We all get distracted at times, especially when there are not people around you who act as role models or have a bigger picture in mind. Teenagers and children have even less self-control and as teachers, you watch them get side-tracked. When there is a long term project, we need to give them reminders along the way to do a bit of work.
This is often looked down-on and called ‘hand-holding’, but at the same time it is scaffolding their learning and very valuable for the student. These soft skills are extremely hard to develop.
This podcast by Hidden Brain explores this concept of ‘Nudging’ students along and the powerful effect it has had on college enrollment via text messages.
https://www.npr.org/player/embed/621023537/623286435
Here’s the Introduction to spark your interest:
“Every year, many students who have overcome daunting obstacles in high school receive good news – they’ve been accepted to college. Many of them are low-income students with outstanding academic track records, and they represent a success story – the American dream made real. With hard work, students who don’t have a lot of advantages can bootstrap their way into higher education and a better life. Only, it doesn’t always work out.”
SHANKAR VEDANTAM, Hidden Brain – https://www.npr.org/transcripts/621023537
This podcast draws attention to a real and important gap in support for post-secondary-bound students. I wonder if the same gap exists for Canadian students or to the same degree?
A really important takeaway through the lens of mobile educational technology is the way the student described the bot as a tool. He said asking the bot a question was less embarrassing and felt more like he was solving the problem independently than if he had been chatting directly with a person. If the bot could not help then he would be connected with a human, presumably suggesting to the student that his problem really wasn’t simple to solve (ie, reasonable that he’d not been able to figure it out himself). Though the student’s actions are the same (typing a question, waiting for the answer) his perception of the exchange is completely different based on who he knows is on the other end.