Given that mobile culture is evolving more rapidly every day and that young people are leading this evolution (don’t hesitate to argue with this statement if you disagree), there is a growing cultural gap between ‘learner’ and ‘teacher’ demographics that will inevitably become even more challenging to effective education. What symptoms of this cultural syndrome have you witnessed, and how do you think they can be resolved?
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I continue to struggle with phone use in the classroom. It really is an extension of the body for this year’s grade 8 generation. They’re brilliant and refreshing – a form of motivation I haven’t seen in older students. But they really do rely on their phones for both good feelings and bad. Productive engagement or for entertainment. Self-regulation or doom-scrolling. No matter my practice, new classroom rules, or reminders, it is a constant battle of phone addiction. I have a phone hotel in my classroom but negotiation ALWAYS takes place. When students come in, they say “good morning” and off they go to play on their phone. No extended conversations, no reviewing, just dwiddling with their fingers until all students arrive for attendance and to start the block. I am fond of their familiarity of devices but I feel sorry for their generation’s idea of technological norms. My students prefer their free time or to start off their day with 5-min phone breaks. It’s what keeps them happy. They are willing to work in the classroom, so long as the condition is met to access their phones, the instant a task is completed or an expectation is met.
Recent news regarding various jurisdictions banning mobile devices or limiting their use in class is causing controversial discussions concerning mobile culture and usage between learners and teachers. Some areas, such as mine, allow and encourage personal computers or tablets but prohibit cell phone use. There is a big disconnect between what students want to use in class and what is permitted.
Mobile devices can impact students’ attention spans and overall learning. When used appropriately, mobile devices can enhance learning by providing access to information, enabling collaborative projects, and offering interactive educational tools. However, this issue is complex, as many students engage in non-academic conversations on their mobile devices during class. Classroom management can help, but a significant challenge is teachers need more practical training on mobile device use. Teachers who successfully integrate technology into their classrooms can share their knowledge through professional development.
Parental guidance on using these devices effectively is not just crucial but empowering. Many students learn to use mobile devices from friends rather than parents or teachers. A rise in the use of internet slang, distinct communication protocols and culture (Memes, for example) has emerged among many users. Encouraging parents (and, by extension, schools) to model and discuss appropriate device use can help bridge this cultural gap.
Collaboration and communication between parents, teachers, and students is necessary and crucial. They can establish guidelines that balance technology’s advantages with effective learning environments by working together. Open communication and ongoing education about responsible mobile device use are key to bridging the cultural gap and fostering a sense of unity and shared understanding.
In the corporate training space, the statement about young people leading this evolution of mobile culture is nuanced and not as clear when applied as a blanket statement. In my work, I support employees that work in supply chain and procurement within the provincial healthcare system, and one area that has been top of mind in the past year or so is the role of innovation in what is being procured on behalf of the province. This applies not only to how they procure these items from supplier but also suppliers are developing innovative goods and services that can benefit everyone in the system.
I like applying that thinking to my role as an educator as well and look at innovative ways to drive engagement in how employees can learn on the job, and I know I am not alone in this thinking. I have worked with people older than myself that are proponents of mobile learning and supported this idea as it’s become clear through feedback that employees want to prioritize flexibility in how they learn. I can see this in mobile learning and particularly microlearning as a pilot to be rolled out for employees to tap into resources when they are able to. So, I would say it is less to do with age in my experience, and more to do with people in the right positions that create the environment for mobile learning to take place.
Of late, I wonder whether addressing a cultural gap is actually the correct question here. Yes, young people will continue to lead the evolution with their connection to their devices and ability to keep up with trends. In my classroom I see that mobile culture can bring innovative and exciting things to the educational field, yet is also making it more challenging for students to be present, in the moment, and focused on what is actually best for them. Perhaps an educator’s role is, as much as it always has been, to be grounding, to bring perspective, and to draw attention to technology use that is actually healthy and personally beneficial. I agree with Dr. Vogt’s assertion that teachers are just as addicted to and distracted by their devices. Lately, I disagree, however, with the sentiment that rather than limit use in the classroom we should embrace it. I am far from anti-technology, and I fully embrace its benefits, but I also wonder whether what my students actually want and need is to create (at least sometimes) a haven from the pressures of mobile technology. I’ve been experiencing classes where students are ASKING to work more offline, to put phones into bins because they don’t trust themselves to avoid their social media accounts in class. More studies (such as this Yale publication: https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/social-media-teen-mental-health-a-parents-guide#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20research%20study,including%20depression%20and%20anxiety%20symptoms.) are emerging emphasizing the harmful role of too much time spent on social media on teens.
Yes, I use mobile technology in class and try to narrow the cultural gap by interacting with my students and sharing our experiences. I am also increasingly trying to narrow that gap by role modeling time when mobile tech is put away and we are more present together, focusing on our own health, discussion, and connection.
I agree with the statement that young people are leading mobile cultural evolution to the extent that the digitally-savvy of all generations and ages are leading this change, and some of them may be juveniles. Young people may have more sway in social media and digital consumer literacy rather than a more educational approach of diverse innovations but there is no doubt that it is the virtually foresightful elders who have been funding technological projects that have allowed for today’s digital revolution. Taking these questions into an educational setting, symptoms of the cultural gap syndrome include the jargon and features to optimize functioning of the device. Temporarily adjusting the variables of the question to also include a child and parent paradigm, I give an example about my mother, a 75-year-old, relatively tech-savvy baby boomer and myself, a 45-year-old, relatively tech-challenged Generation Xer.
The analogy takes us back to the mid-1980s, when my Canadian family living in Northern Ontario got our first cordless phone, a memorable mobile communication-for-privacy event. I remember my mother holding the clunky phone in her hands, giggling at the fact she was able to do so on the couch, where she lay on her torso waving her feet in the air like a teenager. In fact, she would have been ten years younger than I am now, but my mother grew up in an era of rotary phones and party lines while I grew up in the decadent 1980s. As my younger sister and I tried to teach her, she did not know many of the terms we was speaking to help her use the phone. By the time my family had purchased this phone, I had already been using it at friends’ houses and was familiar with the features and affordances. I remember teaching my mom seemingly basic skills like how to hang up the phone by button, digital answering machines and the early privacy infringements of *69 last call check (throughout the years). Nowadays, I find myself providing the same lessons to her about mobile technology and social media, like not sending personal messages to the family group on Whatsapp, not understanding emojis and acronyms, and not needing to reintroduce herself every time she sends a new message or, more recently, voicenote (“Hi, it’s me, mom again….). While many of these missteps are harmless and humorous, there are dangers, such as breaching privacy or getting scammed, as happened just yesterday (unsuccessfully) by someone over text alleging they were me and asking for money [$2000 cdn!!] to replace a cell phone that “took a swim.”) I was shocked my mom let the interaction get so far, but it was a stark lesson showing us how tech-savvy digitally literate scammers have become. Digital consumer literacy is a major areas sorely needing online attention and education. I suspect the Internet of Things and Smart Cities will be vital players in this unfolding drama of online consumer protection
To address the gap between learners and teachers, I immediately asked: Can we organize an event where learners and teachers learn and share together?
In the world of ever-evolving technology, students are often more tech-savvy than teachers. However, when it comes to learning opportunities, teachers lead the way. If we approach teaching with enthusiasm, we keep learning ourselves.
But the challenge lies in the constant evolution of mobile culture. It may seem daunting, but with a positive perspective, teachers can embrace this change. I believe that teachers are perpetual learners, and we can create opportunities for both students and ourselves.
Just as we encourage students to ask questions for better understanding, we should also take the initiative to seek knowledge. What’s unique about us is that we can design a curriculum where students teach us what they know. For example, I would picture a collaborative setting with different app stations. Students guide us in using these apps, and we, in turn, integrate them into our lessons. As students become teachers and evaluate our lessons, they also discover their full potential with these apps.
Dependency is the biggest cultural gap I see. While I am not the oldest teacher, I still remember a time without WIFI or smartphones. As such, I do occasionally make an effort to remove myself from technology becuase I understand the change it brings to my life and mental state. However, students today have never been without a device, never been without internet, never been without instant gratification of their every entertainment want and I struggle with getting them to understand how dangerous that is and how beneficial is can be to unplug from the mobile world.
CULTURAL EXCHANGE
It is true that my Canadian learners were much better at modern technology than me. However, it was not a barrier; it was a peculiarity of our communication, beneficial for both sides.
For example, I am very interested in the generalization of knowledge that I already acquired, and therefore, I tend to turn what I know into ideas easy to remember.
As in any area of knowledge, there are some pragmatic considerations in teaching a foreign language that cannot be found in the textbooks because they are too specific, for experts only. Those gems are spilled into publications of specialized journals, and my task as a teacher and a researcher is to find, rethink, and apply them to my classroom in the best way possible. This is what I did when I weighed, say, Simple tenses against Progressive tenses for international students, instead of just meticulously learning those tenses one by one.
I always recommended my international students keep their copybooks, exercises, and links that I utilized in the ESL course for their younger siblings and other relatives.
Besides linguistic and methodological questions, international students always seek advice on language examinations, immigration, and adaptation. I am not an immigration lawyer, but I immigrated almost ten years ago, so I can share my personal experiences with them as well and help them if I can.
In their turn, my students never hesitated to solve any technical problems in the classroom. Since most of them already had some postgraduate technical education from their native countries, they were supposed to transfer to something like “Network Connections” after finishing the college ESL course.
So, I was giving my very busy students my concentrated knowledge, and they were sharing what they knew with me. It looked like a win-win situation, as far as I am concerned. Thank you!
