Are students today fundamentally different than students in the past?
In a word, YES, yes they are. I believe students are fundamentally different than any other students of the past due to the vast amount of information that is more easily accessible, created and shared in more ways than ever before.
Upon reading Marc Prensky's, dated yet relevant, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants it is clear that times have changed for the digital immigrants, i.e. instructors, because of the digital natives, i.e. students. Prensky writes this declaration as a warning in 2001 that still resonates today. Today's student has grown up with all different kinds of attention grabbing media--notifications, achievements, likes, tweets, etc.--that they are not necessarily finding in the classroom.
Prensky assumes that immigrants have varying degrees of assimilation, with the digital natives, but wrote to warn those who are resistant to change. One blogger, and perhaps instructor, that Prensky was trying to warn, in my opinion, was DT Quin (read Quin's response to Prensky). Quin seems as though he's offended, by the suggestions made by Prensky, as he defends lecturers since "they have been dealing with the digital reality for as long (or longer) than their students." Quin also attacks specific examples made by Prensky to prove his point. Thankfully in closing Quin relents to "change happens."
My conclusion, after reading these two writings, is that if I wanted to learn something in a revolutionary way I would want Prensky as an instructor. If however I was interested in traditional education, Quin seems to be the obvious choice.
I came away agreeing with your opinion of Prensky vs Quin. I especially like how you called Quin "defensive", because I think that's exactly what he is in his post. Ironically enough, Quin's outlook seems to be the exact same thing Prensky was warning about in terms of teachers needing to step out of their past norm and assimilate to the new reality that is the classroom of today.
ReplyDeleteYes it is unfortunate that Quin seems to be content with, or even prefers, status quo although it is the easier path to take.
DeleteI think Quin's opinion is the default complaint of some of today's teachers. Too often, I think teachers can become overwhelmed with the burden of data, assessments, lesson plans, etc. When asked to incorporate technology on top of that, the above stresses can result in an immediate negative response without even considering the benefits that technology can bring.
DeleteI agreed with Quinn more. In my experience, I found that this discussion has been done 1000 times before, however, not exactly with education. In the past, older generations would describe the generation gap as alien or wrong. In reality, they just had different ways to approach the same problem. The WWII Generation and the Baby Boomers were very different in terms of interest, hobbies, and methods, yet as they got older they were both able to adapt to new styles.
ReplyDeleteQuinn to me seems to stress that yes, when something drastically new is presented the older generations will see it as alien and will need to quickly adapt or become lost, but many professors and teachers had adapted gracefully to the new technology.