Pedagogy for Digital Natives
Brita L. Williams
Concordia University – Portland
Pedagogy for Digital Natives
Pedagogy, the art and science of teaching, is critical to creating a successful learning environment but useless if the instructional strategies are not applied with the learner in mind. Knowing the learner is more than recognizing an identified learning disability or a student who is an English Language Learner. Engaging the learner requires the teacher to discover how they process information, store it, and recall it later as needed. Effective teaching takes into consideration the cultural background of the students, including their fears and what inspires them. The different patterns of students thinking today is a reflection of their digitally infused culture.
Instructional Methods and Strategies
There are countless books written detailing a variety of research-based instructional methods and strategies on how to teach content to many different types of students. However, effective teaching is partnering with the student in learning (Prensky, 2012). It is about what the learner is learning and not about what the teacher is teaching. The content to be taught is already available to the students from numerous sources. Determining the most successful means of conveying that content is where authentic teaching begins. Creativity, which was thought to be relegated to the art and music classrooms, is essential to learning in the 21st century. Through creativity, students can learn how to apply and manipulate the content (MacArthur Foundation, 2010).
Changes in Strategies
Changing instructional strategies for teaching and engaging the digital native is critical for successful learning. One such strategy is to use the structural thought processing from digital gaming (Prensky, 2012). Game theory creates situations in which each chosen action can give different results with the objective of finding the best way to achieve the best possible solution. This type of student engagement eliminates monotonous routine and boredom in learning. Students learn to apply their random-access thinking skills to solve real-world problems (Prensky, 2012). Teachers can apply gaming theory by purposeful gamification of any content (Davis, 2014). Students today are no less competitive or motivated to succeed than earlier generations. The difference is, they expect immediate feedback and results so that they can make the needed adjustments and try again.
Conclusion
Learning is an active process involving different modalities of receiving information, applying new knowledge, and developing problem-solving skills. A constructivist learning environment where new knowledge is built on prior knowledge and prior experience promotes this process (Joyce, Weil, & Calhoun, 2015). Higher education will not survive without adapting to the processing methods of the digital natives. Traditional universities are still valuable for creating an environment of discovery and having professors who thrive on new ideas and provide mentorship and encouragement to their students (Christensen & Eyring, 2011). To uphold the value of a degree in higher education, the students need to recognize the potential for their future through the lens of a digital native.
References
Christensen, C. M., & Eyring, H. J. (2011). The innovative university: Changing the DNA of higher education from the inside out. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Davis, V. (2014, March 20). Gamification in education. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/gamification-in-education-vicki-davis
Joyce, B., Weil, M., and Calhoun, E. (2015). Models of teaching (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
MacArthur Foundation. (2010). Rethinking learning: The 21st century learner [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0xa98cy-Rw
Prensky, M (2012). From digital natives to digital wisdom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Brita,
ReplyDeleteYour post on Pedagogy for Digital Natives included conveying feedback to students. One area that you touched on concerning feedback and today’s learners was students today except immediate feedback and results so they are able to adjust and make additional attempts at learning material. I agree that immediate feedback is an imperative part of student learning; however, the way the feedback is shared is equally as important.
Stenger (2014) discusses meaningful feedback and how educators can provide such thoughtfully. The authors presents that how we as teachers share feedback can have great impacts on students motivation or lack there of. Further, Stenger references Psychologist and author Edward Deci citing his work on circumstances where feedback can be counterproductive. Deci states that feedback can be unfavorable when students feel monitored too closely, that the feedback is an attempt to control them, and when comments are shared in a group setting (Stenger, 2014, p. 3).
As an educator, what are your thoughts on these three findings by Deci? How can educators avoid providing students with immediate feedback without fear of abolishing student motivation?
