CHANGE AND THE 21st CENTURY LEARNERS

Both articles hold a slightly different perspective of the 21st century learner. The first article says that the current learner doesn't like the traditional, orthodox method of teaching where students rely on traditional instruction. They prefer to be more involved in the technology. On the other hand, the 2nd article states that the reason behind authentic learning not being common in today's world is because not only the teachers but also the 'students’ often prefer the old traditional way.

The first article argues that the main purpose of technology is to make things faster, quicker and more efficient. This statement stands true but I couldn't agree with the analogy between cars/ electricity and education. I think that the use of technology to solve simple Maths has inhibited the ability to think. While cars reduce our physical stress if we were to go on very long journeys on foot it doesn't interfere with our thinking abilities.

Another thing that the article says regarding video games is: "What these games do provide is insight into engagement, not entertainment. Video games challenge K-12 and higher ed to foster engagement in learning." I agree that video games develop engagement in the learners, but only if used wisely. For instance, if a child is playing a video game and then has to go study, his mind would still be thinking about the game and he'll try to get over with his studies as soon as possible so that he can return to his game which he might have left on a crucial note. I am not entirely against video games. Video games can be very constructive only and only if they are played within a specific time and not all the time. I have seen many kids who spend hours and hours each day in just playing a video game. Kids keep playing games on their ipads while indoors or outdoors. Over dosage of anything is bad. I guess this is the part where the teachers/parents come into play. Teachers should encourage their students to play something constructive and to keep an allotted time for their entertainment games. Technology is a very beneficial tool if used the right way and it is the teacher’s job to teach the students to make good use of it.

Moreover, I agree with the fact that we, teachers, should understand the needs of the 21st century learners and change our teaching methods to those which are more suitable. "Faculty must therefore abandon the notion that a lecture and reading assignment are enough to teach a lesson". This is true. I have therefore implemented multi-media strategies to keep students in my classroom engaged. Also, I try to keep everything student centered.

Another important point that caught my attention was that it is very important for the teacher to communicate in the language and style of today's students. Being a religious educator, I feel there is a great need to relate religion to today's life and not of that many years ago. I give students real life scenarios to reflect and think upon and then to come up with their own solutions to a problem. My job would be to facilitate them and to guide them whether their solution was right or wrong. This is more effective than just directly giving them answers.

Also, collaborative team work is definitely better and more fruitful than the old individual style. I give my students group projects to do using multimedia technology so that they make the best use of technology and learn to work together as a team.

The learning spaces online provide a very engaging medium for today’s 21st century learner. They provide a very innovative platform for students to gain knowledge and not just gather information.

 The most important thing would be to prepare the learner for the world outside the classroom by linking the classroom lessons to real-life problems. This is dealt with in the second article.

While the first article explains the 21^st century learner as one whose world revolves around technology and explains how he/she prefers to learn and study, the second one deals with a system of learning, the authentic learning , which best meets the demands of today’s modern student.

The most important thing is to prepare the learner for the world outside the classroom by linking the classroom lessons to real-life problems. Authentic learning provides the exposure to real-world situations that a learner needs through simulations, role-play and problem-based activity. Technology is a real gem when it comes to this. For example, if a chemistry teacher were to just tell the students in a lecture the working of a nuclear reactor, many doubts would form in their minds. But, if they were to rather actually see its working in real they would better understand it. The magic of technology is that it can create virtual realities which are ditto to the real world. I am going to implement role-play and problem-based activity in my classroom from the coming semester. I liked the idea of the teacher joining the students as a co learner. The main aim should be to improve the education standards.

To conclude I’d quote this line from the second article "According to employers the most important skills in new hires include teamwork, critical thinking/reasoning, assembling/organizing information and innovative thinking/creativity." We as the teachers should drop our old methods and take up those which help our students to acquire all these skills. This can only be done with the help of technology. The 21^st century learner should be well-prepared to face the world outside of schools, colleges and universities. It is our duty to guide them and facilitate them along the way.

Student Engagement in my Project

The article deals with keeping students engaged through the idea of gamification, the key point being that in order to be fully immersed in a project students should both want and like what they are doing.  

I think that the thing about a game in general that keeps a person engaged is that it is not repetitive. Like the article said that a game is layered into many goals and typically there is more to every goal than its predecessor. There is always a new element at each level that provides a new challenge for the player and keeps him hooked as there is no monotony. Layering the game in increasing order of difficulty encourages the person to go on. As the article stated that 'engagement occurs when the brain is rewarded', when a person easily completes the relatively easier introductory levels, he/she feels elated at their accomplishment and have a renewed will to go on. Their 'victory' serves as a reward for their brain as it stimulates both feelings of wanting and liking. If faced with something difficult right in the beginning they might feel discouraged.

