Achieving Student Engagement in the Digital Age

How will technology change the college-going experience over the next decade? Can the plugged-in generation harness their proclivity for technology in ways that their professors can understand? Can professors move from teaching and telling to coaching and facilitating? Can faculty across the disciplines understand enough about technology to give their students the reigns they need to craft and deliver their own interactive learning? Can students have the self-reflection, judgment, and personal discipline  to create the boundaries they need to aggregate and create the content from which they can learn? Can they resist the temptations to camp on Facebook or play video games to join on-line class discussions and make meaningful, thoughtful contributions to their fellow classmates while juggling reading and other self-paced class responsibilities?

Seton Hall University Gives Smartphones to their Freshmen Class

At Seton Hall University in New Jersey, each student in the incoming freshmen class is receiving a free smartphone at orientation. The school wants to provide students with a device that they are likely to keep with them at all times, so schools can stay connected with students even when they leave campus. The Seton Hall University also hopes freshmen will use the app that was developed for them to connect with other freshmen and academic advisors. Seton Hall University should be congratulated for taking the risk to explore this learning option. Colleges who sit still without risking in these new realms can lose students over time simply because they are not investigating the learning alternatives that technology provides.

The smartphone decision is receiving mixed reviews from officials and faculty at Seton Hall University. Many officials support the move, while some faculty argue the phones will be a distraction that could potentially do more harm than good to student engagement in class. However, other faculty members see the value of giving smartphones to students to use in school, saying that it will teach them how to use the devices in a professional setting. Without exploring this option, how will professors and students ever know?

It’s no question that technology is making its way into colleges, whether its using a smartphone as a learning tool, an ebook for a class, a laptop to take notes, or participating in an on-line or hybrid class. However, as unavoidable as the infiltration of technology is in schools, workplace, and home, there are still skeptics that think it is taking over too quickly and without merit.    We can’t stop the river from flowing, but we can ask ourselves how we can facilitate the opportunity which technology affords us at a time when many would argue we are not serving most college students, especially those from minority and disadvantaged backgrounds.

Technology Is Here, But Not Well-Received as a Learning Tool 

In a recent survey by Pew Research Center and Elon University, sixty percent of 1,021 surveyors said they believe technology will have a “powerful influence” on education in the next decade. Thirty-nine percent predict technology will be included in higher education without any change in educational paradigms. Across the board, almost all those surveyed believe technology will have some influence on education, but that doesn’t mean they’re embracing the digital classroom. What are the costs to faculty and colleges who are slow to harness this opportunity?  What are the costs to students, their learning and their future job options?  In the Pew study, no matter how respondents thought technology would effect the college classroom over the next decade, they were “doubtful” technology was best for students. Interesting.

For many, whether parents, professionals, students, or educators, technology still elicits “experimental” when spoken in tandem with education. A lot of new technology-based initiatives will make it into the classroom that don’t come with the same sense of security we get from using tried-and-true – though often outdated and some would say ineffective — methods of teaching. Just because we have technology doesn’t mean we can’t teach students the judgment to avoid hiding in technology—avoiding a difficult conversation by writing an email, avoiding a connection with a classmate by being efficient on-line at the expense of the relationship, developing a virtual life and world without the courage to show up in the world.

Technology can be distracting, mind-numbing, and addicting. It can also be engaging, inspiring, and motivating. Like most opportunities in life, technology has its pros and cons and needs creativity, imagination, and interaction to make meaning of individual and group learning whether in isolation on the computer or as a springboard for the personal interaction which cannot be replaced.

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Sources:

“Free Cell Phones for College Students,” by Ryan Lytle. 19 July 2012. U.S. News. Accessed on 31 July 2012. http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/07/19/free-cell-phones-for-college-students

“Experts Predict More Remote Learning, Despite Concerns About Its Effects,” by Beth Mole. 27 July 2012. The Chronicle. Accessed on 31 July 2012. http://chronicle.com/article/Experts-Predict-More-Remote/133177/

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The classroom bully is not a new character, but technology has given the bully new shape. The Internet and the accessibility of handheld devices for younger and younger kids has afforded the bully to be more elusive and far-reaching, both in audience and victims.

Findings of a new cyberbullying study illuminates the changes and challenges well. According to the study, physical bullying decreases as children get older, but cyberbullying increases. The study also found:

• Almost 90 percent of students are online by third grade.
• 83 percent of middle school students have a mobile device.
• 35-40 percent of elementary students report being targets of bullying, and 50-53 percent of middle and high school students say they have been victims.

 (“One-Fifth of Third-Graders Own Cell Phones” — CNET)

Abuse, harassment, and bullying are not only physical; verbal and written forms of hurtful behavior also make long-lasting and high impact imprints on the victim. Educators, parents, students, and policy makers understand that cyberbullying needs to be reigned in, but how it will be done is still unknown. One reason squashing cyberbullying is so hard is that it doesn’t have a clear-cut definition. Is gossip or rumor spread over social media cyberbullying? Whose jurisdiction does cyberbullying get tried in (law, parental, education)?

One eighth grader, Charlsea Brewer, was recently profiled for being the target of a fast moving rumor on Facebook, in the article “Rumors of Violence, Spread by Social Media, Weigh on Teens, Schools.” After having been picked on, Charlsea wrote a post that wished the popular kids at her school would get shot, which definitely wasn’t a well-thought out statement to share on Facebook, but held no real threat. Within hours, the rumor spread that Charlesea had a “hit list” from which she suffered lasting backlash from parents, peers, and school officials.

