I am in the process of reading Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times by Eric Sheninger. As I am reading this particular book, there was something that struck me.
Ian Jukes, Ted McCain, and Lee Crockett (2010) provide the following characteristics of learners today and the resulting disconnects that they are experiencing in schools:
- Digital learners prefer to access information quickly from multiple-media sources, but many educators prefer slow and controlled release of information from limited sources.
- Digital learners prefer parallel processing and multi-tasking, but many educators prefer linear processing and single tasks or limited multitasking
- Digital learners prefer random access to hyper-linked multimedia information, but many educators prefer to provide information linearly, logically, and sequentially.
- Digital learners prefer to learn "just in time," but many educators prefer to teach "just in case."
- Digital learners prefer instant gratification and immediate rewards, but many educators prefer deferred gratification and delayed rewards
- Digital learners prefer to network simultaneously with others, but many educators prefer students to work independently before they network and interact
- Digital learners prefer processing pictures, sounds, color, and video before text, but many educators prefer to provide text before picture, sound, and video.
- Digital learners prefer learning that is revenant, active, instantly useful, and fun, but many educators feel compelled to teach memorization of the content in curriculum guide.
When we read all of these characteristics of learners today, why do we keep doing the same thing that we have always done in our approach to education? Why are we so afraid of change? How do we connect with our students?
We must provide our students with learning experiences they prefer. Our students are digital learners. They want and need us to adapt to the changing times.
Jukes, I., McCain, T., Crockett, L. (2010). Understating the digital generation: Teaching and learning in the new digital landscape. Kelowna, Canada: 21st Century Fluency Project [copublished with Corwin.]
