Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our education system was designed to teach. Changes evident in the 21st century learner, include the effect of social media on them, the drastic change in English and way of speech as a result of the frequent use slangs and abbreviations used in texting, and lack of motivation for learning as a result of the internet and easily accessible information. Due to social media and other online activities, students in the 21st century have very short attention spans and are easily distracted. Students are not as interested in doing schoolwork as they’re in finding out what their online friends are doing.
Popular social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Hi5 and many more are frequented by students who tend to seek attention from other online users and real life peers, students who lack self confidence and self esteem and find it easier to interact online than face to face with other
individuals, and other reasons. Having access to these social media sites and other online activities, serve as a distraction to the students as in the absence of a monitor, students may attempt to log in to these sites when they should be doing the school work they were instructed to do. The English and way of speech of the students has changed drastically as well due to slangs and abbreviations that texting and instant messaging has taught them.
As a 21st century learner myself, I have experienced challenges in writing essays, answering questions on test papers, and other writing activities as a result of using abbreviated words that are used in texting and instant messaging. Words such as “you” shortened to “u”, “are” shortened to “r”, and the list goes on. As a regular texter and instant messenger, these abbreviations have somewhat imbedded themselves in my psyche, so as a result, while writing I often times use the abbreviations instead of the actual words. Subconsciously, I couldn’t discern them but only during proof reading was I able to identify the mistakes. More students are exposed to technology today than any other period in time and are having there writing skills hindered as result of the overuse of slangs and abbreviations. Through the internet and easily accessible information, there is no motivation for students to learn, Information is so easily accessible today, it poses no challenge to students to go out and research, challenge themselves and others, and seek to learn more. They can access information from their computers, tablets, phones and other various technologies, giving them access to whatever they want at their whim. If work is given in class, students are more likely to look for it on the internet, submit it as their work and gain no benefits from the ‘research’, than going to a library, looking for a book on a particular subject, reading, assimilating and
accommodating the information found and making use of it to enhance their know edge range.
Social Media for one has affected teaching and learning and also policy decisions. As it relates to teaching and learning, though social media has its negative implications, it also has its positive implications. If students’ needs are catered for in a way they are comfortable with and have some
experience with the technologies around them, why not use it to teach them? Take Facebook for example, if students are monitored when using Facebook, and placed in educational groups related to their subject, they have a chance to share information, ideas and opinions in discussions and forums with individuals around them and around the globe. As it relates to policy decisions, The
internet provides a range of social media tools that allow users to interact with one another, for example from rediscovering friends on social networking sites such as Facebook to keeping up
with other people’s lives on Twitter and maintaining pages on internet encyclopaedias such as Wikipedia.
While recognising the benefits of these media for new opportunities for communication, the policies set out the principles that staff and service providers are expected to follow when using social media. It is crucial that pupils, parents and the public at large have confidence in the school’s decisions and services. The principles set out in the policies are designed to ensure that staff members use social media responsibly so that confidentiality of pupils and other staff and the reputation of the school and JTC are safeguarded. Staff members must be
conscious at all times of the need to keep their personal and professional lives separate. The policies apply to school’s governing body, all teaching and other staff, whether employed by the JTC or employed directly by the school, external outworkers providing services on behalf of the school, teacher trainees and other trainees, volunteers and other individuals who work for or provide services on behalf of the school. This policies also cover personal use of social media as well as the use of social media for official school purposes, including sites hosted and maintained on behalf of the school. The policies also futher apply to personal webspace such as social networking sites
(for example Facebook, MySpace), blogs, miniblogs such as Twitter, chatrooms, forums, podcasts, open access online encyclopaedias such as Wikipedia, and content sharing sites such as flickr and YouTube. The internet is a fast moving technology and it is impossible to cover all circumstances or emerging media - the principles set out in the policies must be followed in respect to the medium
being used.
Integrating technology in teaching and learning can also improve the quality of education for students. Students are extremely fascinated with games, colourful illustrations and other manipulatives. Using various technologies in education will help to grab students’ attention, reinforce prior knowledge, provide new information and provide different ways of bringing across
concepts. The process of integrating technology and learning is often ignored - perhaps due to it's associated complications or social resistance. Technology has incredibly interesting tools
to assist in connecting students with each other and with content. However, these two worlds don't seem to meet easily. Nowadays, if you walk into a classroom, important questions that should be asked are not being asked. Such questions include: are there computers and if so, how are they being used? Are they being used at all? Technology has revolutionized the way we think, work, and play. Technology, when integrated into the curriculum, revolutionizes the learning process. More
and more studies show that technology integration in the curriculum improves students' learning processes and outcomes. Teachers who recognize computers as problem-solving tools change the way they teach. They move from a behavioural approach to a more constructivist approach.
Technology and interactive multimedia are more conducive to project-based learning. Students are engaged in their learning using these powerful tools, and can become creators and critics instead of just consumers.
RSS Feed