I agree with previous commenters who have argued against the younger generations leading the evolution. So many students have no idea how to actually use all of the functionality of their mobile devices, other than using certain apps to scroll through. Additionally, they are surprised when I know what they are referring to, and can clap back with up to date pop culture references. I’m old, not dead! I grew up with the technology evolving as I used it. Our first computer was a 386… and I was super excited when we upgraded to a Pentium! However, these kids are jumping into a game that has been played for the past 30-35 years, and are trying to learn all of the steps at once; like stepping into a high level video game character and having no idea what all of their capabilities are because you’ve never seen them before. That being said, the gap can be bridged if we can teach students some self-regulation techniques, so that not every interaction comes from a screen.
I believe that one of the gaps in mobile culture and its integration into education stems from a difference in belief of efficacy. Many educators who were trained or grew up before mobile devices rose to such prominence may have doubts about their ability to impart and access knowledge, preferring static resources such as textbooks because it increases familiarity. Some may also view mobile technologies as fads due to the trends that emerge (TikTok, Fortnite, Facebook, etc.), even if those fall into the categories of content rather than mobile technologies. As an antithesis, those who are completely immersed in mobile technologies may be dismissive of traditional teaching methods, despite the authentic value some of those practices may bring. Educators are given the unenviable task of trying to modernize content and methods to meet a population experienced with mobile technologies. For educators, continuing professional development becomes a necessity, as well as the practical demonstration of the abilities of mobile technology from those with experience. Furthermore, the integration of new resources that capitalize on mobile tech should become a priority investment for any school board.
I believe if we shift the attention from a teacher-centered to a learner-centered education system, we wouldn’t have to think about the demographic differences between the educator and the learner. The gap will be much smaller if we changed the roles assigned to both the educator and the learner. Educators should use their experience and wisdom and listen carefully to what the adolescents are saying, thinking, and doing to guide them to achieve their goals and not provide them with the tools to work with. The gap here is the tool that is used to achieve “knowledge” and we as educators shouldn’t decide what tools learners use to attain that.
We’ve Got You Covered!
I deliberately move through the space, divining for cell bars, eyes fixed on the feeble lone bar. Despite the promise of a new standard that connects me to the future, my call broke up and then dropped for lack of coverage, a too familiar experience for remote and rural phone users in Canada.
“Blasting past fast” and “How fast will it go? Promises, promises, promises! Even with a wireless 5G device, I spoke to dead air in a supposedly reliable 5G network area.
The cultural gap in education is more than technology adoption and use by the generations. It is a significant gap for those lacking connectivity because they live in sparsely populated areas and/or cannot afford the costly data plans. My connectivity issue was an inconvenience, yet for those with perpetual connectivity issues, it limits their future.
A modern network should cover all who live within Canada regardless of location or income.
Starlink seems to have solved internet connectivity, accessibility, and affordability issues in other countries while Canadian connections continue to fall on the far end of those spectrums. While many of the disconnected, unconnected or poorly-connected communities are predominantly rural and Indigenous, BC has been working towards a plan for full provincial connectivity by 2027.
https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2024CITZ0007-000557#:~:text=Through%20the%20Connecting%20Communities%20BC,the%20Declaration%20Act%20Action%20Plan.
When the majority of the world will have been already connected for three decades, why the delay for first world First Nations?
I’ve never really thought about the demographic difference between learners and teachers. If I were to speak from an international student’s perspective, I can sense the difference between North American and Asian educational systems. Due to the overarching educational policies enforced by the government, my K-12 education follows a strict 12-years study plan that’s not an ideal incubator for creativity or independent thinking. I couldn’t speak for everyone but from my personal experience, the learning experience is fairly task-oriented. An outstanding report card means a lot to parents and teachers. While studying in Canada has given me more freedom to choose the subject that I love, and to do projects that fuel me up. On top of that, team collaboration and teamwork are highly valued. There is more freedom given by teachers to allow space for creativity and personal growth.
What else I noticed from the mobile culture gap is how intelligent digital natives are compared to babyboomers and other generations who are exposed to online learning a lot later. These days, some kids can master a game within a couple of hours. Which I admire and would never be able to accomplish. Imagine how mobile technologies can create barriers between learners in their 10s and teacher in their mid-30s. I know surely I can’t keep up with the game if there is one in my class. One possible solution is to assess learners’ areas of interest and select the appropriate learning tools that fit their needs. This process will involve more efforts in assessment and evaluation. But I do trust that the results will be more favourable than simply complying with an outdated curriculum plan.
I do believe that the young generation is leading the evolution of technology. I also believe that we as young people need to remind ourselves, there was things we didn’t know either. For example, when we are ages 1-5, we need excessive amount of assistance from our parents or guardians. We need help eating, dressing, playing, and even going to the bathroom. Therefore, someone asking you to show you how to use technology should be a reasonable request. I recently had a conversation with my students about how they felt when older people asked them for technology support. Most of them sighed and explained “how annoying it was.” I then introduced them to an activity called “Userinyerface”. Although this activity is designed to support the principles of appropriate design, it also shows young people how it feels to not understand technology. We are used to navigating through tech at a high pace, we evolved alongside technology and have become effective troubleshooters. This activity makes things much less efficient and forces you to search through information to get to the next step. After the activity, I asked my students how they felt. All of them responded with how frustrated they were, and had a much different outlook on understanding why our parents may not be as tech-savvy as we are.
If you want to give this activity a go, here is the link (unfortunately, it is not mobile friendly): https://userinyerface.com
I think that’s a great activity to have the students try and explore. As well as give a pretty good example of why good design is important, frustrations with technology for those who don’t have the same experience with it is a good thing for everyone to understand. I know I’ve gotten frustrated with my parents in the past for not understanding what I’ve explained, but we’ve had completely different experiences and I’m lucky to be able to know how to find the information I need to continue.
I work with students with disabilities who may encounter barriers associated with educational technology. Some barriers include images that do not contain alt text for use with text readers, instructors who do not know how to extend the length of an assessment in Moodle for individual students, and students who didn’t realize that there were apps available for taking notes. I think one of the underlying gaps for instructors is time and funding to learn how to leverage technology. I empathize with instructors who are teaching multiple sections at a time feeling frustrated that there is so much to learn and about technology and having to squeeze it in to an already tight schedule. Younger instructors who may be more tech savvy may not find learning new technologies as challenging, but for an instructor who has spent most of their career teaching face to face (F2F), the last two years have been a challenge. Teaching and Learning departments in universities are providing resources like videos, workshops, and text instructions, but it still takes time to run a recorded lecture through Kaltura for captioning and learning how to do it if it is a new process for the instructor. The answer may be for institutions to hire departmental tech support to help take some of the load from instructors so that they have the time to learn and are not trying to learn ad hoc, while putting out fires as urgent situations arise (like implementing a student’s accommodation plan).
I would say that, although there is a generational factor to the cultural gap, there are also other dimensions to consider. For example. socioeconomic status. There are probably lots of “older” people that are more engaged in the mobile culture (and shaping it) than younger people simply because of an accessibility factor. So perhaps accessibility and engagement with mobile technologies are what could ensure that people from different generations can belong to the same mobile culture. Also, let’s consider that the differences perceived in mobile culture between different generations may not be a technological component, but a biological one. There will always be differences between children, teens, young adults, adults, and elders.
I agree with you Eduardo, from a global point of view, it is much more the socio-economic inequalities which are, in my opinion, what is the most important gap. There will always be differences between generations and the technology of tomorrow may be less familiar to us than today, because being older, we have other interests or simply fewer opportunities to appropriate this new mobile technology (being less mobile!). Here is a very interesting article on the “digital divide, the fact that some people lack access to the necessary technology for fully participating in modern, daily life”. (Angela Siefer, director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA). https://mashable.com/article/what-is-the-digital-divide
I feel lucky in the sense that I grew up in the 90’s learning about computers and technology and exploring how to problem-solve to help my parents with tackling this new technology and I have been pretty quick to pick up a lot of things. I think the gap does lead to some interesting dynamics. Just the other day, a fellow teacher was telling me how one of their grade four students game them advice on how to teach a subject and a website they could use for engagement. Initially, I found this a bit shocking because I was never someone who would give “advice” to my teachers as a child but I also think that we can be more open to this idea as well. My students showed me about a new app they use to edit videos as I edit slideshows and virtual assemblies for my school and I have not been learning how to use it.
I just saw this an realized I meant to say “I have “now” been learning how to use it”. I did not mean to use the word not.
When we look at mobile culture gap, we need to take a look at what people think about mobile phones. Pew research looked at people’s attitudes toward mobile phones and concluded that they tend to be largely positive. However, there is concern about the impact of mobile phones on children in the society. The concern isn’t as much about the time spent on them but more on the harmful or inappropriate content.
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/03/07/majorities-say-mobile-phones-are-good-for-society-even-amid-concerns-about-their-impact-on-children/#majorities-in-most-countries-say-mobile-phone-use-has-had-a-good-impact-on-education-but-fewer-see-positive-impacts-on-children-health-morality
I don’t really have a solution, nor do I think this necessarily needs fixing, but I just wanted to share something I’ve witnessed. In regards to this post below, the Mobile Culture Gap was described in relation to generational gaps (i.e. generations after the baby boomers are essentially tech natives). However, I wondered if anyone else has noticed a gap in terms of geographical cultures? After spending some time in Asia, it seems like regular folks in the east, particularly baby boomers, are noticeably more tech savvy (i.e. texting speed, app usage, etc.).
https://virtual.educ.ubc.ca/wp/etec523/2017/09/21/37249/
I think all generations have something to offer in terms of technology and culture; it’s just that we all have different interpretations of what defines our culture in these mobile spaces. I am in a lucky spot right now in that I am just a decade or less apart in age from my students, so many of their trends and jargon is recognizable for me. Sometimes, they talk about topics outside my understanding, and I would ask them to teach me. Putting a genuine interest in the other would be the first step. It’s hard to learn about the other side if no one is willing to open their mind and accept there is no perfect cup of tea that fits everyone.
