Journal #1

"Professors adjust their methods to reach technological-savvy generation," by author Eleanor Yany Su.

The article starts by telling Beth Simon, an instructor at UCSK deals with instructing students in her class with 1/3 of them playing video games, emailing, and text messaging. She quizzes the students on concepts of software and keeps her lectures short and asks a lot of questions. The article goes on to tell how colleges are changing due to the Millennial Generation, or what they call "Generation Y," (those that were born between the 80's and early 90's). It says that their lives have been shaped by the internet and introduction to new electronic devices and that and because of this they have learned to multitask. The article gives examples of this by telling of various students doing just that, such as Anjali Nigam and her conversation with her grandmother. The article states that it is too early to know if this generation is learning more, but states that they are definately communicating with their professors more. The research, according the the article, shows that more errors are made with multitasking and constantly switching tasks, but that colleges have steps up the use of technology. It says that nearly 1/2 of colleges use websites to at least view grades and let students take quizzes.

Questions:

How can I use this knowledge to my advantage in the classroom? Knowing that students are more computer savvy, I can create assignments that will allow them to make use of computers and the internet. I would have to monitor them to see that they are doing the assignments and not checking their my space however :-}

What are some of the downfalls of such technology? I would have to say that they can interupt a learning environment. To counter this I guess I would make sure that students turn off their cell phones upon entering my classroom, or I would collect them at the beginning of the day and return them at the end of class.