POST 1: Thing #1 - Reflections on Lifelong Learning

Living in the 21st century deems that one becomes entrusted to be a lifelong learner. We must always explore new ideas, new technologies, and be looking toward the ever changing horizon.

Would you of imagined pausing live TV when you where a child? Did you ever think that everyone in your family would own and use a cell phone on a daily basis? When you used to sit around that black and white tv as a youngster did you imagine a world with over 500 channels available 24 hours a day with the “click” on the remote. What about the Internet? Did you ever imagine a time when information would be available to you with the tap on your iPhone or the click on your blackberry. What about teaching, what about the classrooms of today, what about the tools you have as teachers in a classroom? The classroom of today is far from the one room classrooms of the days of Little House on the Prairie and who would of guessed. Who would of thought, who would of imagined.

How can you be an effective teacher without being a life long learner and changing with the times. Adapting to new technology and new teaching strategies to teach the students of the 21st century.

Now enter today and your responsibility. What as a citizen of the 21st century is your responsibility and how do you plan on staying on top of the curve. Well, back to topic, life long learning is the constant search for new knowledge and skills. Life long learning is adjusting to the times, the technology, and the sociality changes. Life long learning is the bridge that connects yesterday with today and will forge the roads to the future.

Take for example this case study below. It points out the divide between tech savvy and not. What about tech savvy teachers and not…..

Case Study: The digital disconnect: the widening gap between internet-savvy students and their schools.

Arafeh, S. & Levin, D. (2002). The digital disconnect: the widening gap between internet-savvy students and their schools. Pew Internet & American Life Project Report. http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=67

The world of technology is greatly impacting how teachers teach and how students learn. A prime example is how distance education and eLearning are changing the curriculum and teaching styles in universities across the globe. The fact of the matter is that the world of eLearning is evolving so quickly that educators are experiencing the great “digital disconnect”. That is, students are quickly becoming Internet savvy as their schools and educators fall further and further behind with access and skills. A study was commissioned by the Pew Internet & American Life Project to conduct a review of the Internet’s Impact on Schools. The study explored how middle schools and high schools used the Internet for school and learning activities.

The data for this study was collected over a six-month period using focus groups and online solicitation of student stories. The focus groups were drawn from three major urban areas across the country of 12 middle and high school students each that were heavy Internet users. They were administered a questionnaire to help determine their school-related Internet use both in and out of school. In addition to the focus groups the study also gained further insight to student experiences and attitudes by the nearly 200 postings from students on the study’s web site.
Once the data was collected the researchers used content analysis to analyze the participants’ responses and stories. Many of the storytellers disclosed personal information to allow the researchers to characterize them, and of those the researchers were able to learn that they were not as diverse a group of students as our focus group participants. While our online storytellers were balanced by gender, the vast majority reported themselves as being White (85 percent) and in middle school (70 percent). Our online storytellers also reported being from 13 different states across the country, with the majority being from Midwestern or Southern states. The study produced data that represented a revolution in regards to how students learn and interact with society. A large number of today’s teenagers fall into the “internet savvy” group; that is they have been online for five or six years already, are highly technologically literate, have multiple e-mail addresses, multiple instant messaging identities, and usually multi-task quite well while online. It is suggested that 30% to 40% of teenagers fall into this group, and thus are growing a large cohort of the technologically-elite students that most definitely are going to define and create eLearning (Arafeh & Levin, 2002).

The students overwhelmingly mentioned and acknowledged that they could not live today without the Internet, for it has quickly become integrated into their daily lives. They conduct online research, they communicate with friends and relatives, and they buy movie tickets and music online as they download applications and music at the click of the mouse. They create web pages of self-expression and generate presentations for classes at school with the ease of breathing or opening a traditional textbook. One of the first differences indicated in this study is how different these students are from their parents, older siblings, and from the Internet not so savvy. They understand and believe that the Internet allows them to gain a clearer understanding of their schoolwork more clearly and more efficiently than without the Internet. The Internet also allows students to multi-task their academic and social calendars by balancing their schoolwork and extracurricular activities online (Arafeh & Levin, 2002).

The Internet served many purposes for these students. It provided supplements and acted as a virtual textbook that can be used as sources and references for reports and school activities. The Internet acts as a personal virtual tutor that students can use at the click of a mouse, and it also provides an online collaborative study group that is open 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Lastly the Internet serves as the student’s personal assistants by providing guidance on dating, careers, and academic paths as well as storing important files and information needed for school and their daily lives. The implications of the Internet on these students have been astronomical and the debate surrounding the use of the Internet in education continues (Arafeh & Levin, 2002).

The debate lingers on as the needs of the students and to what degree that schools need to adapt their curriculum, technology programs, technology access, and teacher training programs to prepare for these technology savvy Internet students. One item that I believe needs to be added is to include the non-Internet users to determine why they have chosen other paths than technology. As a whole the information in this study reported the overall trends in education and technology use and were a valid determination as to how students are learning and acquiring information in the 21st century. The world is changing at a pace unprecedented since the end of World War II and educators must adapt to the changing perspectives and expectations of students. Students themselves are now changing because of their use and reliance on the Internet; and with that they have different skills, different resources, and different expectations of what they should receive from education. The great “digital divide” becomes apparent when frustration reigns as the Internet savvy students become disenchanted with their schools, teachers, and peers who are naïve, illiterate, and often afraid of going online (Arafeh & Levin, 2002). This study most importantly indicates that a choice must be made. Educators must either step onto the information superhighway or be left behind by society and their technologically-elite students.

What will you choose?