I do argue the statement that, “young people are leading the mobile culture evolution”. Being part of the world / industry creating the mobile tools, I can tell you that many who are doing the developing and steering the creativity are my age or older (and though I may look like a Spring Chicken, looks can be deceiving). I also argue this from the perspective of someone who teaches digital media to a wide range of ages, and while some older people are fearful of getting started in creating, once they’ve immersed themselves, they often end up building something far more creative. Having said this, I think we are all creating mobile culture and that there are different cultural norms within different sub sectors of the population. Keeping this in mind, I think really we can all learn from each other. There are things I learn from my nieces and nephews, and there’s a lot they can learn from me. Being an educator is not about knowing it all, rather it is about facilitating the learning, as David is ultimately doing here, so that we can all learn from each other.
I think closing the mobile culture gap between teachers and learners is largely a question of attitude. Though there are certainly exceptions, to this I think that as educators we might be too quick to “demonize” mobile culture and technologies, and we jump to punishing our students when they have their phones out in class, assuming that they are engaging in the time-wasting apps and activities (ie. social media, games) of today’s mobile tech. Though at times this may be the case, I had an eye opening experience this week while teaching. A grade nine boy had one airpod in, a chromebook open and his phone in hand while we were about to start a lesson on DNA and protein synthesis. I was quickly on his case, asking him to put it away, when he showed me that he had a doc open on the chromebook to type notes, the google slides up on his phone to follow more closely and an airpod in so that if we watched a video, he could listen along and see the CC better on his device. I was genuinely suprised, and felt badly for jumping to conclusions! As with all changes in education, is the first step to bridging the mobile culture gap a matter of opening our minds and changing our attitude?
More teachers need to have these encounters of the next generational kind like this. Reading this confession was an incredible example of educators open growth mindset willing to learn from students. Thank you for sharing this educational confessional!
I think the mobile culture gap will begin to close as the digital native generation fills out the field of professional educators and educator training adapts to the current education model. The gap will close as today’s students become tomorrow’s teachers. With this in mind, I think, for the time being, it is important to recognize and take advantage of the new role of educators in our mobile world. The role of the educator has shifted from a giver of knowledge to a facilitator of learning processes. Educators need to embrace this change and not fear it. While technology has replaced some aspects of the educator’s role, new aspects form and educators need to fill these gaps. In my opinion, professional learning and development and community building are the way forward for educators currently. Educators can use mobile technology to form professional communities and form learning conferences, allowing educators to connect across school boards and even countries. Educators could build mentoring relationships, share successful and unsuccessful ideas and share knowledge about mobile technologies and pedagogy. Such communities could also alleviate the fear of implementing new technologies. Furthermore, like the students they teach, educators can also learn a lot from YouTube. Almost any technology, software or application can be learned at a basic level for free through a simple search on YouTube. Until the next generation of educators comes to fruition, current educators need to develop together as a community to manage the learning environment and make sure that students grow into responsible digital citizens.
Great post Graham,
Hopefully, the gap will close then! I have learned so many things from my students through collaborating with different learning technologies. However, so many teachers enjoy the ‘traditional approach of teaching and refuse to implement mobile technologies in students learning experiences. Sometimes, teachers just lack interest and are resistant to changes. I have seen workshops offered that a lot of teachers could benefit from, and they still don’t show up because of the teacher’s level of familiarity with new technology.
A change in the overall culture in the classroom will occur if more teachers are open to it, we are on our way but not there yet.
I think we are at a unique point in history as the covid pandemic forced a digital approach to learning that previously was only being ‘integrated’ into a teacher centered approach in schools. It’s as though we’ve been thrown forward at a rapid rate before we were supposed to advance. I think we can bridge the gap but it will take time, resources, funding and willing educators. I think if you had asked teachers 5 years ago if they could move to a fully online classroom with under a week’s preparation, they would have said it was impossible. Major turning points in history have looked like where we are now, the scientific and technological advances seen in WWII changed life forever and we still use much of that technology today (microwaves, radar, computers) but it was a moment in time that changed forever how people would use technology in the future. In my opinion, we are in a similar place now with society where every aspect of our lives now is influenced by our mobile culture so it will forever change life moving forward and we will have no choice but to try to bridge the gaps it has created.
I agree with the idea of that “we can bridge the gap but it will take time, resources, funding and willing educators”. TIME is the most crucial component for solving world wide issues. Only time can change the world one step at a time. Over the decades we have closed many gaps in the mobile culture; some are still in the works and some have come to existence. Just like history, I believe that as time goes we learn from our past and current experiences to make the world a better place and the same could be said of the current mobile culture gaps we have discussed in this forum. Resources are also a very crucial component, without the appropriate tools to tackle these issues, how can we we even start solving anything? I believe that research studies, critical thinking, and testing ideas are the necessary tools for bridging these gaps. Finally, money! It always comes down to money… Yes, often in order to make a change in the world, some money is required… Our world is mostly all about money to get things up and running. In order to start bridging these gaps educators need be appropriately trained in this topic in order to take the initiative of engaging in these issues. Money is always required when it comes to proving training or providing resources to tackle a task. One final thought on your post that I liked was “The Catalyst”. I like your example of WWII that set off of chain of events in the evolution of technology. I also agree that in order for many gaps to be closed, there has to be a catalyst that sets off the motivation for educators to partake in this idea of closing mobile cultural gaps.
I don’t think the Mobile Culture Gap can be fixed, just like I don’t think the the cultural gap between the poor and the rich can be fixed. Some things cannot be changed. Why do I think this? Because throughout history I haven’t seen many gaps get fixed yet; not cultural gaps, not ethnic gaps, not political gaps… The era of technology is simply another gap. As a young teacher, I thought I would always know what my students were talking about, trending apps, trending memes, trending news, trending phones… Every time I mention snapchat, instagram, pinterest, reddit, twitter, discord or twitch, students look at me like from another planet. “You have a twitch account Mr. Rojas?! You saw that on Reddit Mr. Rojas?! You’re part of a discord server Mr. Rojas?! You PokemonGo Mr. Rojas?!” Trust me, I don’t know what it is, but students always think we live under a rock. They even think that we can’t see them texting under their desks or listening to music with their hair or touque hiding it. Even the fact that most of them have lost the ability to communicate without starring at their screens or have the courage to converse with others. First thing in the morning before class starts, all students are doing what? On their phones! That’s their entertainment, their to go option when bored, their anxiety reliver. Soon doctors will be prescribing peoples phones as “therapy phones” because they can’t live without it… In class they don’t even want to take notes! “May I take a picture of the white board?” You ask a kid why they are on their phone and they can’t even speak without stuttering. Even they feel ashamed or embarrassed of what they are doing on their phones. Phones for them are privacy, safety, relaxation, comfort, everything else but what they truly are meant for, a source of communication. Even so, they don’t know how to communicate through text messages, all they do now is send different angles of their faces or surroundings through snapchat with no words… Most of them even have a better phone than me! “You still have the iPhone 6 Mr. Rojas?” Now the social expectation is to have the most recent phone even if half of the iPhone’s capabilities are not even fully used (head shaking emoji).
I agree that some gaps won’t be fixed entirely. However, I think we can make some efforts to reduce them. As Graham suggested, one part is for teachers to change their roles and adapt their practices to the new realities. Planning the integration of technologies into the classroom results in students having a different approach to the mobile culture. They will know that there is so much to do than social media. It may not seem too much when you work with a small group, but I think every teaching is modelling the next generations. That is what you are doing. And I think you are doing great because you are in continuous learning and exploration that let you have a more open conversation with your students.
Thank you very much for the response, I appreciate your outlook on this 🙂
I also agree that the Mobile Culture Gap is too wide to close. Every year there are new technological advances or new functions to the applications we use. I think there is a possibility to bring the gap closer together if students or the younger generation can show educators and their parents what new technological advances there are. What if educators allow students to submit assignments using applications they are familiar with. This allows for educators to learn from their students, but also for students to use technology that they are familiar with.
I like using paper and pen to take notes for work because I don’t like the restriction that typing on a page has. But this past week, my manager left her notebook at home and she felt lost because everything was written in there. She made me realize that we do have technological advances that help us. Although this is not brand new, we have OneNote, Evernote, Rocketbook, etc that helps us take our digital notes everywhere. This reminded me that the paper and pen method is good, but due to changes in work circumstances, maybe it is time to try and learn how to take digital notes.
I really appreciate you bringing your knowledge of mobile culture into the classroom. It is time for students to think their teachers are not dinosaurs! Perhaps this will allow for some knowledge exchange between what they know about mobile culture and you know.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on my post. I like what you had to say and appreciate your anecdote. I absolutely agree on the idea of balancing the equation of how we can continue using traditional ways and new world changing innovative ways for going about our daily lives. I agree that knowledge exchange is the key to closing some of these gaps, just like we are currently exchanging knowledge in this forum to tackle a few of the many Mobile Culture gaps.
I think a shift in design thinking towards DIY learning is a way to bridge the “Mobile Culture Gap In Education”. According to Kafai and Peppler (2011), “DIY production provides opportunities for personal expression, creativity, and critical reflection on media culture, expressed through visual instead of oral or written discourse and allows youth to reflect on their knowledge of culturally meaningful texts and dominant discourses and formulated a response through their work” (p,26).
Pointing learners in the right direction then facilitating the process of their learning is an excellent way to bridge the divide, and hopefully the educator learns something along the way as well.
Reference
Kafai, Y. & Peppler, K. (2011). Youth, technology and DIY: Developing participatory competencies in creative media production. Review of Research in Education, 35(1), 89-119.
