Cheley's Point Of View: Week 1 Reaction to Peer's post-Blog #4: Comment on Dennis Keegan's Blog

Dennis Keegan blogged the following:

We as educators need to think outside of the box for the new 21^st century learners. The students of the 21^stcentury crave visual and control of their learning environment. These learners’ 21^st century learners are eager to be engaged in this type of pedagogical environment with interactive experiences, which allows for consistent learning and relearning. Students of the 21^st century crave opportunities to be directly involved in exploring new material delivered in a technological format. New generational students learn by doing, and the entertainment factor within technological resources supports more meaningful engagement. The traditional 20^th century format is no longer challenging or interesting for these students. The ever-changing nature of technology helps to maintain focus and assure high interest within an educational setting. The existing problem is that educators don’t have the training or knowledge to reach these new learners. Thinking outside of this box will take all of us educators coming together to embrace this new approach. Leaving behind the traditional methods of copies and class lectures. To turn towards student simulation activities which engage the students to make decisions in a virtual real life arena. When addressing the problem is that educators don’t know how to reach these new learners. Educators and school administrators in the K-12 setting tend to view video and computer games solely as a form of entertainment. Often, these games are not viewed as educational tools. Once these educators are taught to also think outside of the box and use the vast amount of tools that technology has to offer, we will all be thinking outside of the box.

I responded with the following comment:

cheleyram said...

Dennis, I agree with you in the fact that students are no longer challenged or interested in the former traditional 20th century type learning. They are digital natives, and because of this, they want to learn using all of the new technology that is out there. This is why I am conducting my thesis on "The use of social networks in the classroom to increase student participation." I hope, and I believe, that eventually a large majority of the high school level students will be taking their classes solely online. I think that this will become the norm, just as it has for college students. Our world is definitely changing, and if the teachers don't change with it, then the world is just going to pass them by.