When I watched the video it made sense that technology generations were split in 20’s. As I read on to the articles and thought about my students and my experience with technology, it stopped making sense to split the groups in 20’s. I say this because I been teaching for 4/ 5 years, I also have cousins that are in their young teen years and even among them I see a technology gaps. Today’s teens grew up with desktops and seeing their parents text and on the phone--all day. Preteens grew up seeing their parents in their smartphone--mini computer and their parents gave them a table to play with, instead of a Fisher Price Game. My main point is that with the speed of technology we will need to change the way we split technology groups. It will help us understand them better. As a teacher I can not say that my 5th graders when I started knew as much on how to use an iPad as my 5th graders today. Again, I only been teaching for a little over 4 years.
Another topic I looked for in the articles and I could not find, was the effect of social economic status in students tech life. Some parents can get their kids up to three devices, other can not even get a house tech device. I always knew that but it hit me hard this year when I tried to flip my class by assigning mini-videos to watch at home for class the next day.. Despite me teaching in a wealthy area there are still those students whose parents cannot supply their kids with a tech device. I had a mom explain to me that she moved to the area to get her kids a good education, but in reality she only works to pay the bills and feed her kids. I then assigned videos as optional.
You touched on an important point here. I think that some Digital Immigrants are more obsessed with technologies compared to the Digital Natives. They are the “nouveau riches” of technology and tend to be fascinated with it. I see that with my parents and their generation. When my parents discovered Facebook, I wanted to dig a hole and hide in it. They abused social media with all their posts and shares. To them, this was a fascinating technology that resembled magic. They managed to teach themselves how to use all those different apps and they got to a point where they know far more than I do.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting thing that I’ve encountered is how most early childhood learning centers do not allow the use of technologies in their classrooms. My four-year-old daughter goes to the UofM Early Learning Center, and their main focus is on how to nourish the children away from technology. They rely on reading books, group activities, crafts, painting, clay, sensory activities and lots and lots of play time. I think this is a great way to ensure that my daughter is having normal interactions with other children her age instead of living in the virtual world. Anywhere you read, you will find that studies show that children shouldn’t be exposed to television or iPads for more than two hours a day. So if this is the case then why do we have to embrace technology so much in our teaching? At what age are we supposed to binge teach with ‘fun’ games?
Such a good question, Sarah. The video Dr. Siko sent this week, of the baby trying to pinch and swipe on a magazine as if it were a tablet, honestly made me cringe. At what magical age should we start pushing technology? I imagine it's like anything else, and we should be using technology in moderation, as only one tool in a vast teaching toolbox.
DeleteThe deeper questions here are:
DeleteDo you want your child to be ahead or behind when it comes to technology, when they get to kindergarten?
Do you want your child to be ahead or behind when it comes to social and cognitive development, when they get to kindergarten?
Does the timing of exposure to technology affect their technical acumen or social/cognitive development?
Unfortunately, I am convinced that the AVERAGE parent has no idea how their child's technical ability will affect them in an educational setting. My experience in the classroom drives me to want my grandchildren to have a solid background on how to use technology. At the same time I want them to develop in the areas of social and cognitive development as well. I believe the old school term for this is "well rounded"!
DeleteDayna,
DeleteI have to strongly agree with you, moderation is the important dose. As Monica said, it is useful for kids to know how to use technology, but more importantly they need to learn how to socialize.
Rosio, I'm glad you brought up socioeconomic status and access to technology. I think it's very easy for people to assume that all kids these days have laptops and smartphones, and this is simply not true. I've also had students who've had issues accessing technology at home, and it's not really a fair option to make them stay after school or go to a library, especially since these same students often lack transportation. This obviously creates a challenge for flipped teaching methods, but it also might affect the extent to which these students benefit from using technology in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteThe readings this week did finally touch upon socioeconomic status, but said that it's pretty much been ignored in generational research! This seems like a massive oversight.
In regards to your comment about "the effect of social economic status in students tech life," one thing I have noticed is that although poorer families can not usually afford to purchase a computer for the home and pay for internet access, the use of cell phones have bridged most of the divide in access to technology. Most families have access to multiple cell phones which with the use of data plans, internet and free wifi gives them some access to technology and the internet. It is truly amazing the extent to how much access today's cell phone gives our students. Even in poorer, urban areas student as young as middle school often have access to a cell phone with internet access. As the phones are more affordable and continue to increase in usage, their use to bridge the gap can turn out to be a game changer for students who have access to computer access.
ReplyDeleteCarlyss, that's why mobile learning is such a game changer. Why worry about typing skills when we're moving away from keyboards? Why do we prohibit cell phones in schools; isn't that counterintuitive to bridging the digital divide?
DeleteWe prohibit them during lessons because unfortunately students are not using them for learning purposes. They just seem to be a distraction. But Mobile learning is something that’s been getting more popular between teachers these days. They figured that regardless of what they do, students are still using their cell phones in class. So, teachers have been implementing a lot of activities that require students to use their cellphones during the lessons. Simple things like texting the teacher the correct answer to a prompt increases the student’s motivation level and gives them something new and useful to do on their cellphones.
DeleteAs we discussed in one of the hangouts last week, the difference between the cell phone and a 1:1 iPad situation is the EXTERNAL communication and lack of network controls, which can create distractions.
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