I agree with you, Sam. DIY videos maximize the learning benefits not only in terms of outcomes but also in life-long learning. Needless to say, many people now prefer to do the needed work themselves in order to save money and gain experience. My friend renovated his basement entirely from scratch without any professional help, even though he had no prior experience whatsoever on renovation. The DIY experience also allows the learners to reflect upon the process and learn from their mistakes in a practical framework. I also agree that support and guidance are needed to bridge the gap and make sure the learner is on the right track. However, we cannot deny that the DIY module may be time-consuming and too demanding sometimes.
My own experience as an educator (albeit of young or not-so-young adults, rather than children or teens) is that the mobile culture gap between myself and my class is rarely centred around the technology itself (i.e. installing it, being able to use it, knowing what it’s for, troubleshooting it, etc.) but instead consists of differing expectations, assumptions, priorities and habits.
I like computers, I’m a pretty “techie” person in general, and if I can count in hexadecimal then I can probably make an app function on a gadget, but gadgets and their apps aren’t terribly important to me for the most part, and I can typically be counted on to not use something if “everyone’s using it”. The gap becomes quite evident when students assume that my e-mail app will make my phone scream if they send me something, that I’ll reply immediately no matter where I am or what I’m doing, that they can have my actual phone number to text me, that I already have and use an account on “Flurble” that’s only been on the iTunes store for a week, or that I’m necessarily keen to explore every new online technology in the classroom. How could I possibly explain to them that I can sometimes go a day or more without even looking at my phone?
I recognize that as the instructor, the one who’s getting paid (rather than paying) and the minority in this regard that the bulk of change will have to begin with me, and as such I try to be open-minded and inquisitive about new tech (even if it’s not innately all that interesting to me) and to meet halfway and then some, but I can scarcely imagine how wide the chasm must be between, say, a Grade 8 teacher nearing retirement age and his/her class of tweens. Thirty students AirDropping TikTok mashups and texting incomprehensible things like “HRU?” and one teacher whose last plunge into educational technology was a filmstrip about Mitochondria. When worlds collide!
A cultural gap that I notice is the willingness of people – particularly youth – to post writings and images without thought to where those postings are stored, and who has access to them. I am alarmed when I hear about people posting images of themselves in compromising or unflattering situations, not thinking about how those postings can come back to haunt them later when potential employers (or romantic partners) do a simple Google search. One only needs to look at the recent activities in Washington DC to see how shortsighted and brazen people can be about posting their illicit activities not expecting any repercussions (although they did make it very easy for the FBI to track them).
I think it is imperative for us as educators to stress upon our students the vital importance of considering the consequences of actions, and whether their postings could have negative ramifications later in life. It may be difficult for adolescents to exhibit forethought and discretion before they hit ‘send’, but the more they are exposed to the message, then hopefully the more they will listen.
Bridging the gab of mobile technology and education will be easier to accomplish during this time. It seems that technology and education are now bond to interlink or in simple terms, forced to work together. For example, my boomer parents, who are in their late 70’s, have taught themselves to organize their lifestyle using current technology. My traditional old school parents both own the latest Iphones, Ipads, computers and wifi 6 system. They have learned to adapt to the changing times. In terms of education, it has always been very difficult to address the use of technology in and out of the classroom since the education system has been created on a traditional method. The traditional method of knowledge transfer is pencil to paper, memorization, teacher at the front of the class, etc. Covid-19 has allowed technology to gain more ground in the classroom than ever before. The simple fact of technology in education is fear. Learning a new style of teaching methods/philosophy involving technology is stressful for both new and seasoned teachers. From an administrative perspective, teachers and educators need the support of admin and encouragement to share their ideas. When you combine the professional experience of 30 teachers in a school the educational experience for students should be next to perfect. If a teacher has an ideal he or she should be allowed to develop it in classroom, whether it is successful or not. Administration needs to acknowledge the hard work teachers are doing during this time. Moral support, encouragement and simple communication will assist that bridge. The Siksika education system has been forced into lockdown to avoid the spread of covid-19. Two elementary schools, 1 Jr/Sr school and 1 alternative school are now teaching online 100%. Bridging the gap has an all new meaning to technology in the classroom. A successful 100% online K-12 education program is determined by its’ teachers, administration, students and parents. Clear open transparent communication is a key component. Bridging the gap between education and mobile technology, is the awareness of ideas from every individual and utilizing the available resources. Mobile devices in the classroom will have a new meaning. ,
Curriculum changes slowly, and teachers are becoming facilitators, mentors, content curators, and active-learning coaches faster than it can keep up as student learners demand more personal, context-based examples for applied learning activities. Teens experience the world on their phones, maybe using avatars that look like them and allow them to hide their identities while sharing real ideas and feelings about the world, their relationships, favourite music and shows. Choice is omnipresent in this realm of student learning, and less apparent in curriculum-based classes.
New models of technology-enhanced education are already underway in higher education and professional learning, areas that had also been slow to change but are now rapidly facing challenges. Student-led changes in education are due in part to the perceived value in micro credentials as evidence for in-progress learning that supports employability over expensive college and university degrees that may lead to debt without verified skills for the labour market. Digital badges from professional associations carry advantages like authority, brand recognition, credibility, and may even be free. Affordability and perceived value are major factors in this change. A Rockefeller survey from 2017 found that 49% of recent college graduates in the United States agree they didn’t need to go to college to have the skills needed for their job, and 86% are learning skills outside of their degree (https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/report/impact-hiring-survey-results/). Undergraduates and mid-career employees are upskilling to meet the demands of an increasingly automated workforce, taking advantage of micro learning and digital badges that can be earned on a mobile phone in highly flexible increments.
There is certainly a common, mobile cultural gap in each scenario, where learners are forcing changes to traditional models of education. On the one hand, learners want to be interested in something relevant to their lives, and on the other they want demonstrable evidence that time and money spent on learning will connect them to prospective employers in a meaningful way.
Fixing the mobile culture gap in Education is a tremendous and continuous challenge in our lives because things change so fast. It is difficult to understand why we need teachers, parents, mentors, or any kind of orientation when knowledge is self-explanatory and at my fingertips. However, this gap always was there and, maybe, we did not notice. Some of you can argue that gap is larger now. For instance, when humanity discovers collaborative work to hunt big animals, the increase of protein intake promoted a revolution and the necessity of master a new technology. Maybe, mobile technology is the new mastodon that we struggle to understand, hunt, and domain. Indeed, in the past, someone learned how to hunt a mastodon and taught others. In the future, we will learn and teach how to get more knowledge with this new weapon, mobile technology.
The mobile cultural current gap that could have been observed when schools transitioned to a fully online distance learning model last year was the lack of user interface familiarity. Students have well-developed course management systems, but there seems to be a gap in their dexterity to navigate them with a lack of dedicated workstations or computers at home. Students struggle to navigate through mobile eans to compete for work. At the surrey school district, the office 365 suit provides students with the tools to complete work and access additional tools. It often wasn’t the work that they found difficult but instead navigating where work needs to be submitted, checking due dates, and finding additional resources that have been made available in files. Learners can be coached through course management systems with a blended model since portions of instruction happen in person. There was a clear gap in the experience necessary for learners to navigate course management systems at home or when mobile.
When we went to online learning last year, I found that the first two months were very busy with ‘tech support’ helping my students to troubleshoot and become familiar with the LMS. For the most part, I was able to help them, but sometimes the glitches were too difficult to diagnose, and I had to refer them to the more experienced school techie. One thing that helped immensely was the ‘screen-share’ option where I could see the student screen and tell them where to click.
We often assume that students are ‘digital natives’ born with cell phone in their hand and that they can figure these things out automatically, but they sometimes need more direction than we realize.
One gap that hasn’t been addressed explicitly here is the changes that are happening in the professional, work world that our students will soon be joining. I often hear teachers say “you won’t be able to be on your phone at work” and “you can’t make a career out of gaming”, but in reality you can! And the job opportunities in the tech/gaming/coding world are only getting bigger. Unfortunately, like has be mentioned below, some teachers (and parents) are very stuck in their ways and aren’t embracing tech as a key tool for the future. Our job is to mentor students to use tech in ways that encourage lifelong learning.
This is very true! What is the etiquette of a Zoom job interview? How do you write a resume that will get past a screening bot? How do you essentially brand yourself via LinkedIn, Twitter, etc to stand out to future employers?
This knowledge will be really important for graduating youth in the next few years and beyond.
These are the skills that needs to be taught in schools. I just don’t understand why this is not included in the curriculum.
Meg – I 100% agree with you. When I facilitated an independent study course I had to help some students to get out of that traditional mindset of gaming/tech/coding is not important. They always say that there are not interested in doing anything but gaming or watching people play games. I said there is a business in that. So I had kids collaborate with others to start Youtube and twitch channels on gaming. Some even want to get into game development but some students do not have the patience for it. I find that gaming software is evolving but not to the level where it’s intuitive enough for this generation. There are some that have patience but most rather play than create.
Use of mobile phones for watching youtube videos, snapchatting and playing online games by students have become so obvious that it’s use for educational purposes is like a water which is made to flow upstream against gravity.The integration of educational apps in learning has become the need of the hour and the students need to understand the role of mobile phones apart from being used as a mere entertainment tool. The use of mobile for differentiating and personalized learning will help students and teachers connect in a more enriching way. The teachers as well as students have to understand the technological integration of mobile as a necessity for constructive learning and positive outcome. Teachers should be provided with TechEd professional development so that they can adopt, integrate and become familiar with the mobile technology. They should be supported technically for the transition from the traditional mode of teaching so that they become comfortable with this new mode of learning and can facilitate the students in understanding the significance of mobile technology for education purposes.
