Technology

The world in which students learn today is quite different from the one their parents studied in. Many parents and teachers still expect students of today to learn the way they did a generation or two ago. Todays students are operating on a very different platform. The methods of engagement to begin with are quite different, primarily because of the technological facilities available to students today. Marc Prenskys article Educational Leadership highlights points such as these among others, and urges educators to reflect on how they engage their students for an improved learning experience.

The stage of engagement is most important to address because it sets the tone for teaching students today. It is motivation that follows this stage, and without these two features it becomes tedious to get them to learn effectively. According to Prensky, adults need to realize that students are completely engaged in the digital world outside school. Therefore, it is understandable that they are not motivated in school when they dont encounter a similar digital experience. Usually, one would be inclined to think that educators need to implement the use of expensive graphics or multimedia when a digital experience is suggested. However, what Pensky refers to is simply including gameplay. Indeed, this is what a lot of students are quite used to. The learning experience could be tremendously transformed with students demonstrating a very high level of enthusiasm.

Apart from introducing gameplay, students should be consulted when it comes to making decisions. Educators are no longer in the position to make decisions for students. Instead, educators need to take into consideration how students would like to learn and organize the methods of learning. In order to carryout any of this an educational institution must be flexible.

Students today are largely able to run programs on their own. So what educators ought to be looking at is encouraging students to widen their array of program operations. This will only help them to conduct more and more operations independently.

Educators should not hold themselves or students back by looking after legacies. Instead, they should now look for alternatives that can ameliorate future learning processes. This will help to reduce the gap between school activities and after school activities, which means the school could be as much fun as after school for students. If educators can accomplish this, they will succeed in empowering students in school as much as they are after school.