Technology based education
I am Graphic Design instructor and as such tend to be much more technology-based in my instruction. It would be good for me to keep in mind how intuitive the digital realm is to the GenY students as opposed to GenX, and possibly baby boomers who come through my class. But regardless, I feel like I need to get the older students up to speed. Are there any other technology-based instructors who have adapted their class for the older generations?
Germain,
this is a good point & one to keep in mind. The comfort with technology is the use of it, not necessarily in understanding how it works & their flavor definitely tends to the entertainment side of things.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I agree that not all younger people are so native to technology as may tend to believe. They are great at using technology to chat about daily activities on a very basic level, and play games, but using even basic word processing programs is often very difficult. Thankfully, I can identify with this as my generation was not digital by any means. So, being honest in showing them how I am still learning too can often create ease in my students. The trick is to stress that I AM learning, and want to learn to be better. Then, I invite the less experienced to learn WITH me.
I teach a number of different classes with students who come from a variety of generations. Some of the older students suffer from stereotype vulnerability where they will not ask me or their younger peers for assistance because they do not want to appear "out of the loop" in their understanding of basic technology. I have found it helpful to make some general assumption and translate them into dialog in the classroom about the idea that digital natives perceptions are everyone texts, understands computers and may on occasion even be able to program their DVD recorder at home. (this one is a stretch). Some open discussion tends to relieve some fear, angst and misplaced comprehensions students have regarding their peers. Not all younger people are digital natives as one might expect.
