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Hello, this is 2015 and people learn in totally different ways than 20 years ago. In other words, if your students are staring at Facebook maybe is because you

Hello, this is 2015 and people learn in totally different ways than 20 years ago. In other words, if your students are staring at Facebook maybe is because your lecture is boring as hell. That's what you should be worried about.

keithpeter 12y ago
"Hello, this is 2015 and people learn in totally different ways than 20 years ago." The learning process will be similar to 20, 200 or 2000 years ago as the brain does not change that quickly. The mode by which we access things to learn may well change from generation to generation. Challenge: 'boring' may imply resistance to engagement, perhaps because the material is hard.
- javiercr 12y ago
  By learning different I mean we don't learn in a "broadcast" way anymore. Check out this great article by Don Tapscott: Yet the students, who have grown up in an interactive digital world, learn differently. Schooled on Google and Wikipedia, they want to inquire, not rely on the professor for a detailed roadmap. They want an animated conversation, not a lecture. They want an interactive education, not a broadcast one that might have been perfectly fine for the Industrial Age, or even for boomers. These students are making new demands of universities, and if the universities try to ignore them, they will do so at their peril. http://edge.org/conversation/the-impending-demise-of-the-university http://edge.org/conversation/the-impending-demise-of-the-uni...
  - frostmatthew 12y ago
    > By learning different I mean we don't learn in a "broadcast" way anymore. Given the excerpt you quoted uses the word "want" I think you mean you don't want to learn in a broadcast way. That's fine, but that's not a sufficient rebuttal to the point you were replying to that "The learning process will be similar to 20, 200 or 2000 years ago as the brain does not change that quickly." I'm not sure I entirely agree with that[1], but saying you want to learn in a different way is not evidence that "people learn in totally different ways." On one hand I feel students preferring more interaction / less broadcast is nothing new, but on the other hand the popularity of Coursera, MIT OpenCourseWare, Udacity, Khan Academy, and countless other very "broadcasty" education sites/resources would seem to indicate many are quite satisfied with little or no interaction. [1] http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-googl...
bnegreve 12y ago
> maybe is because your lecture is boring as hell. Maybe or maybe not, it's not surprising that all teaching material isn't always as immediately rewarding as checking facebook.

keithpeter 12y ago

"Hello, this is 2015 and people learn in totally different ways than 20 years ago." The learning process will be similar to 20, 200 or 2000 years ago as the brain does not change that quickly. The mode by which we access things to learn may well change from generation to generation. Challenge: 'boring' may imply resistance to engagement, perhaps because the material is hard.

javiercr 12y ago
By learning different I mean we don't learn in a "broadcast" way anymore. Check out this great article by Don Tapscott: Yet the students, who have grown up in an interactive digital world, learn differently. Schooled on Google and Wikipedia, they want to inquire, not rely on the professor for a detailed roadmap. They want an animated conversation, not a lecture. They want an interactive education, not a broadcast one that might have been perfectly fine for the Industrial Age, or even for boomers. These students are making new demands of universities, and if the universities try to ignore them, they will do so at their peril. http://edge.org/conversation/the-impending-demise-of-the-university http://edge.org/conversation/the-impending-demise-of-the-uni...
- frostmatthew 12y ago
  > By learning different I mean we don't learn in a "broadcast" way anymore. Given the excerpt you quoted uses the word "want" I think you mean you don't want to learn in a broadcast way. That's fine, but that's not a sufficient rebuttal to the point you were replying to that "The learning process will be similar to 20, 200 or 2000 years ago as the brain does not change that quickly." I'm not sure I entirely agree with that[1], but saying you want to learn in a different way is not evidence that "people learn in totally different ways." On one hand I feel students preferring more interaction / less broadcast is nothing new, but on the other hand the popularity of Coursera, MIT OpenCourseWare, Udacity, Khan Academy, and countless other very "broadcasty" education sites/resources would seem to indicate many are quite satisfied with little or no interaction. [1] http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-googl...

bnegreve 12y ago

> maybe is because your lecture is boring as hell. Maybe or maybe not, it's not surprising that all teaching material isn't always as immediately rewarding as checking facebook.