The challenge of mobile culture in school is that personal mobile devices are a safe place for students where they can play, visually consume and connect within their friend circles. It is not uncommon to catch students video calling friends in class with friends in the same school that are attending class in another room and for the most part they don’t speak to one another, but having that link gives them a feeling of safety and connection. My hurdle for every class is to get students to step outside of that safe place and explore uncharted territories of the natural world around them. Cultures change with every new generation and mobile culture is just another stepping stone, not unlike myself obsessing with video games in school with my friends or my parents obsessing with music. We all have a comfort zone but stepping outside of that zone is where the magic happens.
The mobile culture gap in education is definitely evident between learners and teachers, but I believe much of stems from a difference in purpose, particularly amongst the young students who I teach. My students see their mobile technology as a toy, or a place to play, whereas teachers want to use it as a tool for learning. As teachers we need to try to understand where our students are coming from, and try to learn from one another. In many cases the apps that students are playing with can also be used as valuable tools in education, if we as teachers take the time to learn about them. I love having my students show me apps they enjoy, or things they have created using mobile technology, and explaining how they did it, or how the app works. I can ask questions, find out more, and get them to think about how we could use this for learning, then I can consider how this technology might be useful in my teaching. I see this meeting in the middle as a way we can all teach one another, and perhaps shrink that gap.
When it comes to alleviating the education gap, variety is important. Many public school systems tend to stick to one model either PC or Chrome books. How can students learn how to use any device safely and effectively if they do not have access to them? Very few students in low income settings have access to computers but most have access to a smartphones. Different smartphones have different operating systems. Students may be able to explore what different devices can and cannot do. In order to integrate mobile devices schools would need to change their policies, lesson plans, security, and access points. The culture would also need to change, as to when it is appropriate to use the device and when it is appropriate to turn it off.
Fixing the mobile culture gap in education
Teachers often see firsthand the parent who can’t turn on a computer, but their child is fluent in tech. Just the other day I saw this and went straight to interacting with the student, leaving the parents out of it. I’m sure this caused some anxiety on the parents part. Now the parents have no idea how their child is doing in the class, even though I went through step by step with them how to check on their child’s progress in Canvas.
Parents want to be involved, but can be shut out if they are not tech savvy.
Teachers can get stuck in their ways, which freezes them in time. This exacerbates the tech divide between teacher and student. And, how can I put this gently, many teachers like to ‘control’ how their classroom runs. So, what is the work around?
I’m not sure how this gap can be resolved, aside from hastening the transition away from traditional brick and mortar to a new model.
Do I see a point in time where the teacher as we know it is obsolete? Yes. But education has been a slow moving beast for a long time. The only answer I see is offering parents/students a new choice and see which one survives.
Hi Toby,
The idea of going for something “new and improved” requires many PD or PED days of teacher engagement, and the onslaught of new technologies that become obsolete within one school year does not help the non-tech parent develop the skills to help their child.
The post by Emma Pindera on Mobile Culture about Just-in-Time Learning (January 26, 2021) had by thinking about just this! Do “Walk Me” apps exist for parents to learn the tech that their kids are using? Would schools be able to start up new educational models with the help of a library of “Walk Me” virtual assistants? Perhaps this may be the reconciliation that we need.
Thanks for the reference Evelyne! I hope that one day all tools will have product integrations like walkmes to help students and parents alike to learn new tools with ease. At this point, unfortunately, it is up to each tool to upgrade their training to include them.
With the available of information and tools needed for learners available at their fingertips, the role of the teacher needs to change. It is no longer our job to transmit information as it was 100 years ago when the mobile culture was not available. Instead, our focus needs to be on facilitating skill growth by providing experience which foster skill development while utilizing this generations greatest asset: mobile culture.
So often when I was teaching, my students would raise their hands and say to me: “I already know that. I saw it on …” and then they would go to list some media related platform where they had been doing research or had been browsing videos. This generation has access to a world of information, but they need the inspiration, encouragement, and guidance to seek and apply it. This is now our role as educators: we are facilitators and mentors, ready to provide opportunities for growth and curiosity.
Hi Elixa! I agree – the role of the teacher needs to change. Students are getting better at recognizing when they’ve seen/heard things that we discuss in class and I think it’s the teacher’s role to ensure that those connections are highlighted and talked about with the class. Too often students aren’t able to make connections to their personal lives with the information shared in class, so if a relevant, current example is given I always ensure all students are aware of the connection!
I’m loving my increasing role as a facilitator and mentor. I never enjoyed being the teacher standing and “lecturing” at the front of the room. Kids are creative and they need to figure out how to use that creativity in different classes to determine where they want to go in life! That’s why I’m so glad our curriculum has shifted here in BC to teaching the curricular competencies and not so much the content (which they can find on their phones!).
Mobile technologies have a lot of potential if used the “right way”. In a classroom, teachers can pay more attention to mobile devices and technologies as a form of distraction. I’m not saying this is incorrect and I know from my teaching experience that they can be a huge distraction for students (and adults too). However, to close the gap, I think we need to accept that mobile technologies are already a huge part of our lives and focus on teaching students how to use them properly, instead of taking devices away from them when they walk into a classroom. Of course, this is not easy and by no means am I trying to judge what is right or wrong but I think keeping an open mind is important.
Discussion topics like, “what should and shouldn’t be posted publicly”, “how do you ‘filter’ the information and sources found online?”, and “what apps can help me organize my homework and my academic schedule?” could open up discussions of how mobile technologies can be used more efficiently to help and engage students during their own learning process and students might bring in some knowledge of their own that teachers don’t know about. Students can be teachers too!
I agree with you Seo-Whi,
They can definitely be a distraction if used in correctly and if their role in education is not respected. Many of the students who are distracted by their mobile devices during class or procrastinating their school work are the ones that are falling behind and who we need to reach, and harnessing these devices can be a way of bridging that gap. A student who is unmotivated to complete their social studies assignment and is constantly scrolling through TikTok may be more motivated to use TikTok as a medium to make their project on and help them develop skills in video editing, production and planning that may lead to future inspiration.
Hi Erin,
Thank you for replying and I agree. I can see apps like TikTok having a huge potential to increase motivation, engagement, and personalization of students’ learning experiences but I think it’s also a little risky. Have you ever used apps like TikTok in your own classroom before?
I have not, and I probably would not use the app itself but if I were teaching students grades 4 and up I would use the idea of using and making short videos that grab your attention which is the whole goal of TikTok.
Seo-Whi,
I totally agree! Building off of this idea, one topic that has always interested me (and is part of why I applied to the MET program) is how can technology be used to increase student ownership and engagement in their own learning. I wholeheartedly believe that students succeed when they have more say in their learning process and can find and utilize tools that bridge the gap between how they learn best and how their teachers teach best. Using technology in this manner helped me succeed in my undergraduate courses and is something I very much hope to see more in the future. However, like you said, this is reliant on teachers shifting their views on technology from one of distaste and distrust to one of support and promotion.
Hey Dana,
Thanks for replying! That is also something I am interested in learning more about.
The idea of incorporating students’ own interests to increase student engagement and ownership is discussed over and over again in education. We also talk about the importance of social learning, empowerment, and entrepreneurship. I think educators can help students build that with the use of mobile technologies. It’s going to be a learning curve for all of us but we need to think about what’s best for our students. What about mobile technologies can we teach and demonstrated for them so they can utilize that skill when they go out into the real world?
Hi Seo Whi,
I agree with you about teaching students about…” Discussion topics like, “what should and shouldn’t be posted publicly”, “how do you ‘filter’ the information and sources found online?”, and “what apps can help me organize my homework and my academic schedule?” I constantly mention the importance of critical thinking, but I have yet to really tap into what this looks like with regards to mobile app use in my classes. Our school division currently uses a program called “My Blueprint” (https://myblueprint.ca/). One of the functions of this site is to allow students to build a professional digital portfolio. Many students have built online portfolios that may do more harm than good professionally. The activities and events that students take prt in and plan can also be kept in this digital portfolio. It really is just an augmented resume for the 21st Century. I recall when I left highschool my resume was so space, and many skills I had built in school were difficult to represent in the limited format of the paper resume. Either way, I think My Blueprint presents a wonderful means of building a professional digital portfolio.
Technologies that I see are being used in classrooms are mostly PowerPoint and Microsoft office. Depending on the course selection, students will have to self-explore video editing software if they take drama or film&TV. Other than that, yes, technology is mainly presented as social media platforms in school.
But it’s hard to blame the students when their parents, grandparents, people on the street and the social influencers all use their mobile devices for entertaining or social communication purpose. How many times have we seen that parents just give the kids an iPad to watch cartoons when they don’t want to deal with them.
Admittedly, teachers need to be models, or we can practice technologies with them. But I still stand by the idea that it takes a village to raise a kid. I think we need to work with the parents and help them to be a model for the kids as early as possible.
Hello Jane,
I have been in a situation where the family has all these tech gadgets, but no one knows how to use them. I tell my students to open a PDF, they do not even know what a PDF is. I have to walk them through. I am lucky because I also use Mac products. Should they have a PC or a tablet, I would be at a loss. Parents could be there to assist students to navigate through. However, from the parent’s point of view, they would see it as something that instructors should have taught students. It is easy to put the blame on someone. Maybe all of us are responsible, we have been too comfortable the way it was. Now with the pandemic, we are on our own trying to figure things out as we go.
Some parents think that the iPad can do their job. However, I think that a device cannot replace the care that a parent can give to the child. This also reflects that just having watched a video is not the same as having an actual instructor to guide the students while learning. This makes me reflect on the necessity of interaction among humans.
Hi Silvia and Jane,
With COVID-19 and education largely shifting into remote, I am sure teachers are having to no doubt spend a lot of time providing tech support and troubleshooting issues that arise. I find that very unfortunate – many of my colleagues have shared their frustration with me.
