Week 4 Reflection

What generational category do you fall in or are you a mixture of a few?

To answer this question, I had to ask and answer particular questions about how I see and use technology in my normal day.  Between writing on a computer and on paper, I find that writing on the computer is more expedient and accurate, but is distancing emotionally.  It is however my first choice.  I have become dependent on my electronic devices to remember most of what I used to memorize on a daily basis such as phone numbers. I do still prefer to go to meetings without a computer because I enjoy the face to face time that it offers.  I enjoy my time away from the world which is probably why I have never bothered getting a smart phone.  I do still carry my phone as a safety measure rather than to be connected.  Due to my life style being highly dependent on the digital world, while teaching at the same time, it has become necessary to be able to process and maintain multiple activities at once.  I tend to work on the computer, Sudoku, and watch Netflix simultaneously almost every day.  I feel restricted and held back when I try to do only a single thing at a time.  Games of any kind are a large part of my life.  I use them as a means to connect with my friends and make new ones.  They relieve stress and offer a good distraction from the daily grind.  Taking all of this into account, I’d have to say that I am securely imbedded in the Next-Gen category of student.  I am as Omni-everything as I can currently get.

Taking those characteristics that make up the Next-Gen category of students, it is imperative to start depending on technological alternatives as the primary means to educate these students through.  Information overload is the new norm and a singularly focused student is becoming extinct.  Instruction should revolve around the needed interactions that these students need, as well as the different modes of input and contributions that they obviously more familiar with.  Almost every technology project that we’ve completed is almost perfectly aimed at this type of student.  We need to step back and guide rather than teach.  Point rather than lead.  Ask questions rather than answer.  It’s time we teach the rules and let them play the game.  They’re good at those.