Alice,
thank you for the great reminder of the value of technology. While there are challenges & it can become a nuisance at times, we all benefit greatly on a daily basis from the blessings.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I am part of Gen Y, though I consider myself more of Gen X; and to be quite honest, I'm right in the middle. From a personal view, I know that the expansion of technology has helped many people achieve things that would otherwise be an obsticle or unattainable. For example, I am an online college student; without the advancements of technology, I would not have been able to finish school or further my education. We live in a time where we are very busy individuals trying to balance work and family; and without the flexability of online schooling, I would not have been able to further my education or career,
I surely agree with this. Technology has made a lot of short cut in the learning curve. I am frustrated when just for simple math alone, student will ask for a calsulator. Elementary school kids are able to do addition, multiplication etc, some college students can't handle this because they are so used to calculators that are pretty handy.
I agree with everyone who said that the technology advancements have made students lazy. They do not have to put for much effort to do assignments when they can search the comupter for the answer or the comupter can check it for errors. Don't get me wrong, I think technology is great but it has definitley caused students to rely on it too much.
Michael,
this is an excellent point & one that I had not really considered. I think the key with this is that we teach them to be wise consumers of the vast information that is available.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I think technology has opened up Gen y learners to focus more on the hands on portion of their education, because they spend less time digging for information.
Thomas,
I would agree with you that I'm not sure the "power will go out" & I applaud your enthusiasm for technology. I would argue that there is a prime value on helping our students learn to research & think critically without the aid of technology. I have seen a decline in these skills among many in Gen Y. There does seem to be an overreliance on the quick, easy answers provided by technology. Now always bad, but we also need to learn to think for ourselves.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Wow reading through a slice of the responses to this question makes it clear that I am going to go out and by a few books on how to write, how to find information without a computer and store them in a safe for when the power goese out. Think of how rich I will get selling that knowledge! :)
Seriously, I understand the fears yet I welcome the technology and this generations use of it. Technology is such a profoundly useful tool to save time , to open up information sources. I wish I had had this access. All those Saturdays spent in the regional library just to find a couple of sources: I coudl have done without that. I also love it because I can instruct new ways of using technology for learning such as recording lectures that sync with note taking or recording a skill completion and using it for feedback and debriefing.
In thinking about critical thinking, is it really any better or worse to have the technology? I am not sure- don't think anyone is yet. Who is to say it will all collapse? And if it does, so what if we have to start all over from scratch. Teh here and now is what is important and technology is a wonder that assists us in many diverse and important ways and allows us to be better at meeting the various learning styles we see in our students.
June ,
this really is key for this generation of learners & not just the straight content, but the soft skills, such as communication, that they can learn are important for them as well.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I my experience, the Y Generation are having difficulty with understanding that becoming good at something actually takes time and practice. I teach culinary arts and the students of that generation seem to expect the skill and craft of cooking and knife skills to just happen. In the age of instant communication and internet at the fingertips there is a sense of impatience. I might be a bit old school but I hear a lot of students saying that they can "just look it up on the internet" if they want to know it. This thought process is not making a professional with a vast skill base it's making a slow professional that has to look something up before doing it.
I agree with most of the comments showing frustration about current student motivation and their lack of communication skills. Is there deficiency in demonstrating how these skills will be applied later in their career? Although to a point, I think I do it already, I shall try to show even more links to what I'm teaching with future practical career applications.
I think techology ahs greatly impacted the learning process of the Generation Y students. Generation Y students do not recognize what a type-writer or what it means to bang erasers to clean them. Technology has opened the door to so many learning options for students. Their schooling is based on technology and powerpoints as well as other computer based methods. It has given them more ways of learning and more ways of doing things.
I can appreciate the fact that many don't know how to spell, cannot write complete sentences or put thoughts together on paper well. I agree with your reply that they must be taught this.
Technology has been a blessing and a curse for this generation.
Many truly lack the interpersonal skills that are needed for person-to-person conversation, yet they can stare for hours on end at a Ipad.
In the classroom, I find that teaching concepts or skills that require the use of hands-on is initially difficulty, but eventually they discover that they can go for long periods without a device in their hand and they begin to make those personal connections with other peers. I do believe very strongly that they can learn these necessary life skills, but it must be taught and modeled by a persistent and understanding instructor.
Charles,
I agree with you & through this we can teach them appropriateness & appropriate use of technology.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Edward,
unfortunately this is often the case & we need to work with them to help them develop these lacking skills.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I think there is a time and place to use the technology in the learning process.
As a tool to do research or look up specifications? Yes. Do calculations or documentation? Yes.
To help with a test or lab final ? No.
I think that the instant nature of technology has caused a loss of necessary skills. I do not have any students in the Gen Y group who can write a research paper, put two sentences together that have a cohesive thought, use correct grammar, use capital letters, or punctuation.
They want instant answers and they don't want to do the research.
We do indeed teach them many things that they should have learned in high school.
Their lack of many skills is very frustrating.
Ned Littlehales
I am from the boomer group but enjoy the new technology. I have had a couple of classes that were almost all Gen Y and it was great. I was able to present the topic material using the technology available from the school, but we also had many open discussions about technology and its uses where I learned almost as much as them. They learned the background of how it worked on a nuts and bolts level and I learned some about how to use it in some creative ways. We all agreed that the class was worth the time.
The technology available now permits varied and creative ways to present information from text to graphics to animations, all help them envision what is going on. The material is also generally easy to create modify and reuse.
Sandra,
yes, this is true. This is the method in which this generation is accustomed to learning & we need to work to accomodate this while still using best practices.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Being a Gen Y medical instructor but learning from Gen X instructors, I can see how different the aproaches are.
The Gen Y needs more visualization, hands on and interactive tactics in the classroom, to be able to grasp the material and persue further knowledge