I agree that technology cannot replace the personal connections that teachers make every day with their students. Families, too, must remember that digital technologies cannot replace personal relationships in which learning takes place.
Jungwhan:
An insight I can offer here in response to “digital technologies cannot replace personal relationships”.
As a DL teacher for the first time this year, I can honestly say that my relationships with students and parents is way stronger than it has ever been.
I see into the family’s home and quickly get a sense of what’s going on. I zoom with parents in a more intimate way, getting to know the family more.
I zoom with students in an intimate setting – their home- again getting to know them in a more rounded out way.
For me, Zoom has been an example of how tech can enhance connections in a personal way. And I would view Zoom as a hybrid model, if you will, of tech and personal.
Yes Toby, human interaction is very important. Many schools in Saskatchewan switched to blended models and small cohorts during the start of the September school year. Prior to this they found that students were not performing very well in an exclusive online learning environment. A consequence of this had been students falling behind in their previous class, resulting in many teachers having to go back to the previous grade’s concepts and reteaching them to the entire class. Saskatchewan’s grids are very poor in many communities making Zoom limiting. The global shortage of mobile devices such as ipads also left may students without equipment during Wave 1. Even though some low income students were provided grant to purchase mobile equipment, all the local and big box stores were sold out internally and online.
The blended and cohort models did in some extend improve the education gap for equipment deficits, but it is unknown at this time if it will improve the overall grade performance outcome.
I am one of the newer teachers at the school where I work. One thing that I came to notice very quickly was that some of the more experienced teachers don’t use technology to supplement learning as often as I do, particularly the primary teachers. I realized that the reason for this is that they don’t have the confidence to experiment with it. The ones that do try it out seem to get frustrated easily with troubleshooting issues. Now I can’t generalize this to all schools, but it’s something that has caught my attention over the last few years. In my opinion, professional development workshops centered around technology would be so helpful in building teacher confidence with different forms of technology. I don’t think some teachers have been exposed to technology enough to see what great potential that it has to support student learning. I think we can break the resistance by building teacher confidence.
I have thought a lot about this, on how to stay relevant 10, 20 years down the road. Professional development on technology isn’t as effective as people think. Usually, a piece of tech is demonstrated, and then that’s about it. If a teacher is already nervous around technology, they tend to go to these workshops with no follow-up. They go right back to teaching the way that they have always taught. At the core of every teacher is the believe that “I know best” and they have lots of arguments to support why the way that they do things is better than the way that you do things. This attitude is more set the older we get. I believe that in order to truly address the gap, we have to restructure the career. A career that spans until the age of 65+ and simultaneously demands the same high quality output (especially with technology) is crazy. The role of a teacher should not be the same throughout the entire career. Retirement should happen sooner to create space for incoming teachers. I am not saying that we kick out old teachers, but rather, create new roles for them, like mentorship and administration. There are great ideas around team teaching. In some European countries, at a certain age, a teacher begins transitioning to retirement. Every year, they take on one less course and mentor a younger teacher. Of course, a realistic retirement pension plan would need to accompany such programs.
Very insightful and well said. I have seen this play out time after time. A better model for supporting teachers with adopting any kind of new Pro-D is needed.
I love the idea of phasing out into retirement while mentoring new teachers.
Professional development is very important, but it needs to go beyond a PC. This is one area that I have noticed the deficit. Coordinators of professional development like to stick to their comfort zones, even though each device has its strengths and weaknesses. The other issue is that educational institutions need to develop better BYOD policies. In this day and age it is nearly impossible to conduct business without a smartphone. If the institution is not willing to provide one, the employee should have the option to use their own. I have never seen professional development for mobile development, likely due to the taboo culture of no. If employees are trained to use BYOD appropriately, maybe the use of mobile will not be a threatening.
Hi Ravneet,
I have noticed this too. Last year, at the start of the pandemic, I hosted a PD on Seesaw app for the primary teachers. Even though we met for an hour, and it was a small group, the group grew frustrated very quickly. They loved the capabilities of what the app could do and felt that it was very suitable for primary level, but I think they had a tech block which made it very difficult for them to even navigate the site. To add on to your point, I think that having a BYOD policy for PD’s is another idea, as some teachers may be more comfortable learning new tech on their own computers. Many of the tech PD’s that I have been to assume that teachers have a basic understanding of computers and that they know how to navigate easily within sites and apps, but that is untrue. I think that new tech PD’s should be scaffolded where we would have “Seesaw level 1” and then teachers who are already comfortable with the first level can still attend, but help the less confident teachers. I think that the tech divide has to start with the teachers.
That’s a great example, Jennifer.
But I wonder if the tech divide does have to start with the teachers. I think it may actually need to start with administrators. They can provide more on-going supports to teachers who are not comfortable with technology. They can prioritize these skills in the teachers they hire. They can consider school-specific policies that facilitate easier and more effective adoption of tech in programs. Teachers certainly need to be on board, but for wide-spread change I think administrators need to be leading the charge.
The mobile culture gap I see between learners and teachers relates to a cultural shift in relation to media consumption and creation. The world has changed so much in the last 20 years that we’ve moved from being mere consumers of mass/corporate media to more independent media to individuals who can create and distribute media. Gen Z and some Millenials have always lived in a world with much more diversity in media and accessible technology to create, and as a result, they find their niche, their people, and are more likely to participate in the creation of culture and interact socially in ways that revolve around it.
I don’t think the gap will be difficult to close, but as educators, most of us have not yet imagined or created or experienced engaging, active mobile learning experiences quite yet. Our F2F-focused pedagogical practices, educational systems focused on student achievement through test scores or grades, and our ability or reluctance to use technology in our teaching are holding us back. Social-constructivist pedagogies have led us as educators to teach in a different way than we were likely taught, and mobile learning lends itself completely to that. Learning should be a collaborative, engaging, and active experience. However, there are still teachers at all levels and in F2F, BL, and OL teaching from texts, PowerPoints, and lectures and students sitting through passive learning experiences, even in mobile contexts.
I’m going to mirror and further a few similar arguments already posted here. I believe there are some students who are “leading the charge” in mobile education, but the vast majority are consumers of entertainment on the most convenient device available to them. Those who are leading are not so different from any other kid that has really taken a deep dive into something. Some kids are really into science and they research all they can about it. Others about DJing, or coding, or hacking, or even working out. These young people often surpass the specific knowledge of a classroom teacher. The convenience of mobile to facilitate this learning can be present, but in my experience the vast majority of youth seem no more or less techy than their parents.
Yes, the young lingo might be foreign, as are the specific apps they use, but I’m not seeing the seismic shift which has been saying PCs are dead for over a decade. As primarily a PC user, jumping on to some mobile apps used by my students helps me easily relate to what they’re talking about. It’s possible I’m not representative of the average educator though.
From my perspective, I see some hopeful steps as some districts provide devices like chromebooks or require students to buy a device. Even more rarely, some schools allow for frequent use of mobile devices beyond a few token games/activities but I haven’t personally encountered them.
For the last few months, I have lurked the UBC subreddit and seen various posts by students criticizing how an instructor has chosen to administer their courses during COVID-19.
Some of these are definitely justified! But there are other points that reflect the gaps and disparities between:
– a student’s expectations for e-learning
– a student’s knowledge of e-learning limitations
– an instructor’s ability to execute and administer e-learning experiences
This is all happening within a university context that is further complicated by bureaucracy and even politics. FIPPA limits the tools available, as well as the ways in which we use those available. Department, faculty, and institutional-level directives further constrain things. Unfortunately, these points are not always clear to students — inevitably leading to tension or frustration within those so used to seeing technology as a boundless realm of information and entertainment.
Hi Lyon,
As a fellow /r/UBC/ lurker, it amazed me how students acknowledged the effort that was been invested in the quick transition to remote learning. Working with students during that initial transition, I had many students expressed their uncertainty about moving learning online. Lack of motivation was one concerns that students bring up when moving courses online. One can argue that the the overall pandemic probably also has something to do with lack of motivation but students also brought up how they often find they’re “on their own” to learn the material when courses are moving online. I like that you mentioned how sometimes students might not be aware of the different policies and regulations are involved in the background that might limits the ability of the faculty to teach online.
I like that both of you have highlighted the lack of information (or possible misinformation/misunderstandings) in regards to our current reality with online learning. It’s ironic that these different mediums that we use to communicate to better spread information end up distorting the message. With inconsistencies between districts (even neighbouring ones that often collaborate), provinces, and even from classroom to classroom (which is less to do with policy and more on personal styles and preferences in that case), it’s understandable when parents and students ask “How come you can’t offer what somebody else is offering?”
To add to that, I think there are many students who are taking advantage of the situation to spread misinformation to their parents in an attempt to take the easy road. I have students claiming that it’s difficult to work on their own without the ability to get help from a teacher, meanwhile I’m putting offers out there for Google Meets and personalized videos, and responding to requests from other students at all times of the day, and they are simply choosing not to take part. Some parents (understandably so, in many cases) don’t do the due diligence of looking into these opportunities and as a result do have this idea that their children, as learners, are on their own much more than they really are. The difficulty in justifying authentic assessment with the current tools available (at least where I am, with what is reasonably available to me), and of assessing differences in opportunity (some clearly don’t have the means to learn at full capacity right now, and some are simply choosing not due out of a variety of reasons including laziness/apathy) means that, in my district at least, nobody will be held accountable in the cases where students have legitimately chosen to simply avoid doing work for three months, which disservices those students (hard to blame kids for trying to game the system a bit) and the ones who legitimately engaged.
