Engage them or enrage them?

Week One

Reflection of Prensky's ideas



What a dilemma. Are the children that are currently making their way through the education system physiologically different than their educators? Has the fact that they're 'native' to modern technologies inherently changed the way that they can learn?

Want to know what I'm on about? Here are the links to Prensky's articles about the role of modern technology on the way that children and adolescents learn; Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants and Engage Me or Enrage Me.



He raises some interesting points. Do children today demand an entirely new structure to their learning? I really hope it's not that extreme. While I absolutely agree that technologies should be used in schools, and we should be constantly reviewing the best and most effective ways to use them in terms of academic achievement, perhaps the notion of scrapping all traditional methods of teaching would be ultimately detrimental. Because when it comes to real life, you can't always expect to enjoy every task that needs to be done. Sometimes you have to push through the dull and just get on with it and I believe that that's a valuable lesson for our kids.
There is certainly a place for things such as academic gaming as outlined by Pretsky. What a wonderful tool to get learners engaged with the content, to have them enthused about their learning. But should every lesson involve a first-person shooter style scenario? No. Nor should we use the old 'I write on the board, you copy it into your book' technique. I understand why kids would rather beat their heads on the desk than learn that way, I felt the same throughout my schooling. We need to find a balance. Yes, get the learners engaged and enthusiastic and make use of technology- we have so much valuable information at the tips of our fingers and it would be absolutely crazy not to capitalise on that. But perhaps there is virtue in the lesson that sometimes you just have to do things that you don't really want to do. Tough cookies, kids. Harden up.
To make my point incredibly simplistic, I have two kids, aged 2 and 5. They have enough toys to fill a skip bin (which I'm not going to lie, I have considered after stepping on one too many Lego blocks), and these toys seem to have invisible legs. I can get them all put away in their lovely toy boxes, then walk by 5 minutes later and step on yet another Lego block and the other 1400 toys that have found their way back on the floor. Now I've read plenty of parenting advice on online forums and so many say 'make tidying up a game! Kids love it!". That's fine, and we've done that a few times, with a dodgy made-up song thrown in for good measure. But sometimes, I simply don't have time for that. They just. need. to. tidy. up. their. toys. Whether they like it or not.
Today's learners may demand technology in the classroom. But I think we have a responsibility to mediate the ways it is implemented. Make learning fun, make sure there are plenty of games, but we shouldn't lose sight of the importance of hard work, perseverance and being responsible for their own engagement in their learning.