Week 4: The Rise of Technology by Nolan Miller Christopher

Today’s students are the first generation to grow up in the midst of digital technology and these very different experiences have changed the way they think, behave and, quite possibly, the physical structure of their brain. These students require radically different methods to engage them in the learning process and maximize the potential of new technologies that surround them.

i.                    Changing How They Process Information.

This new generation of “Digital Natives” has had such a different range of experiences during key developmental phases, that they actually think and process information differently. “They develop hypertext minds. They leap around. It’s as though their cognitive structures are parallel, not sequential^”. Because they have become accustomed to receiving information very quickly, they are adept at parallel processing and multi-tasking. “They function best when networked. They thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards^”. This means that lectures and the typical step-by-step instructions common in our current teaching methodologies do not work to engage them. In fact, the “linear thought processes that dominate educational systems now can actually retard learning for brains developed though game and web surfing processes on the computer^”.

ii.                  Changing the Role of the Teacher.

Growing up in the digital era means easy access to all forms of information at breakneck speed. Our educational system has been unable to keep pace with the possibilities and implications for children navigating the learning process within this new landscape. The unlimited access to information which can now be now viewed and digested at a student’s own rate of learning and in accordance with a student’s own level of interest, significantly changes the dynamics of the learning environment. While the teacher generally teaches in a specific, grade-related order, presenting predetermined information in installments; students are now functioning in an ungraded, unlimited and interactive environment. Students have the power to decide for themselves what is easy, what is appropriate, what they want to learn and how long they will take to learn it. The unquestionable authority that adults once had over children is disappearing. Our system, however, still places the teacher as expert in front of a classroom (now woefully less dazzling than what is on the computer screen), doling out information that may not be as up to date as what the student is able to find on their own. Youth (especially at the adolescent level) are forced to “learn” within a rigid system that does not match with the world in which they function or the interest and interaction that they encounter outside the walls of the classroom. It creates a recipe for disengagement.

Retrieved from http://www.changelearning.ca/get-informed/education-today-and-tomorrow/rise-technology

Nolan Miller Christopher