With openness and acceptance. Sounds idealistic, but it’s true. Firstly, as some of my peers have already mentioned, kids today may be using (mobile) technology incessantly but are not necessarily revolutionizing education with it. Secondly, there are quite a few educators who are resistant to welcoming technology into the classroom, for a multitude of reasons. With regards to the first point, from my own experience, although my students are proficient at social media and communicating with each other, they are not even close when it comes to troubleshooting technical issues, using programs like Excel, downloading and launching software for data collection with the right permissions and settings or parameters, etc. For one, they expect instant gratification and instantaneous responses from everything. Troubleshooting requires patience and accepting ignorance, which is not easy for some to do when it comes to technology (adults included). Troubleshooting also requires problem solving and critical thinking – it’s easier to just give up and play or post about how hard it is!
With regards to the second point, educators may shy away from integrating or allowing technology into the classroom because they are resistant to change, prejudiced against technology, fearful of not being able to control the class or insecure about using the technology due to lack of expertise and/or professional development and/or availability of resources, among many other reasons. If we combine a few of these reasons, from both perspectives, a working solution is possible to bridge this gap. Students need to be shown meaningful and constructive ways of using technology to truly lead this evolution, the educator being the one to do this. For this to work, the educator needs to have some working knowledge of the technology that is being used as an educational tool because there is nothing more frustrating than trying to make things work with a classroom full of eyes watching. It is also a good idea to let students choose a tool they are comfortable with and apply it to the educational setting. However, it is also important to model troubleshooting, problem solving and learning how to use new tools, as well as accepting that maybe sometimes the students know it better (albeit not in the right educational context). By exposing students to the right educational technologies and giving them the safe space and opportunity to “figure it out” helps them develop not only the above-mentioned skills, but also their digital media literacy. I often feel that restricting or punishing the use of mobile technology in classrooms makes the “problem” worse, rather than better. What do you think?
Your first argument reminds me a journal I had read before referring to the notion of “digital native” and “digital immigrant” from Prensky (2001) (the Wikipedia link is here if you would like to know more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_native; I also find an article from Prensky https://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf). In short, a digital native means a person who was born in the digital age, on the contrary, a digital immigrant means a person who gets used to digital technologies, more or less, as an adult. Prensky claims that digital native has natural advantages for learning digital skills and knowledge. However, more recent research criticizes it as ignoring the difference between students (Marklund et al., 2016). The authors said, “individual proclivities, skills, and preferences vary dramatically even among students who are of similar ages and backgrounds…The concept of digital natives is detrimental to the discourse of educational games, as it is a way of consolidating individuals with varying needs and backgrounds into a more easily managed monolithic entity, the description of which only applies to persons of very specific proclivities and favourable socioeconomic standing where technologies and games are easily available” (p. 134). Binal, what had you observed and were talking about echoes exactly to Marklund and the fellows’ research result. We must be very aware of any ideas that will oversimplify a phenomenon and forget about the distinctions between individuals. I believe digital immigrants have their advantages in learning digital culture. Great sharing, thank you!
References:
Marklund, B. B., & Alklind Taylor, A. S. (2016). Educational games in practice: The challenges involved in conducting a game-based curriculum.Electronic Journal of E-Learning,14(2), 121–135.
Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Game-Based Learning, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
Thank you, Yi Chen. I agree, these labels are too broad or too general a descriptor to really apply to most people, at least the ones I interact with. I try not to apply those labels to any particular generation or groups of people mainly because I have seen some digital “immigrants” use technology exceptionally well, and “natives” fail miserably. I think everyone has something new to learn, especially when it comes to technology, which itself is dynamic and constantly evolving. I think learning transferrable skills like problem-solving, troubleshooting, coding, etc. is way more advantageous than learning how to use one specific technology, and this can be done by all!
Agreed! To add on, I think there isn’t a specific “right” way or “best” way to use technology to learn. Therefore, I really like your suggestion about giving students the chance to figure out how to best use educational technology tools. By exposing students to the tools and letting them experiment and choose what works for them, each student can figure out an individualized approach and learn transferable skills you mentioned in the process!
Ubiquitous access to technology does not equal to technology proficiency, and there definitely is a difference in proficiency between technology for entertainment and learning. I have watched students press [space][space][space][space][space][space][space][space][space] to try and center their text in a word document. Perhaps the gap is not always as wide as we think it is.
I agree with what you are saying, when it comes to using a computer. But, I am beginning to think that in terms of mobile technology students may be more proficient in almost all uses. I have a feeling that their word editing skills on a smartphone might outshine my own… because I have virtually no experience with using things like MS Word and Google Docs on my phone, but many of my students do. Students are also more likely to be using apps that don’t pop in the mainstream until a year later – they have their finger on the pulse of what mobile technology can be used for.
Rather, do you mean: the digital literacy gap is wider than we think between proficient and discombobulated users of various ages, gendres, and socioeconomic backgrounds?
I think that while we may have the perception that young people are leaders in mobile learning (and some rightly are!), the fact is that many young people are now more lost than ever as they bounce from one moment to the next. The question of the evolution of education to match this shift isn’t one that is new, or one that is focused primarily on the mobile device. Currently we can talk about the “mobile gap”, but perhaps later it will be the “AR gap”, educators being of a different generation than their students (typically) must develop skills to better empathize and understand the needs of the learners they serve. I believe that fundamentally it’s about the shift of power from the almighty “teacher” to the learner, we don’t spend enough time empathizing with the learners we are serving. On one end, this means that too often the educational system is providing them with things they don’t need, and in a format that they find unnatural. But also, this means that without understanding the student’s context, we are missing opportunities to support them with problems we don’t even have words for ourselves.
The gap here is empathy at the core of instructional design (spend more time listening), and institutions with a central vision of service to the learner rather than the institution itself.
I like how you have shifted the definition of “gap” from that of the knowledge of tech vs. the ignorance of tech to that of the empathy in the taught lesson. The teacher is not just teaching intellectual knowledge, but also helping to nurture a student’s emotional intelligence. Does the use of mobility lead to the drop in teaching empathy, as attention shifts from the teacher to the screen?
Keeping in mind that students are humans, with feelings that need to acknowledged, and emotions that need to be understood, may help bridge at least the empathy gap that often accompanies the inclusion of technology.
This is such an interesting question and it makes me reflect deeper on who is leading the evolution? I am not sure what the answer is as I think when I adjust my perspective I can see some younger teachers jump right in and use technology in more innovative ways in the classroom, while still seeing some “older” teachers jump in and give technology a try as well. I also see some students that love using the technology and can’t get enough, while other students seem to want to avoid the technology.
It’s all about a willingness to step outside your comfort zone and not being afraid to make mistakes, which inevitably you learn from. This works for both students and teachers. Time to learn and experiment is key in closing the gap. The difficult part of course is finding the time to learn and experiment with the technology.
From my experiences, I’ve also noticed that students may be more exposed to consuming technology on different platforms, but when it comes to producing content with technology, I often see uncertainty. I actually think this applies to teachers as well, now that I think of it.
“It’s all about a willingness to step outside your comfort zone and not being afraid to make mistakes, which inevitable you learn from.” Totally. The idea of having a growth mindset and resiliency around using technology needs to be present in both the teacher and the student. Taking the approach of “playing” with technology and exploring it can help remove some of the reluctancy that is faced by anyone. Some of my favourite uses of technology in the classroom have been the ones where we’re all figuring it out together – I don’t know what we’re doing and they don’t know what we’re doing, but we’re muddling through with a playful attitude, and by the end when we’ve figured it out, we’ve learned a lot and feel pretty proud.
I doubt that children and teenagers are leading the evolution of mobile culture in education. If you are talking social media, then yes. You are pretty much spot on. When it comes to socialising and using technology for personal use, “young people” are the champions and have mastered the art of representing themselves online. However I beg to differ about them leading the way in education and here I’m referring to the myth of Digital Natives. The idea that the young generation’s brains are wired differently amuses me. No one is born with tech skills—they need to learn them and though they now grow up surrounded by technology, we still need to teach them how to use tech effectively. Very often students will be exposed to new applications and technology at school by the teachers.
Concerning teachers, I have to admit that there are three kinds of educators in my mind: the early adopters, the late adopters and the laggards. The early adopters are the innovators and they keep abreast of the latest techonologies. They are willing to try new apps or software in their classroom. Late adopters are somewhat reluctant to keep up with new technologies but do understand the need to incorporate them in their teaching practices. Laggards, on the other hand, are quite resistant to technology and prefer to do things the old fashioned way.
Obviously, if you fall in the last category of educators, I believe the gap between you and your students will eventually widen. Technology is finding its way in every aspect of our lives.
As you said, using technology, and using technology effectively are two different things. Ask a young person to teach you how to navigate through social media and they’ll be able to masterfully explain it, but if the WiFi goes down, many would not know how to get the WiFi up and running again. I don’t think that age is really the issue. It is the willingness to try new things and the resilience to keep trying when it doesn’t work out. Though the students may have been surrounded by technology, they still needed to be willing to pick it up and try it first before they gained that knowledge. For the laggards, I think it is the fear that their students know more than they do that makes them feel uncomfortable and they are not willing to step out of their comfort zones. As others mentioned, building teacher confidence in using technology will be the first step in closing the gap.
I have many teacher friends and acquaintances here in Ontario. Many are close to retirement and the province move to online teaching has come at the worst time. There has never been a preparedness from school boards in readying for a virtual classroom, be it for the future of students or just keeping up with the learning that kids today are gathering at online groups and devices. The mobile culture gap is more apparent and deep, when I do speak to these teachers who are used to the old pedagogical methods of teaching. Google classroom? curating online videos? creating online classes all seem to be alien to most of them. I think to myself, with the evolution of mobile learning spreading rapidly, I agree sometimes it’s hard to follow, track and blend into the flow of technology. Also it is the old tired ideas of not changing with the times in teaching. If it’s broke, why fix it.
