most of us, on the other hand, are immigrants or foreigners in this fast paced electronic world in which the students we teach live. But immigrants can, and in the case of educators, should, become fully fledged citizens of the same world our students live in. Otherwise we will always lack full understanding of the power of the 21st Century tools and skills students so badly need to be successful both today and tomorrow. Additionally, without joining the digital natives in their world educators will struggle to communicate important ideas and comprehend newfound motivational techniques.
When Gutenberg invented the printing press the mass produced written word spawned from verbal communication and books became the offspring of the scroll. Can you imagine how intimidating and scary the first book was? See this link for a spoofed peek into that very world...
I have been witness to similar reactions of fear, frustration and disinterest when a computer, iPhone, website or Smartboard have been introduced as teaching tools. The reaction is understandable yet counter cultural. There are likely many more technology tools viable for the classroom that I don't know about than those that I do know about. But for me, that is exhilarating ...we have so much to discover! Which brings me to an important point: as educators we should learn as much as we teach. We don't know it all and if we need help applying digital literacy skills into lesson plans we should feel comfortable turning to a student and asking for some help. The days of the sage on the stage being an effective teaching technique are over which can be intimidating and worrisome...or liberating and exciting.
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