References
Stenger, M. (2014, August 6). 5 Research-Based Tips for Providing Students with Meaningful Feedback. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/tips-providing-students-meaningful-feedback-marianne-stenger
Amber,
ReplyDeleteThank you for responding to my post. I teach classroom assessment at my University. There are two main purposes for assessing students, 1) To gather evidence of learning and 2) To motivate the learner (Williams, 2018). Feedback is just the teaching part of assessment. Feedback needs to equally address a student’s strengths and needs, regardless of the level of success achieved. Timely feedback is critical to the learning and should never be presented as an attempt to control the student’s action or progress. Students want to know how they are doing and want to know that the teacher is assessing to support their learning, continually. When people play games, they are being assessed along the way with rewards or having to start over. Sometimes the feedback is evident so they can correct their mistakes. When you cannot figure out what you did wrong, you generally do not want to play it again. Nobody wants to continue to be a failure.
Brita
References
Williams, B. L. (2018, February 8). How to make student assessments useful and productive. Retrieved from https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/useful-student-assessments/
Brita,
DeleteI always enjoy reading your perspective and hold it in high regards because I know you currently teach at a traditional university and offer a well rounded take on both sides. Your position requires you to have the face-to-face interactions with your students that we lack as online students. I think we can both agree that the online flexibility is suited for our busy work and family schedules but to some extent it holds its share of negative undertones. Christensen and Eyring (2011) are strong supporters of both sides of learning. They both advocate for traditional universities’ ability to provide value through mentorship and encouragement. They also address the value of technology in culmination with traditional layouts. My question as a result of their ideologies delves a little deeper into the possibility of having those types of experiences extend to the online community. What do you think would help replicate similar learning outcomes for online students as it pertains to their relationships with professors that they do not see face to face and are limited to email only interactions? I think we can both agree that some of the best learning experiences we have had within this program have been with professors we are able to communicate with either by phone or quicker feedback options. Do you think having face time opportunities through online learning may help improve those types of connections that we lack because we are not in a traditional setting?
Respectfully,
Darlys
Christensen, C. M., & Eyring, H. J. (2011). The innovative university: Changing the DNA of higher education from the inside out. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Dar,
ReplyDeleteThank you for responding to my post. I absolutely agree that learning is more effective if there is more interaction between the professor and student. People seem to forget that the ability to talk on the phone is still using technology. On the other hand, it is difficult as a professor to be available as needed which is why I have office hours. That being said, if I am in my office my door is always open anyway. If online instructors provided office hours to talk on the phone, that would help considerably. I have found it useful to even text a quick question which is less intrusive and time consuming. It makes the student feel like the professor really is invested in their learning experience and success.
Brita
Brita,
ReplyDeleteAs always, I really enjoyed your post. One of the most important points that you have made in your post is the fact that you correlate student learning and partnership. My Technical Writing students just completed an assignment that required that they write a proposal that addresses a problem- most of the students suggested different technological tools such as Twitter and Facebook to create an area of conversation between instructors and students. I agree that participation and communication (via conversation and feedback) are essential to student success.
Serena,
ReplyDeleteThank you for responding to my post. I feel strongly that feedback is where our assessment becomes part of teaching.
Brita
Brita,
ReplyDeleteTraditional teaching methods and pedagogy are not entirely averse to the learning needs of the digital native learner and for the most part remain valid today. What is needed is more of a modification in mindset. What I have discovered this week is when I pictured a typical student I pictured myself. I am not today’s typical student. The way I learn would never be compatible with that of a digital native; however as an educator seeking the best for students it behooves me to learn all I can about students so I may better serve their educational needs. In that I have come one step closer to learning the language of the digital native. What are your thoughts??
Dr. G
Dr. G,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your response. You are spot on with the concept of knowing our learners and teaching to their needs according to the way they think. I always tell my students when I am designing lessons or assessments, I always ask others if they make sense and if they seem applicable. Teaching and assessing to and for the way I think is limiting my strategies to only me and people who think like me. It is critical for teachers to be open to other ways of thinking so they can differentiate their teaching to the individual learner.
Brita