The biggest gap I see between the student and the teacher today, being online, is parents not supporting the student in learning. When kids are at school, they are literally under the care of the teacher. Being self discipline in a home school like envrionment puts kids at a disconnect from the real teacher student relationship and receiving positive feedback. Virtual environments do not capture that fully.
Hello Luke,
That is so true what you’ve said. I think that the virtual classroom has been put aside. I feel that schools have put it on the side and said “ we’ll deal with it later”. Well, with the pandemic “later” is now. All of a sudden, Classroom, Zoom, and all these other applications that out there have become “the tool” to use for virtual and online learning.
The school where I work, the first month was chaos. Instructors had to be learning the platform that the school chose to purchase, then digitalizing all the material. However, it seemed that students had a hard time adapting to this new kind of “class”. I believe it is a good opportunity for kids to learn about self-discipline. Students are given tasks and homework. It is a chance for them to learn how to organize themselves.
However, here in Argentina, the government has decreed that there shall no be grades until we return to school. It has also made is difficult for instructor because by saying no grades, then there are some students opt no to do work. Their attitude is that we instructors cannot fail them since by law we cannot grade them. It is also unfair for those who do and hand in their work on time.
To Luke, I’d say there’s a different pedagogy to adopt, along with shifting from desktop computing to mobile. The desktop format and software that has informed and shaped the way we teach and learn may certainly be replaced by what works in a mobile format as a matter of access and equity. More homes and people have mobile devices than personal desktop or laptop computers, and the significant costs to schools to pay for 1:1 isn’t feasible and according to the students I’ve read, may only slightly improve academic success. The only issue I see with that is that the workforce will likely still rely on using desktop/laptop computing, and students will need those skills.
To Silvia, I can imagine the chaos. It’s an unfair expectation for both teachers and students to have had to adapt so quickly, and if schools and admin didn’t have a plan or even the right kinds of thinking to make the plan, then it’s really difficult for everyone to get on board. A pass/fail solution seems much better than no grades at all. Here in Ontario, pass is above 50% and that is fairly attainable, even with missed assignments.
I am not sure if youngsters are leading the evolution. I believe that they are our future and hopefully they will one of these days lead us, instead of us leading them. All of us, learners and instructors, have mobile devices and we are constantly using them for work and entertainment. I feel that youngsters are treating the mobile device as a “must-have” tool in their lives. However, it seems that this tool is used more for socializing and entertainment rather than a learning device. We instructors would need to guide them in using the mobile device towards learning rather than socializing. Students know that the device can be used for more than entertainment, the issue is how can we lead them to use it more for learning rather than playing.
The challenge lies in marketing learning. Sometimes when kids hear “school” or “learning” they already think that it might be boring and do not want to try. As instructors need to work on how to “present” it and make it more pleasing for students.
Originally Posted by Kendra Grant on 22 Sep 2018
This weekend I had the opportunity to look at the iPad apps of two children. One belonging to a friend the other to a child in a store. What do you think I found? Games, games and more games. (And a “Shut Up!” app). Like other technology before it, most students, use it more for entertainment and personal communication. Show them Explain Everything, Haiku Deck, iBookCreator, Inspiration Maps, Skitch, Puppelpals or Snapguide and they may or may not make something of value or that develops their higher order thinking skills. Students may be the “digital natives” but educators are the “learning natives”. If educators focus on and plan for engaging classroom experiences that develop important 21st century skills ( I like the new BC cross curricular competencies), they can then design (with the ongoing help of their students) a toolkit of mobile apps that support these skills. The five cross curricular competencies that will form the framework for the new curriculum are: Communication, Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking and Innovation, Personal Responsibility and Well Being, Social Responsibility https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shut-up!!!/id366404998?mt=8 http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/docs/ca_transformation.pdf
Originally Posted by matthew turner on 17 Jan 2019
I am going to address a related, but slightly different mobile culture gap: between teachers and parents. A major hurdle for the implementation of mobile learning for young learners in my context (Seoul) is that parents and students see the use of smart phones as ‘play’ and any other imagining is met with resistance. Trying to implement mobile learning as a significant dimension of the curriculum would be extremely difficult mainly because parents regard all smart phone use as entertainment, which definitely does not qualify as learning (another, much bigger problem). Smart phones require a cultural re-branding before we can incorporate mobile learning in a large scale way for younger learners.
Originally Posted by Chris on 19 Jan 2019
I actually don’t agree with this at all. While young people may be leading the evolution in how we use mobile technology and are pushing limits with it they are certainly not leading the evolution in how we learn with mobile technology. Students do not generally use mobile technology for learning at all and I have found when you introduce students to using mobile technology to learn we do need to explain to them how and why. This is why I have issues with the “digital native” vs “digital immigrant” discussion. While most students seem to be able to use technology to interact they need a significant amount of help and guidance in how to use it appropriately to learn. This is also where we need to ensure we are choosing the right technology for the right task rather than technology for technologies sake as has been pointed out.
With the pandemic going on, schools here rapidly switched to online learning. As mentioned by Chris, kids might be able to know about mobile technology but that is only when it comes to entertainment. Switching to an online platform was easy but the hard part was having them access the online platform and be able to use all the features. Time was devoted to explaining simple issues such as uploading a file. Instead of having the homework in a digital file they would just take a picture of their written homework (on paper) and send me an email. With the current situation I believe it is an opportunity where we realize how prepared students are for online learning. Maybe, we should have dedicated some time to train them to use the online learning platform.
Silvia, speaking from my experience as a college instructor, there are a lot of factors to consider regarding student success in online learning, but students often have not developed tech skills commonly required by postsecondary institutions or courses that use an LMS for F2F, BL, or OL. It took me a few weeks to understand this from my students’ perspectives and difficulties in my intro communications courses that required students to research using the library summon search, annotate PDFs, print/save as PDF, and submit PDFs to be marked through the LMS so plagiarism software could check it. Emailing or sharing their Google docs file with me was not an option, neither was sending students to tech help desk or the library every time they had a tech issue or didn’t know how to do something. I do believe students would benefit from some type of introductory computing technologies course in college/university programs that includes learning about LMS and personal computing technology beyond using Word, PowerPoint, or Excel.
Related to another discussion, there are also instructors who don’t feel comfortable with any of the technology, either, and would rather not use the LMS in any way and would rather accept printed work. They need to be brought up to speed, too.
Mel, maybe sometimes we just assume that students are prepared or already know about technology since we always seem them playing with their cellphone. Now I can see that being able to play with the mobile devices does not equal to handling a computer.
I tutor high school students. However, when it comes doing a work on a computer they are at a loss. Now they are getting better because they had to learn it the hard way. The same issue happened to the instructors at University. Some of them never made the transition, by this I mean adapting technology into their classes. University core courses start in March and so far many classes have been on hold. Not all the courses have been “digitalized” and not all instructors can deal with this new change. I believe that the COVID is a wake-up call for the education sector, for us to realize who prepared we are.
Originally Posted by Mark on 22 Jan 2019
Open communication between all involved (parents, teachers, students, etc.) will be the key to bridging the gap. In talking with many of my students about technology I was amazed to learn what they want out of school and what their expectations about technology are. They are very concerned about learning how to do things, they realize that they can find answers online, but want to be challenged with tasks that require them to be creative. The difficulty for students is in seeing how what they are learning applies to their daily life – a life that is largely spent online.
Originally Posted by Kirsten on 20 Jan 2019
My focus is not on the technological gap between educators and students but on bridging the gap in understanding the ‘peculiar’ online behaviour of teens. I think grown-ups need to work at their anxieties around contemporary youth culture and understand how mobile technology and social media fit into their social lives. Simply put, teens are tethered to their mobile phones because of the fundamental desire for social connection and acceptance. The 2014 book by Danah Boyd, It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens sums it up nicely: Teens “embrace social media for roughly the same reasons earlier generations of teens attended sock hops, congregated in parking lots, colonized people’s front stoops, or tied up the phone lines for hours on end. Teens want to gossip, flirt, complain, compare notes, share passions, emote, and joke around. They want to be able to talk among themselves—even if that means going online” (p. 21). Guiding them to participate responsibly in digital networked spaces is more profitable than fear-mongering.
Originally Posted by kmonkman on 14 Jan 2019
While there is a general cultural gap between learner and teacher demographics, I believe the true gap is one of perception. Historically, the culture of education has reinforced a dynamic wherein learners seek knowledge, and teachers are gatekeepers that hold the keys to access. The fallacy of this dynamic has never been more apparent today, exposed by the rise of MOOCs, open learning platforms, distributed learning, and the general ease of access to information. No longer do learners see teachers as their main knowledge access point. Rather, teachers have shifted closer to facilitators, helping guide students in their acquisition of knowledge. Where this extends into a cultural gap in perception, is in how teachers are often quick to reduce younger learners as easily distracted or prone to addiction to devices. In my experience, many older teachers are just as addicted to their devices, and easily distracted, but they have had the benefit of living a chunk of their lives without mobile devices, thereby developing skills to govern usage and self-regulate. Even then, I see colleagues texting while driving, browsing social media during meetings, and even scrolling with their devices while working. Is this not the exact behaviour we lament in youth? Isn’t it somewhat paternalistic and even shortsighted of teachers to reduce learners’ use of mobile technology to dangerous anti-social vices, calling for bans, when in fact youth are leading the evolution of mobile culture? Perhaps teachers are the ones who are less effective and efficient at using the technology. The rules of society and the cultural norms surrounding mobile technology use have shifted, led primarily by youth who have never known a world without mobile technology. So too must our perceptions, and preconceptions, if we are to close the gap.