The Techliterate Student Approaches

I will admit that I do not have the best technology skills as they relate to modern day media where the line between television, computer, phone, camcorder, camera, DVD player, navigation system and on and on and on has become increasingly blurred into a single electronic unit, such as iPhone.  This may or may not be good news for me or those reading the blog today because the next generation of kids that will wash upon our shores will know this world completely and will be looking for "apps" from us perhaps for our courses. 

To underscore this situation in more detail, Michael Carmel ran across a very interesting article in Community College Week, entitled Future Shock, that is an interesting read for our learning community indeed.  An excerpt from the article makes it clear that we need to prepare our selves for these students if we want to engage them in the classroom of the future if they attend class at all because of the growth of online classes and degrees:

...Even as community colleges struggle under the weight of the steady growth in their distance education programs, leading educators worry about how they will reach and motivate young learners who are populating schools around the country and growing up in a touch screen world. The ease with which they manipulate media underscores the need for colleges to keep pace with technological advances and adapt to the new learning needs of these students. They have a world of information at their fingertips, but may never set foot inside a college library...

I am seeing much of this first hand as my son grows up.  He has no fear of the computer and works it to do his bidding like I use my gardening tools.  He uses Facebook to do school projects as well as check in with ALL of the neighborhood kids to set the day's play agenda and where to meet up to kick off the event.  Not like you and I where we actually had to go door to door and ask, "Can ____ come out and play?"
To read the rest of the article, visit:
http://www.ccweek.com/news/templates/template.aspx?articleid=1850&zoneid=7

Got a news item that would benefit our learning community?  Please send along to mlalopa@fooded.org to have it posted.