Thoughts regarding "Age of the iKid" - from NAEA magazine

I was reading my NAEA magazine July 2011 Volume 64, No. 4, and thought I would share some of the inspirational lines that popped out at me from the article "Age of the iKid".

In summary, the article was talking about how students today are not going to be engaged in the "old school" tactics of reading in a textbook, then writing on a piece of paper because technology is so strong in their everyday lives, the old school tactics are almost a "step-back" in their evolution. As we all know, with each generation of children, the technology grows exponentially and in order to keep moving forward, we can't expect our younger generations to learn in the same manner that we did, by reading a basic textbook and then taking a pen and paper and writing a paper or completing a test. This does not engage our students, it doesn't even compute with them.

pg. 6 Some questions that we need to ask ourselves when designing a lesson or unit: 1. What skills are needed in this changing world? 2. What does today's learner look like? 3. What unique challenges do today's students face in educational systems that remain static? ...we see this not as a reason to disregard our origins and begin from scratch, but as an opportunity to build upon our foundations, reflect about the changing world our students (and ourselves) inhabit, and capitalize on the nature of art and artists to value both vision and ability to see and imagine what can be.

Gardner, 2007, p.7 I believe that current formal education still remains basically a preparation for the world of the past, rather than a preparation for possible worlds of the future.

pg. 7 Instead of expecting students to forgo the meaningful connections they make outside of school in "their world" for the confines of discrete classrooms, we propose an alternative. Teachers need to acculturate themselves to the lives and learning styles of these 21st-century students.

pg. 8,9 When thinking about how to connect with the iKids, here are some tips:
1. iKids have grown up learning how to read visual images, resulting in visual systems that are reflexive and intuitive. Think juxtaposition and interplay of visual and verbal elements.
2. a billboard is a dialogue instead of a monologue, much akin to the way students relate to their world today. Often facilitated by technology, learning and knowledge are acquired by doing. (this article makes several comparisons with billboards)
3. perhaps one of the most important skills students need to develop is the ability to synthesize this apparent inundation of information and imagery in a meaningful way. ...things that are apparently unrelated are often combined to produce a new and richer whole.
4. Ironically, though the iKids are technologically connected on an unprecedented scale, they are often isolated, and therefore disconnected from human interactions. By focusing on enduring human ideas and broader issues (whether it be in local, national, or international front), the iKids are poised to become truly global citizens. We should best prepare them to live in a "global civil society".
5. Knowledge is acquired, of course, but in a context and for a purpose. (Kohn, 2004, p.9)

**IT IS THE EMPOWERMENT THROUGH MEANING MAKING THAT IS SIGNIFICANT FOR THE IKIDS.**

p.10 We propose that the iKids, in particular, learn best from thoughtful projects with embedded opportunities to make meaning and connections to their own lives - whether technological or not - assignments that capitalize on their unique abilities.
...students build upon their personal experiences, as well as information and knowledge from across disciplines to create something new.

students often wonder "what opportunities do I have to connect and make this information my own? How does this relate to me and my world?"

p. 11 our relationships with students are key and 'we need to use the technology tools, learn the digital dialogue, and understand and better relate to our students' (Sprenger, 2010, p.8)

...we envision schools not as a container for discrete subjects, but a framework for understanding across disciplines, providing students with opportunities for individual meaning making as well as engagement in the time and place in which students live.

So basically, we (as educators) need to get with the program. We need to keep up with the learning styles that culture and technology are training and creating within our kids. Instead of expecting students to disregard their personal experiences and leave behind "their world" to join a classroom of the past, we need bring the classroom to their world and bring it into their personal experiences. Yes, it's a little thinking backwards, or better yet, putting you in their shoes and asking yourself, "How can I make sense of this? How can I put myself in my student's shoes and understand this material?"
I have to think, how can I advertise this content like facebook or a video game in order to get their attention and make it a dialogue instead of a one way information street. How can students synthesize this information? How can all these puzzle pieces make a new picture? What is that new picture? Can we connect this new picture locally, nationally, globally and connect the students to this using technology? All of these questions will lead to meaning making for students, somewhere along the line, a light bulb will go off and they will make a connection and see themselves within that connection.