Week 7

What are the characteristics of today's students? In what way do they differ from traditional students? What strategies should educators apply?

Today's students are the most technological savvy learners in history. When I grew up, all we had were typewriters. I can still remember the first word processor my father brought home (he worked for Xerox at the time). My mother and I were fascinated. She was a teacher at a local elementary school and I was a student. It changed both of our lives. When personal computers came around, our lives changed even more. The ease at which documents and presentations could be created and edited shifted our views of learning and teaching. No longer was the five-page paper excruciating to type. What my mother and I considered a technological wonder, today's students take for granted.
Today there is almost a computer in every home. Even children without personal computers can work basic programs and I challenge any adult to keep up with any child in the latest video game. Technology is something all students are familiar with. Today's children learn from the television as well as the classroom. Reality often blends with make-believe and soe children have difficulty differentiating between the two. Just last week a student asked if jellyfish could fly. When I said "no", the student responded, "but they do on SpongeBob!" So sometimes technology can lead to misinformation. Take the internet for example, there is a plethera of misinformation available on the world wide web. I'm not saying it's all bad, there are a lot of great things out there, but as parents and educators, we need to responsibly filter some of the information to which our children have access.
But it is not just technology that separates students of today from the students of the past. Today's world climate has changed dramatically. Famine, war, terrorism, and hate crimes are all very real and the children are aware of these facts. Elementary students face problems that high school students once faced. Drugs and gangs have infiltrated the lowest grade levels. Television and the internet bring violence into homes that were once peaceful. This is leading to children with less empathy towards each other. On-line chat rooms are actually disconnecting students from each other, lessening the face-to-face contact past students thrived on.
With this in mind, it is important for educators to incoorporate technology into the classroom while integrating group activities that allow for personal interaction between students. Teachers should be conscience of the fact that students learn better when technology is utilized, but they should be careful not to rely too heavily on computers to do all of the teaching. Afterall, no matter how much technology progresses, it will never be able to replace the personality of a teacher.