21st Century Learners - What are the changes?

These are some of the changes/drivers that we have discussed as a team. Not a definitive list, rather they add to Derek from Core Ed's (Ubiquity, Connectedness and Agency.)

Interactivity: Students learning by doing.  Using technology only enhances the hands-on experience; it does not--and cannot--replace human interaction. Students look to the "teacher” who has the expertise or passion to lead their learning.

Multi processing/multi-tasking...Students can process information from multiple sources, even though there is more information, students can deal with this. We need to create ways to engage them with the curriculum, where they have to make important decisions every half-second, and have multiple streams of data coming in, and give them goals that they want to reach but wonder if they actually can, and beat a really tough game and pass the course....just like they do in games.

Gamification - Providing learning conditions that promote these ideas from gaming: Instant feedback on ideas and choices, failing forward rapidly, problem solving, and taking risks. Games provide a safe environment for children to explore these, and see their results instantly.

Collaboration and Connectedness - Personal technology is common in their learning but the desire to learn socially in collaborative environments remains important for these learners. Having access to expertise from anywhere and any knowledge about anything, instantly at their fingertips, is an expectations. Learners also see themselves as content generators, they have an audience and can share content with them. They value being a part of connected environment.  

Engagement - moving students beyond being mere participants in the class to become active learners and discoverers.  They have the ability to multi-task and can engage in lots of tasks at one time.  

Kids as Digital Natives -

• grow up and into a digital world of speed and instantaneity; being digital natives
• through using the digital tools they are processing, thinking and applying knowledge differently that changes the way the brain develops physically
• They are able to parallel process and multi task switching easily from one task to another
• Need to receive information fast, go for the graphics first preferring games over serious learning