How do the characteristics of your students affect how they might learn, and what might an ideal environment look like for them?
Prensky (2001) asserts that today's students (the "Digital Natives") can multi-task and parallel process. they need immediacy, with instant gratification and frequent rewards. I feel that whilst many students do have the characteristic of immediacy, they also often require very clear instructions on the set tasks. I wonder whether this is because they do not have the relevant reading skills ("less than 5000 hours of reading in their lives"!! - Prensky, 2001), so as to be able to assimilate information.
Taking these characteristics into consideration, I wonder whether the ideal environment for these students might include short questionnaires, with immediate results, but no long-winded, involved, convoluted tasks.
Sheena- this would probably get a reasonable response but would we be creating a "dot point world"!
ReplyDeleteWhile I feel we need to assess our students' characteristics and their need for instant gratification as educators I feel we also need to address their deficiencies and teach them appropriate skills. They may have to learn a different mode of processing to acquire some skills. Roselynn
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