Sunday, January 25, 2015
First Real Blog Post
Our students have changed radically, it is true. Currently, most of our teachers have meet that standard for adjusting instruction for those students. I believe because the shift of the how we all have grown up. The Presnsky article itself is dated in 2001. This would be when the beginning baby boomers started to retire. A person born in 1940s would have turned 60. A teacher can retire with 30 years at 47 or 30 years of teaching in the Michigan pension system at any age after 47. (Of course this depends on whatever school pension system they choose) . So it is safe to say, that people of the Baby Boomer generation 1946 to 1965, have or are about to retire. These are people who have not necessarily grown up with changing technology, to understand it, they had to make some conscience choices to be involved in it. In the later generations, such as mine- I am a gen-xer. It is more of a conscience choice to NOT be involved. It has been or is nearly impossible to not be forced or prodded to accept the digital world, thus it is easier to adjust our teaching practices around the existing digital natives. I would say that on some levels the Ellis Island is closing for the digital immigrants. Our current teachers are the digital natives.
The Prensky article moves to discuss "should digital natives learn the old ways or should their digital immigrants learn the new? " I would jump to say that this digital media is so engrained in our culture that it is a way of life. Just as the article makes connections to cultural immigration I would say it is the same for technology. I have even noticed on social media- when Facebook began and altered its platforms to meet various needs, people would complain at every change. EVERY change. Now, when there are changes or updates- I read more from my friends not of complaints but - where is this now? How do I do this? It seems there is now an acceptance that technology will be updated. It will change. This goes along with Prensky's article "Not-so smart (or not-so flexible) immigrants...." theory.
As I go on to the article I have found that parts of his article itself is outdated because of my above theory. At the time, most teachers were digital immigrants- now- the majority of teachers have at least embraced the new way or grew up at digital natives themselves.
The McKenzie article presents as lots of articles I read that are either for or against republican/democrats policies. It really was amusing on the levels of presentation in this article.
As I read through this things that jumped out at me- our students learn with technology- but because of various reasons, one being poverty don't necessarily have access to it. Schools all don't have the same levels of technological resources. So they do need to work and think different to ensure a quality educational programming is meet for all levels of student access. This is particularly true for students in my building. Parents have cell devices to access email and games. But don't have laptops/computers to access other types of technology.
I have found in my current school our access to technology has determined our teaching ability/learning abilities. It isn't a matter of can or won't. It is what is available.
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Yes, both Prensky's initial work and McKenzie's critique are getting a little long in the tooth. Per your comment on the teaching force, I might argue that the change is a little slower than what you anticipate. I say this for three reasons. First, because of the economy, teachers nearing or at retirement age are staying in the teaching profession a little longer. Second, the amount of turnover in the profession is VERY high...~40% of new teachers leave the profession completely within 5 years. Third, as our population growth levels off, retiring teachers are simply not replaced. This is especially true in Michigan, where many senior classes this year are NOTICEABLY larger than the kindergarten class.
ReplyDeleteSo, the makeup of teachers isn't necessarily as young as people expect, which means the embracing of technology is a little slower than one might anticipate.
That is an interesting note. I could factor those items- declining enrollment and the economy. Hmm. I just have noticed that my staff seems younger and younger. I didn't realize it is that high of a new teacher leave rate....wow. I certainly understand that.
DeleteYou displayed great points, I agree with you that now days teachers try their best to go with the flow and learn about what they have not knew before. I used to hear lots of complaints about the disadvantages of using technology, but I barely her that now. I believe that usability of using technology and being a multi tasks may vary to some degree with gender, however I think that we do not need to be judgmental about a generation, but we should evaluate each case individually.
DeleteVery interesting post. I'm not quite 30 yet and definitely still would not consider myself a digital native. I didn't have anywhere near the technology available to me that the kids do today. I only seriously started using technology in high school. From what I see on a daily basis, most of the teachers who I work with (who I would also consider digital immigrants) try incredibly hard to successfully incorporate technology into their lessons.
ReplyDeleteYour Facebook analogy was really spot on. I never thought about it but you're absolutely right, people are just starting to "go with the flow" and accepting what they can't change.
You said, "I have found in my current school our access to technology has determined our teaching ability/learning abilities. It isn't a matter of can or won't. It is what is available". I was wondering, do you think that if we compared two classrooms with the exact same ability levels that one would end up being more successful if one had access to technology and the other no access. I'm pretending that everything is the same except the technology availability.
That is interesting. Accessibility is key perhaps?
DeleteI would like to work on a study with digital textbooks on ipads/google chrome books versus the same book paper textbook. Would the on task behavior look differently? Would the teacher /student interaction look differently? That would make for an interesting study.
Depends on what you're testing, too (i.e., what does 'more successful' mean?). Rote facts? Comprehension or analysis skills? Or student outcomes (i.e., how did they turn out as adults)?
DeleteI am a fan of generation/cohort theory, but it doesn't explain everything. The changing reaction of Facebook users to software change is not about cohort, but about novelty. Continuous delivery of software updates is new. Most software is updated every few months (or years) and the user has a choice to update or not. Young and old, everyone freaked when Google, Facebook, and others started continuous delivery in the 2000s. There are fewer complaints today about continuous delivery not because people have aged out of the system but because after a decade it's no longer new.
ReplyDeleteIt still takes as much repetition to learn a new skill, whether you are practicing on paper or on screen. That will not change until we upgrade the brain. Technology can have a moderate impact on learning by providing instant feedback. You learn more when you can immediately see that you haven't got the answer yet. Graded homework papers don't have that impact on the student. Technology is also great for accounting and reporting: seeing a student's progress toward a grade level in real time, monitoring absence, finding out where the whole class is having the most difficulty. So I think in-school systems are really the most important.
Great point. I think that instant feedback is key for students to know what they are doing well at and where they struggle. As an educator, being able to see progress and tracking outcomes is a great tool to have at my fingertips as well. I just wish for more technology that links together for instant result for both the learner and the instructor.
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