I have just completed my e learning blog post and after my final full stop in my last paragraph, the screen went blank and when I went back to retrieve my saved draft, it seemed that the system hasn’t been saving all these while! How annoyed I was! It made me realize that technology can fail us at times and sometimes real bad too!
This session is on digital natives and to understand more about their characteristics and preferences.
Characteristics of digital natives:
-IT savvy
-Short attention span
-Multi tasking
-Fast paced
-Active
-Connected
-Fun
-Likes Graphics
-Do not like reading
-Multimedia oriented
-Web-based
-Instant gratification
-Less textual, more modalities
-Share a common language
-Risk takers
-Striving to be independent
-Information overload
-Egocentric
The points from instant gratification to egocentric have been researched and taken from (http://lraines.wordpress.com/2007/03/28/characteristics-of-a-digital-native/)
I guess the above characteristics have somewhat covered the bad and the good points in digital natives. It sets me thinking that technology is constantly advancing day by day and how can we teachers, (the digital immigrants) find effective ways to teach so as to reach out to the digital natives at present or in the years to come?
I have chosen to work on Olivia.
This is the link to her video:
http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-profile-olivia-video
In her case, Olivia does not have a computer and she does not always have a cell phone. Even though she does not have all these high tech gadgets, it does not hinder her in learning and in fact it evoked curiosity into finding out more about technology. She uses the computer in her school or the computer at the ground floor of her building and enjoys it. Most of the times, Olivia will be on “myspace” and helps her mum and mentor with their personal web pages too.
In general, most of the teenagers in Singapore do not match Olivia’s profile as I believe computers and handphones have become more of a need than a want in this day and age. However, there is a handful of teenagers who belong to the same profile as Olivia like those who come from financially unstable backgrounds and such.
Taking NorthLight School for an example, I realized that there are many who are not that privileged but when they are in the computer labs, they get very familiarized with the computers very quickly as it is a platform which engages and taps on their interest.
To be able to teach and reach out to the digital natives today, I feel that we have to know and understand their likes and dislikes so that effective and enjoyable learning can take place. Games’ based learning is one way to engage our students as they are able to learn, experience fun and experience different aspects to meaningful learning.
As you look into the possible future of the educational landscape, what sort of impressions, fears, or possibilities crossed your mind?
From the video, I can envision our future to be very much inclined towards technology and everything will be fast paced. As technology is catching up as I have mentioned earlier, perhaps in the future, it wont be necessary for teachers to be there physically to teach and students can learn in the comfort of their homes with high tech gadgets. As we may depend a lot on technology in the future, I am afraid that many of us will turn lazy as everything can be processed with just a touch of a finger.
How is NIE preparing you to prepare your students for this possible future? How might you prepare yourself?
I must admit that NIE is gradually preparing us for our students in the future by equipping us with the necessary skills and knowledge. Modules like ICT where we are exposed to new and advanced ICT tools to facilitate and to engage our students in interesting ways and educational psychology modules for us to understand in depth into classroom management skills and the different learning styles of diverse learners.
I will try to keep in pace with technology, to be aware of the things which are happening around us and lastly to be open and to accept changes.
Your computer can "fail" from time to time, just like a piped water or electricity outage. But we don't consider the latter technologies bad, do we?
ReplyDeleteI think that part of effective technology use and integration is knowing its limits and taking the necessary precautions. So when composing a long block of text, you might consider doing so in a word processor first.
Another example: When I reply to all your blog entries, I take the precaution of copying my entire reply if I know that my Internet connection is flaky or if I know a site is experiencing issues. That way I can try again or reply later.
I agree that computers can fail us at times and I do not consider them as bad technologies.Perhaps I should have been more careful. Thanks for your advice. I did on microsoft word the second time and copied and paste onto blogger then after.(:
ReplyDelete