The article quotes a Pew Research study as finding that 95 percent of teens are online, and eight out of 10 of those teens have a social media account. “Social media are vital to teens’ lives,” said Amanda Lenhart, a researcher with Pew. “This is their space of social interaction.”

Clearly, social media is a preferred method of communication for most teens, but is part of the attraction due to them not having to be themselves? The anonymity users get from having an online identity can bring out the worst in people. Adults can be just as guilty of spreading inappropriate and scarring words on the Internet. Some teen cyberbullies have even turned to impersonating students and faculty through fake Facebook and Twitter accounts they set up to post offensive comments, according to the article “Students Create Fake Online Profiles to Bully Peers.”

It’s clear that we have a responsibility to teach kids how to be respectable members of society both on-and off-line. We are already seeing how social media can not only be used as a vehicle to hurt other people, but can drive people to self-destruction as well. Adult users of social media who post inappropriate pictures and comments can lose careers, career opportunities, college admission, college scholarships, and personal friends.

It could be possible that the solution to cyberbullying isn’t a completely new idea. Students don’t need new social skills to navigate an online environment; they need to take the same morals and ethics they should have in the physical world and apply them online. LifeBound’s book People Smarts for Teenagers gives students the skills to help them learn about themselves and how to socialize with their peers. A socially and emotionally intelligent person has empathy for people, understands social boundaries, and thinks before they act, no matter if they are in a digital or physical forum.

What does it mean to be emotionally intelligent?

Psychologist Daniel Goleman defined emotional intelligence as being self-aware. An emotionally intelligent person is someone who can recognize their feelings and the feelings of others. It’s also someone who knows how to manage emotions, like anxiety, anger, and sadness. Emotional intelligence is a must to succeed at school and work, in social circles, and with family.

Students may display a multitude of behavior problems in the classroom due to any number of variables, such as learning disabilities, lack of sleep or food, not doing their homework, or hormonal changes. Emotional intelligence is a weapon each student should be armed with so they know how to personally assess their problems and when to ask for help from outside sources. However, it’s not always easy for students to see their problems and know how to find a solution. It’s also not always possible for teachers to take the time to address individual behavior problems in class. But there might be a new tool that makes it easier for teachers to monitor individuals in class while recording their positive and negative behaviors.

Students who get immediate feedback on problems with their behavior respond better, according to the article, “Can Mobile Phones Help Teachers Manage Classroom Behavior.” But it isn’t always possible for one teacher to address a behavior problem during class or for them to stop what they’re doing and jot down the offense on the student’s record.

A new Web and mobile app might be the solution. ClassDojo makes it possible for teachers to log both good and bad behavior by using a point system of +1 and -1. If students are behaving well, you give them a +1. If they are behaving negatively, you give them a -1. Teachers can use their cellphones to log information into the program and the numbers are projected for the entire class to see. The tool is meant to not only give teachers an easier way to record what happens in the class, but for students to be able to get real feedback in real time.

The creators of ClassDojo hope the tool will help teachers discuss behavior problems in parent/teacher conferences and one-on-one discussions with students, but they also hope it will encourage positive behavior when students see they can earn points for being positive role models in the classroom. Learn more about the tool at: http://www.classdojo.com/

Would you use ClassDojo in your classroom? Why or why not?

Source:

“Can Mobile Phones Help Teachers Manage Classroom Behavior?” by Audrey Watters. 7 September 2011. MindShift. Accessed on 12 September 2011. http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/09/can-mobile-phones-help-teachers-manage-classroom-behavior/

How do you start preparing grade school students for work that hasn’t been invented yet? According to Cathy Davidson, the author of Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn, as much as 65 percent of youth will end up in these jobs which is one reason why educators and parents need to stop fearing technology and learn how to teach it.

In the Mind/Shift article “How Do We Prepare Our Children for What’s Next?” Tina Barseghian writes, Davidson believes this is the time to start adjusting to the digital age, especially since we’re only becoming more dependent on our biggest technological tool, the Internet. “It’s time to survey our lives and figure out what works, what doesn’t, and how we can make real and practical improvements in our schools, our workplace, our every day lives,” says Davidson. And to do so, she suggest the following for parents:

1. EXPERIMENT WITH SCRATCH. Students learn about programming in a fun and creative way. An employee’s ability to understand programming language and the logistics of programming is helpful even in today’s world. It’s only assumed that as technological fields grow, more and more employees will benefit from understanding tech talk and having technological skill.
2. EMBARK ON A MEANINGFUL PROJECT. Children can start preparing for the world of work by getting involved in an activity outside of school. But children shouldn’t always be encouraged to be a leader in these situations, for the workforce it’s important that they also learn how to work on a team. Davidson says they should get involved in something that they might fail at or that seems like a big risk to learn lessons they can’t always learn in the classroom
3. LEARN HOW TO BE A RESPONSIBLE DIGITAL CITIZEN. Using software tools to create a digital classroom community, have students develop an online identity and assign each student 10 stars. Every week, each student will award a chosen student with a gold star who they thought did an excellent job in participating in the digital community. But before they can award them the star, they must analyze why they think the person is exceptional and write an assessment. This teaches students it’s much more difficult, and worthwhile, to comment positively on other online members than it is to be negative.

Are you doing anything to prepare you students for the digital age? Do you have a fear of technology? Share your stories in the comment box below.

To read Barseghian’s entire interview with Davidson and learn more about her book, visit the source url below.

Sources:

Barseghian, Tina. “How Do We Prepare Our Children for What’s Next?” August 19, 2011. Mind/Shift. Accessed on August 22, 2011. <http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/08/how-do-we-prepare-our-children-for-whats-next/>