I liked the above mentioned ideas and plan on implementing some of it in my teaching. For example, instead of directly aiming for the 'boss battle'- which are the tests and exams students give-I plan on structuring a game like scenario where I would give students several activities and reward them with points. This method would even take homework in its stride and make it less of a burden and more of a challenge to the students. For example, after a class I could take a short interactive quiz from the students; this would also give me the opportunity of obtaining the feedback from the students. The students would be rewarded points for each correct answer. Using technology, I could use softwares like Microsoft PowerPoint to create interactive quizzes, crosswords etc. Then I could give them their homework project as a sort of a next level and again award more points. At the end of the week we can take one step forward and divide the students into groups and ask them to prepare for the big game where the groups would be competing against each other (a sort of a multiple-player game!). The students would have to revise and go through all the work done in the course of the week and then have a debate on the topic to hone their collaborating skills, as they would have to work as a team, as well as their thinking power and speaking skills. Here again technology would come into play as the students will make use of the web to gather information and research a given topic.  Then we could have a computerised question/answer round with a time limit. When the students pass a level and go to the next the time limit could be decreased, making it harder. The students could be presented with challenging questions where they would have to discuss and answer.  So basically by the time the date for the main test/exam arrives the students will already be well prepared and will not think of it as a burden.

I loved the idea of having somebody to both 'like' and 'want' something to keep him totally and whole-heartedly engaged. Being the educator, I could encourage the students to want to learn by outlining the benefits of being a well educated person at present  and in the future. Basically, the main reason that people study is because they 'want' to learn not because they 'like' to learn. Everyone wants to be educated and to earn a degree, but the liking element is mostly absent. They just think of it as something they have to do.  This is especially true for teenagers. They just want to pass high school so that they can enter into colleges and build their carriers. However, now through the implementation of gamification in teaching, students will also start ‘liking’ studying. Thus, by default, students will be kept engaged. 

Also, it is very important to set up goals and objectives prior to teachings. This will help the students to know exactly where they will stand after the lesson and what they should be looking forward to.

To top it all, one of the catchiest lines in the article for me were- 'During assessments, explain why answers are correct or incorrect, or provide links to where the appropriate information can be found. Never just say, "That's wrong. Try again."' This is very important and something we, educators, often miss out on. It is crucial to explain to the student why he is wrong and how he could correct himself.

In the end, it would be very necessary to reward the learner in front of his peers. A simple round of applause by fellow peers can do wonders in terms of motivating a learner and encouraging others to try and achieve the goal next time.

To conclude, I would say that gamification in a non-game context, ie in education, serves as an excellent medium to keep learners engaged.

Mobile Learning

There is a need to re-conceptualize learning for the mobile age to recognize the essential role of mobility and communication in the process of learning and also to indicate the importance of context in establishing meaning and the transformation effect of digital networks in supporting virtual communities that transcend barriers of age and culture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neZYE9gBIuE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dECs3SRh8Xo&feature=related

Many theories of learning have been advanced over the 2500 years between Counfucius and the present day, but almost all have been predicated on the assumption that learning occurs in a school classroom, mediated by a trained teacher. A few educational thinkers have developed theory-based accounts of learning outside the classroom, including Argyris(Argyris& Schon,1996), Friere (Friere, 1972), Illich (Illich, 1971) and Knowles (Knowles & Associate, 1984), but none have emphasized the mobility of learners and learning. For example, a search of the extensive and authoritative Encyclopedia of in formal learning (www.infed.co.uk, accessed June 2005) shows no reference to mobile learning.

A first step in postulating a theory of mobile learning is to distinguish what is special about mobile learning compared to other types of learning activity. An obvious, yet essential difference is that it starts from the assumption that learners are continually on the move. We learn across space as we take ideas and learning resources gained in one location and apply or develop them in another.

