Both the articles and videos were very informative. I didn't know what a Generation Edger was before reading this article. Also, this was the first time I'd heard the term "millennial". Maybe I'm a little behind the times (but I'm sure to be caught up by the time I finish this class. lol). And as Sue stated in her blog, it's all about attitude, not what birth order (decade) you were born in. :-)
It's also about being able to teach today's students. Shaun stated in his blog that teaching and learning is a two-way street. To me, that means that in order for a student to learn, the teacher has to be willing to learn as well. Teachers and students are basically learning from each other and must be willing to do so.
Prensky and McKenzie both had opposing views on what the digital world had to offer Gen-Edgers. While McKenzie thought that Gen-Edgers might be in danger of being victims of a "digital wasteland", Prensky thought that the only people who needed to be fearful of a "wasteland" were the "digital immigrants".
One of the words that kept popping up in one of the videos was "ENGAGE". I've seen first hand how technology can engage students. My students are similar to the ones in the articles that are exposed to technology on a regular basis. They are familiar with technology and they respond to it/attend to it well. They enjoy using the computer, especially interactive activities and games.
My students have severe multiple impairments. They have cognitive impairments as well as physical impairments. All of my students have impaired or no use of their hands, arms, or legs. The IPAD is one of the greatest tools I have in my classroom! My students are able to touch the screen (even if that means with assistance) and do an activity. Technology helps them to be an active participant in their learning! Also, every classroom in my building has an Activ board. Those are great too! Our district is really trying to be on board with 21st century learning!
Hi Gwendolyn, I enjoyed reading your comments on this week's articles, and like you agree some of Pensky, but question the validity of his thinking in his reference to digital migrants. Further, I welcomed the comments of McKenzie countering a great deal of what Pensky asserted. I, like you, see the importance of understanding who my students are and the Generational Differences videos really give me more of a road map similarities to look at in students, based on when they were born. Of course, I realize that the most important thing about technology is to use it as a tool to hopefully support learning; allowing students to collaborate, explore, and arrive at higher order thinking.
ReplyDeleteWow, i really think it takes a lot of patience to teach children at all but especially children with special needs so I applaud you for your special skills. Since i am a boomer i was very familiar with the term Millennial howerver i had never heard of the generation edge group and found it to be very enlighting. Since i teach students in a computer environment all my students tend to be engaged with technology. My challenge is to keep them on track with their subject matter and increase their understanding . Their is a lot of equipment available to assist your students in being able to communicate through the computer and function like any other student . I think that is a remarkable advancement in education and technology.
ReplyDeleteThat is something that I have heard many times but not see personalty on how technology is helping the special needs students. It is great to hear first hand how it is helping those students. My feeling is now that technology has gotten to this point with the cloud, with being able to track and collect data, and see what is working that teaching using technology in the next two years is going to exploded with even better tools for us as educators to use. I think once we get over this economic down fall we are going to be in for a wild ride.
ReplyDeleteI hope you run with the topic of technology and special needs students this week in the discussion.
ReplyDeleteOne other thing that I've seen in several posts this past week was in regard to the term "engagement." I think it gets tossed around too much. Think about how students are engaged vs. entertained in the classroom. How could you tell the difference, both in the process and in the results?
First, I remember being lumped into the group with the "Gen Edgers" as a Millennial but since there are differences I do see why there are the divisions. You do bring up valid points about what Shaun said about teaching and learning are two way streets. Prensky brought up that technology with the Millennial generation and beyond poses problems due the generations not thinking for themselves. I can actually bring up an example. I had a class a couple of semesters ago on library and research. My class had to learn how to be as accurate as possible for research and looking up information. We even had to learn about the Library of Congress course catalog (which was the system they used) and how to look up references without running to a computer. We had an assignment to find a certain book using that system (and the internet happened to be down since it was the beginning of the semester!) and the next day, no one could find the book! "The internet was down." We could not simply hop on a computer and use the library search to tell us where the book was located. Even though we had sheets telling us the general idea of where the book may be, out of hundreds of books in the sections, no luck. But we had the sheet to guide us in the general direction, so I guess Prensky is right in a way, we can't think for ourselves because technology has spoiled my generation and Gen Edge. I'm not sure why it's this way. Is it just because it's the way we grew up?
ReplyDeleteI'm thrilled that technology does do wonderful things, such as helping students in special needs classes and giving them tools to learn (and that wasn't available to them before this technology was available.) That's a huge upside of technology.
I believe that technology can be very beneficial in the educational setting for all students and teachers, it is great to hear of your positive experiences. The possibilities seem endless for the use of technology in the classroom setting, but trying to find time as a teacher to learn about these new programs and devices can be somewhat challenging. I want to stay up-to-date with the latest tools for technology use in my own classroom, which is one of the main reasons why I chose to take this class. However, I can see other teachers beginning to feel very overwhelmed with how to effectively incorporate technology into their classrooms.
ReplyDeleteDr. Siko brings up the idea of engaging the students versus entertaining the students with technology. I have tried to think about how they can be differentiated from one another. When I think of technology as an entertainment tool, I think of the students playing games, using social media apps., and watching videos on YouTube for the sole purpose of having fun. I feel that technology can be used as a way to engage the students in the classroom by incorporating educational tools into lessons that make the student think critically and want to further their knowledge about a topic.