21st Century Students

This blog entry is a reflection on the following two videos:

A Vision of Students Today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

A Vision of K - 12 Students Today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8

         

           These two videos emanate a very serious tone about 21^st century students and how they are being educated.  The videos imply that educators, and the curriculum, are out of date and are not engaging students in the material.  They imply that students are yearning for more than just words in a text book, on a chalk board, and written on a page.  They want to learn by way of something they can relate with, and presently, that is technology.

This is a digital era.  Current students have been raised using computers, video games and iPods.  They spend more time perusing Facebook profiles than reading quality literature. Students don’t learn the way their teachers learned and we shouldn’t expect them to.  Students, according to these videos, have fuller days now than their predecessors did.  The videos also imply that students have a lot of world issues to deal with and that technology can be used to resolve these issues.  It seems they are constantly being stimulated by technology and educators must tap into that tool in order to reach their students and engage them to learn.

I believe that it is imperative to include technology in the curriculum to engage students in learning.  Using technology as a classroom tool is an important, and obvious, way to reach 21^st century learners.  It is disappointing to me that there is such a high percentage of teachers that do not use technology while teaching, or do not let students use technology for assignments.  Is this because of a lack of funding, or is it because teachers do not understand the benefit of using technology?  Maybe some educators don’t want to change.  Embracing change can be difficult, especially for those people set in their ways, but to be a productive educator, the teacher is responsible for changing with the time to grow with the needs of the students.  I believe that by leaving technology entirely out of the curriculum, teachers may be impeding their students’ learning.

The videos are engaging and interesting, but seem a little drastic. Do the videos contain any propaganda?  Are they simply one person’s mission?   The videos are definitely being used as a persuasive means to entice educators, and administrators, into employing the use of technology in school. One of the videos merely brushes over a fact that students read 8 books a year compared to the thousands of websites and Facebook profiles they will view.  I admit that this astonished me.  As much as I support technology in the classroom, I also believe that too much of something is not healthy.  I wonder about the addictive part of the brain.  Can the students become addicted to technology?  For example, I found a recent news article and video entitled “Addicted to Technology.”  The news piece reports on potential cell phone addiction. (http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/local_news/special_reports/addicted-to-technology-). Can misuse or overuse of technology hinder learning and deteriorate the minds of youths?  Should TV, internet, gaming, etc. be limited? Some kinds of technology can most certainly be a distraction for learning.  Educators have to figure out what constructive use of technology in the classroom looks like and also determine what applications of technology could potentially obstruct learning.

Another news article and video I read on the KWGN news site suggests that “screen time” should be limited. (http://www.kwgn.com/news/kdvr-kids-technology-txt,0,3815047.story).  This news report indicates that overuse of technology results in poor grades for students and difficulty with sensory-motor functions.  If “screen time” is not limited, how can parents and educators form well rounded kids that are knowledgeable and functioning in both a digital world and in the world outside of technology, if one exists?  School could be a chance for students to have a break from the fast-pasted and fragmented world of technology. What happened to going outside for a kick ball game instead of gaming on an X-box inside?  Is that not realistic in a digital era?  What will happen 10, 20, 50 years from now?  What will our world look like, technologically?

 Ultimately I believe that educators should always incorporate technology into the curriculum as a teaching tool, but must also emphasize the importance of reading a book.  There should be a healthy balance of technology and good old-fashioned book learning.  If everyone turns to technology alone, will we have an illiterate nation on our hands?  A nation that can only write in text-speak and read blogs? Will we forget how to read a novel?  Maybe it’s my vision that is narrowed by the love of turning the pages of a tangible book.

Overall these videos communicate the message that they intend to.  They convey how necessary it is to satiate the needs of 21^st century students with technology as a learning tool.  The videos have seized my curiosity and have given me a lot to think about that I didn’t realize before. They let me see through the eyes of a 21^st century student.  I am curious about the view points of other students in this course.