The 21st Century Student

 

The students of the 21st Century do not want to be lectured to.  They want to be respected and given the opportunity to be creative by using the resources available to them in this highly advanced technological era we call the 21st century!  The world's capacity of knowledge and data will soon be doubling every few hours. 

It is "inevitable, in such an environment, that change would finally come to our young peoples' education as well, and it has" (Marc Prensky).  Students who seem bored and disconnected in the classrooms are the same students that are highly engaged after school in iPhones, YouTube, television, etc.  This is the way they like to learn - via technology.

Students want to interact and connect with peers and compete with each other.  They desire an education "that is not just relevant, but real" (Prensky).

Understandably, there are always the skeptics, but rest assured today's students acquire knowledge in a totally different manner than of those in the past.  The world "they are headed for is different and important to them" and they have a lot of knowledge about it - maybe even more than what we haveAs teachers, we need to be aware of how technology can and should be implemented by students and what the benefits are. 

As I live and interact in this era of the 21st century, I can certainly see that the students of this generation are natives of technology, and thus the means by which they increase their knowledge. 

We as Educators must embrace this need and utilize the available tools to ensure the success of our students and their education.

 

Please take a few moments to explore the various tabs in this page in order to gain a deeper understaning of the different methods of using technology that we can implement as well as partnering stategies that we can use with our students in a way that meets their needs in this 21st century.