Second, a theory of mobile learning must therefore embrace the considerable learning that occurs outside classrooms and lecture halls as people initiate and structure their activities to enable educational processes and outcomes. A study by Vavoula (Vavoula, 2005) of everyday adult learning found that 51% of the reported learning episodes took place at home or in the learner’s own office at the work place, i.e. at the learner’s usual environment. The rest occurred in the workplace outside the office (21%), outdoors (5%), in a friend’s house (2%), or at places of leisure(6%). Other locations reported (14%) included places of worship, clinics, cafes, hobby stores, and cars. Interestingly, only 1% of the self-reported learning occurred on transport, which suggests both that mobile learning is not necessarily associated with physical movement, and conversely that there may be opportunities to design new technology that supports learning during the growing amounts of time that people spend travelling.

Third, to be of value, a theory of learning must be based on contemporary accounts of practices that enable successful learning. The US National Research Council produced a synthesis of research into educational effectiveness across ages and subject areas (National Research Council, 1999). It concluded that effective learning is:

1.       Reason from their own experience

2.       Knowledge, taught efficiently and with inventive use of concepts and methods

3.       Diagnosis and formative guidance that builds on success

4.       Sharing knowledge and supporting less able students.

These findings broadly match a social-constructivist approach, which views learning as an active process of building knowledge and skills through practice within a supportive community.  

    Mobile technologies to be employed as powerful learning tools in higher education; their current use appears to be predominantly within a didactic teacher centered paradigm rather than more constructivist environment.

It can be argued that the current use of mobile devices in higher education is pedagogically conservative and regressive. Their adoption is following a typical pattern where educators revert to old pedagogies as they come to terms with the capabilities of new technologies, referred to by Mloduser, Nachmias, Oren and Lahave (1999) as one step forward for the technology two steps back for the pedagogy.

Adopting more recent theories of learning has the potential to exploit the affordances of the technologies in more valuable ways.

Patten, Armadillo, Sanchez, and Tangney (2005)argue that the benefits of mobile learning can be gained through collaborative, contextual, constructionist and constructivist learning environments. This is supported by switzer and Csapo’s(2005) observation that mobile technologies afford learners opportunities for collaboration in the creation of products and for sharing them among their peers.           

     Mobile Learning and Education

Here is the you tube link to a PowerPoint presentation connecting mobile learning to education

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC50lZb_45E

Mobile Devices in Teaching and Learning

A variety of higher education leaders’comment on the use of mobile devices in  teaching and learning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEFXZomXs-o&feature=related

MOBILE LEARNING

Develop and deliver all types of training and learning content by mobile devices such as PDAs and Smartphone’s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=neZYE9gBIuE&NR=1

There are some ways to improve teaching through mobile learning; Inquiry based learning, Flipped classrooms, Skype…

Inquiry based learning:  

“Inquiry” is defined as “a seeking for truth, information, or knowledge seeking information by questioning.”     

The phones have also helped create a teaching style that the faculty refers to as “Mobile Enhanced Inquiry based learning”.

Combining mobile Phones and a learning theory that teaches through experimentation and questioning. Educators use the phones to deliver information, flash cards, key words and other basic information that students needs in order to come to class ready to discuss and experiment.

The following videos give an extensive insight into understanding what Inquiry based learning is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8Lh5MfyE-E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=sLQPXd8BiIA&NR=1

Flipped Classroom:

A reversed teaching model that delivers instruction at home through interactive teaching, the teacher created videos and moves. Moving lectures outside of the classroom allows teacher to spend more 1:1 time with each student. Students have the opportunity to ask questions and work through problems with the guidance of their teachers and the support of their peers creating a collaborative learning environment.        

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-y9vR7YTak&feature=relmfu

In many ACU classes one component of mobile implementation is lecture podcast’s which allows students to consume much of the information typically delivered in the classroom on their own time.

The idea is to free up teachers during class time for interacting with students and working through problems, a concept known as “Flipping the Classroom”.

It also allows students to pause and repeat information that they find confusing and they can work at their own pace.

Skype In The Classroom:        

“Skype announces collaboration with prominent organizations to further improve teachers with educational resources through technology by offering Skype in the classroom. The program will allow teachers around the world to connect and collaborate, share information find guest speakers and more.   

http://vator.tv/news/2011-03-30-skype-launches-skype-in-the-classroom

Conclusion:

The integration of mobile technology and constructivist learning theory is impacting educational environments. Researches and current practices are in their infancy and changing on a daily basis. What we know for sure today will surely change tomorrow but we have seen that constructivist learning theory and mobile technology are being utilized in increasing numbers and innovative ways. A need for professional development commitment and further researches as demonstrated by the information discovered at this time shows that there is a definite need for more research. It is our belief that our research has reveled that neither mobile technology nor learning theory is the answer to our education but is powerful to enhance the process.