Characteristics of the ICT teenager-Workshop 3-10 reflections at the campus forum

thank you Magalí Segalerba for bulletpointing trainees´ reflections at the campus

Now, characteristics of our ICT-learners:

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  He is totally “disconnected” to the world around him and completely immersed in his own world of music, aesthetics and technology. (Mariana)

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  It seems that if you don’t offer technology to them, they won’t be interested or attracted. (Martina)

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  Many of them must be thinking that teachers could be easily replaced by technological devices. (Martina)

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  Teenagers like the one in the picture must be totally "disconnected" from the surrounding reality, totally immersed in their own technological world. (Nerina)

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  They are not disconnected but connected to a different world. (Julieta)

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  This learner is connected to the world in a totally different way. He is a digital native. He's been born in a digital world, which is detached from ours and makes us feel awkward and old! (Gabriela)

Trainees' thoughts about Digital Learners

 Trainees from Workshop 3-2010 at IES 28 contributed their ideas and feelings about the ICT teenager  at the campus forum.Thank you Josefina Carné for rounding up and bulletpointing their contributions!

• We should get involved somehow in our students’ world – showing interest, for instance – we could raise their level of motivation for learning. Another way would be trying to introduce technological devices in the learning process.

• It will be very important for a teacher to propose activities to be carried out using these devices to provide students with meaningful learning

• We should put some of these gadgets to good use in the lesson. Nowadays the introduction of technology in lessons is not only a good way of motivating learners, but also an effective way of achieving outstanding results.

• We should adjust our techniques and strategies to our students' needs and interests. Sometimes, learners find some activities boring because there is no connection between what the tasks offer and what our students experience in their daily lives. If we are capable of motivating our students with digital activities, we are going to achieve better results. Nowadays, technology is essential in the classroom, but there is a drawback. Some contents, rendered as old-fashioned or boring by learners, and which can only be delivered by teachers, are extremely necessary for learning.

• We should become familiar with all the technological devices that our students manipulate

• We should provide our students with meaningful input, which in this case implies that the teacher should be knowledgeable about the complex technology that this girl handles.

• We will have a new challenge to face: to show them that technology cannot replace, by no means, the role of humans inside the classroom.

• We should propose activities to be carried out using these devices to provide students with meaningful learning.

• We will need to learn about these gadgets and how to use them.

• The introduction of technology can open our classrooms to the world, make homework less tormenting and foster autonomy. It can help develop close bonds with our students so we should definitely take advantage of them; the problem is HOW.

• We need to be sensible and try to find an in-between.

• We have to be able to discover who are our students, what do they care about and finally how to use this information to aid learning.

• He is a digital native, we are foreigners!

• We should open our minds and give our students the opportunity to share their world with us. Teaching is a two-way relationship and our students will always have something to teach us.

• We should try to strike a balance between traditional and modern learning teaching in order to create a nice classroom atmosphere and improving learner acquisition.

• We must use everything meaningful for our own advantage, in this case, those awesome gadgets will help us in teaching