Fear of iPods
First, thank you for your kind attention during the presentation Thursday. I think I reverted to my old journalism roots and thought I was being paid by the word - so I ran longer than I anticipated
At the end, some very astute observations and comments were made by our learning partners in the meeting and I’d like to share and clarify some of my thoughts with you.
First, as we were talking about the Generation M’s and I claimed they were perhaps the best students ever — let me restate what I meant. I don’t see them as the best “achievers” ever, but I do see this as the best time to be an educator. The “M”s are quick to get the didactic facts - but where they need our help is in the synthesis, relationships, connections. So as an educator, we can spend much of our programs talking about the higher level skills (which we all recognize they often lack) rather than teaching fundamentals.
The iPod let’s them isolate themselves (compare the iPod to the 1980’s BoomBox that was the size of a suitcase). SO we need to draw them into F@F and virtual social capital exchanges.
There is an entire conversation we could have about “spoonfeeding”, too, it would take a good weekend to complete!!!!
Next, please remember, you do not have to be a techno-guru-voodoo-king-or-queen. Think of the Apple commercial with the two men standing. Very simple, very un technical, very clear. Your digital story can be just as simple and still be effective.
Text messaging on the cell phone is not technical. In class it is nothing more than passing notes in grade school.
Finally, our colleague Dr Stebbins sent an email to me last night which describes exactly the Generation M experience.
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My 20 year old niece (employed part-time at Walmart) and her boyfriend (21, not sure if he is the father and is employed as a dishwasher) just had a beautiful baby girl. She is so precious…but I hold my breath and pray that they use this blessing to get serious in life. Oh my!
We went out for pizza with the new mom and dad and my brother and his wife. It was interesting that the young couple stay across from each other and “played” with their cell phones…text messaging (not sure if it was to each other), taking pictures of the baby, and making/taking phone calls. Hummm… signs of a different generation.
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This is generation M. It’s not just in school, this is how their live is. They take pictures and document everything they do. As an learning partner, can we encourage part of their comunity assessment to be sending photos from the community in real time? In Behavior, can the students go out and “capture” risk taking experiences on their cell phone?
Could you send a weekly quiz to students via text message and offer rewards for the first correct answer or posting to Blackboard?
This is how they live……..and thank you for your time, again!
