Lesson 5: Preferences of the Technology Generation

CONTENT

Imagine how will it be like to be a student without the computer and the internet… FRUSTRATING! Although not every person in the world are aware of the current revolution being imposed by the ICT particularly in education, there is still a great number of students who rely on the internet as a source of useful information. Whenever a question is in mind, a modern student just simply sit in front the screen, enter the keys, and with just one click in few milliseconds – ting – comprehensive answers are obtained! That’s how technology helpfully assists learning nowadays. If it happens to cross our mind: how did our grandparents survived in their educational endeavors without even obtaining an idea of the existence of helpful technological aids like computers? Life back then must be really very patience-and-industry-demanding. 

To come up with a full understanding on the variations in terms of preferences of the old generation and the new, let’s have a concise elaboration of the latters’ differences:

Single and multi-track activity patterns – the old generation has availed a slow and single-track pattern of activities while the new is actively enjoying the opposite. Using the advanced technological tools that we have today, the possibility of serving two or more masters at the same time is becoming a real practice!

Text vs. visuals – before, if you wish to internalize educational concepts, you should read a lot. Looking for related and promising sources back then was quite time-consuming and effort-exhausting. You might find one, but the visual displays wouldn’t give you sufficient and enriched details. You had to browse through all the mind-blogging texts to come up with an understanding of the desired concept – really arduous! But today, useful information are sorted comprehensively in the internet, and in just one setting of browsing, YouTube will offer you numerous options of conceptual motion pictures!

Linear vs. hypermedia – although it was difficult for students to look for good information sources, they are more logical than the learners of today. Old-generation learners are more focused when it comes to fulfilling specific tasks than today’s digital learners who simply rely on random hyperlinked digital information without deep reflection.

Independent vs. social learners – old-generation learners prefer to learn by themselves and tend to make individualized class involvements. They lean towards working alone, communicate less when it comes to learning, and more likely to engage in self-study. New-generation learners are more sociable. They work more comfortably with peers and are more exposed in discovery learning. Social media help modern students to communicate with their peers even at long distances. Cooperative learning gives way for students to obtain constructive skills which are essential in authentic learning.

Learning to do vs. learning to pass the test – there’s quite a difference when one engage in learning to obtain a skill than just to obtain a good grade. Old-generation learners are more prone to learning-to-pass-the-test cases. Since the provision of real instructional materials are very limited back then, students often stop in the theorizing phase and skip the application phase. Today’s learners have the advantage in partaking engagements to real learning activities which help them in obtaining skill-based competencies thus learning beyond the reason of just “to pass the test.”

Delayed reward vs. instant gratification – rewards for students’ performance are distributed in delayed periods in traditional schools. Medals and certificates of merit are distributed usually once or twice in a year which is totally different from that of the new way of giving rewards. Although award ceremonies are still operational nowadays, students’ performances on a daily basis are now instantly rewarded. For an instance, teacher Jean conducted a short check-up on students’ understanding of cell division. She used a web-directed assessment method which allowed students to pick choices within a short span of time. Right after all the items were completed, the computer automatically made a calculation of the students’ scores and automatically deposited the garnered points in the students’ accounts. Then appeared on the screen are three stars with a corresponding passage, “Great job! You got three stars in the test!”

Rote memory vs. fun learning – the availability of new technological tools trigger learners’ interests on the curricular subject matters. The presence of digital learning media has created an environment for modern students to have fun while learning – providing hands-on-minds-on experiences, exposures to certain events, and sufficient generation of essential information. Today, learning goes far beyond the act of memorizing.

EXPERIENCE

I have to admit that I really hate going to libraries. Such places provide me a perfect atmosphere for a good sleep. I’m a solid digital learner, whenever I have question in mind, if I don’t speak it out or address it to someone who really knows, I just simply browse the net. I’m a new-generation learner and technology really helps me a lot in fulfilling my tasks as a student. Having enrolled in the course subjects like Astronomy, Earth Science, Geology, Meteorology, and Educational Technology, I don’t see any reason why I should neglect the use of technological tools as a companion for learning. I need the internet! Through digital learning, one can learn while having fun.

REFLECTION

Although being a new-generation learner offers me a lot of privileges, it also exposes me to certain risks. Since I have discovered the sufficiency of the internet as an information resource, I have observed that I have not developed the habit of doing things ahead of time – time consciousness. Knowing that the answers are just one click away, I often choose to delay the completion of many of my tasks. Let me give you a concrete example: this. I was working for this blog because this is the only time left for me to have my tasks completed. Technology is a great relief for exaggerated urgency, but when applied uncritically, it would trigger the development of undesirable attitudes. Mindfulness is always a necessity. We must always be conscious that technology is not something that we should be abusing.

APPLICATION

It is observed that majority of the learners today are exposed to digital tools. Education is dynamic (this is an overused line), and part of the change is the transformation of learning styles. As an educator in the future, in appropriate conditions I can make use of technology as an aid for instruction. The degree of learning outcome of my future students would largely rely on how I facilitate the teaching-learning process. Technology is a help, but in times I need to go beyond just the act of presenting the lesson via Microsoft PowerPoint, I have to take the lead. I have to set my students out to the real world and allow them to see things as they are.