Wednesday, April 2, 2008
"Learning to teach Tech-Savvy Students"
In light of our discussion of "A Vision of Student's Today" I thought you might enjoy this article, which was posted for members of the DU Technology Council to read before our meeting tomorrow. A very different vision of students! If you have a chance I'd love to know your thoughts on being called the "Me Generation," on professors who won't answer emails, or anything.
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5 comments:
I think the link you posted is broken. Or it's an incomplete URL, and their 404 page is very misleading. This should be the right article.
I guess I kind of took offense to this line, "When I read that this generation suffers from anxiety, depression, and loneliness, I started to develop some empathy." As if we all suffer from depression and loneliness. Awesome.
The entire article just came off as... (I think one of the comments at the bottom touched on this) Someone trying to learn about it the wrong way--the typical academic way. Reading about it, and not interacting with it. Just reminded me of that South Park episode where Stan just didn't get it.
Thanks Eric. I fixed the link. I had the same response to the article. Who is she talking about exactly? (And her dry erase board tactics sound kind of pathetic.) And thanks for the link to the South Park episode!
I agree with you Eric, the whole empathy aspect does seem to be sincere, yet I feel that the statement "It’s important that I stay as positive as I can with these comments" is quite appropriate for what is being discussed. It seems that people complain about the changes and at the development of a generation, not willing to take on responsibility themselves. The fact is that parents play a large role in development, as well as teachers. The avoidance of conflict from the past leads to such habits and the qualities that could be changed. Sometimes it seems that people give in/up too easily.
I was looking at some similar articles, and came across a story focusing on the business aspect of our generation. (http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/worklife/12/26/cb.generation/index.html).
This article is a response of the workplace changes:
(http://www.entrepreneur.com/humanresources/managingemployees/article179200.htm)
This is quite similar in that the technologies have changed, and the world in general will have to deal with the impacts that it has already had on life. The technology tools that may have once been handled with disregard are no longer avoidable.
OK, I had to laugh when I read, "Having students not only post their own answers, but comment on others’ can be a rich source of material — as long as the instructor has warned that the superficial, “Dude, that sucks” response will garner no points. How much credit is the author giving us these days? Is our perceived ability to intellectually engage others work really that low?
I thought the comments about instructors who are reluctant to engage students over email/text/IM chat in favor of more traditional forms of communication were interesting. I have had several professors who just "don't do" email. A close friend of mine is an assistant to a professor here at DU. Her job is to log in to his account, print his emails, highlight what he needs to respond to, then to type responses as he dictates... I think it is the responsibility of instructors to at the very least, meet their students half way. Answer email questions, be understanding that students are shy about calling or stopping in during office hours - our preferred methods of communication are different. I feel like their interaction styles should evolve along with the student culture. Email and other technologies are (and will be) part of the jobs our degrees are supposed to prepare us for - forcing students to use only textbooks, bring printed assignments, call/come in for help, etc. does us no favors. It hinders our abilities to function in the world outside the classroom.
OK, I feel kinda dumb - I can't figure out how to edit my own comment above... but I just wanted to add:
Ruben - Great articles, I enjoyed them a lot. In my job, I spend most of my time responding to emails and submitting/editing online "stuff"... it's rare if my phone rings or if I have to meet anyone face-to-face. Much of what I do can be done from off-campus (telecommuting) and because of that, my hours aren't the standard 8-4:30. Makes me feel very GenY. Hehehe...
A quote from the Entrepreneur Article that summed up what I was thinking above: "You can keep playing by the old rules, or you can get the most from your employees [or students!!] by learning to master the new game."
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