21 Century Students

st

and the skills they

need
How can we reach these
students and prepare them for
the world?
 Have you ever said…
“Our students don’t value education.”
“They just aren’t ready when they come to my
class.”
“I am tired of dumbing down my content.”

While these statements may be true at times, we

must also look at ourselves and at our
instructional design to help us provide our
students with the meaningful learning we know
they need.
 The differences
Students Teachers
 Prefer pictures,  Prefer text
sound, video  Learning is linear,
 Random learning logical, and
 Interactive sequential
 Collaborators  Independent and
individual in their
work
 Who are these digital natives &
what do they need?
Multi-taskers
Like sound
and images
to convey
content
See the
Internet as
the first
source for
information
http://www.ncrel.org/engauge/skills/
skillsbrochure.pdf
 What do these changes
mean for education?
Learning is a life-long
process where
adapting to change is
crucial.
Learning how to learn
is essential to
success.
Our strengths as digital immigrants

As digital immigrants, we possess

effective skills when it comes to
adapting to new ways of operating.
As their teachers, we are wonderful
models for lifelong learning.
 What are the educational
traits of our natives?
 Gravitate toward group activities
 A return to thinking it’s cool to be smart
 Identify more with parental values
 Fascination with new technologies
 Comfortable with diversity
 Crave interactivity
 Strong visual-spatial skills
 Prefer learning through discovery
What are the learning preferences
of these natives?
Work in teams
Peer-to-peer learning
Visual and kinesthetic activities
Learning through exploration
We know that we are here to educate our
students, not “make them happy”, but
student engagement is important to the
process.
What do they need from teachers?
Be a participant in the learning process.
Teach quickly and allow for several
pathways to the end result
Use technology to extend the time and
meet individual needs
Collaborative opportunities for group/team
projects
How am I supposed to do this?
My answer to you is…
a little at a time.
Add new tools to your skill set,
and work them in as you feel
comfortable. Ask me for help-I
would love to work with you.