The "New" Tech-Savvy Student and Classrooms Today

Oblinger, D. “Boomers & Gen-Xers Millennials: Understanding the New Students,” Starlink.

Unit Five: Multimedia and Technology

Summary
Dr. Diana Oblinger, Executive Director of Higher Education for Microsoft Corporation, argues that an essential component of a successful classroom is understanding learners. She asks, what do we know about today’s “new students”? She suggests the “new” student may be a seventeen-year-old high school student (a “Millennial”) who uses instant messaging to contact peers and teachers. The “new” student may also be a twenty-six-year-old college student (a “Gen-X”) whose use of the internet and expectations for wireless capabilities differ radically from previous generations. The focus of the article centers on the question: how do we, as educators, address the learning needs of such “new” students?

Her article goes on to “classify” these “new” students in a variety of contexts—the elimination of delays, customer service expectations, desire for experiential learning, and constant connectedness. The implications of a “delayless” society have caused students to disengage with anything that isn’t instantaneous. Oblinger suggests that in order to encourage student connectedness with classroom discussions, prompt responses through email and instant messenger will make a difference in the decision-making process (and ultimately the achievement) of “new” students. Oblinger writes that “customer service is an expectation, not an exception” for today’s learners, noting that today’s students want immediate response and support from their faculty. The third context, experiential learning, is important to student engagement. Creating opportunities for authentic assessments and performances of learning are key to hooking “new” students. Lastly, Oblinger acknowledges that many students carry multiple electronic devices and use various communication protocols to be sure they are always connected to friends, events, and information. Oblinger thus suggests capitalizing on this “connectedness” by encouraging and inviting the use of PDAs, laptops and other devices into the classroom infrastructure (for more information on this, please see the review on Peterson’s article from Campus Technology on using PDAs in the classroom).

Ultimately, Oblinger challenges schools and universities today to ask the following questions of their students:
Ø Is instant messaging a fad or should it be incorporated into how institutions work with students?
Ø Do the educational resources provided (textbooks, reference materials, etc.) fit the needs and preferences of today’s learners?
Ø Does the current definition of “anytime, anywhere” equate to students’ expectations that any device (laptop, PDA, cell phone, etc.) will be able to access the Web at any time and from any place?
Ø Do students’ desires for group learning and activities imply rethinking the configuration and use of space in classrooms, libraries, student unions and residence halls?

Reaction
I like the underlying ideas embedded within Oblinger’s article. What seems to the subconscious message is the idea that good teachers get to know their students. Who are my kids and what are their needs should be the first questions teachers ask of any given class, so that teaching can take a student-centered approach, ensuring the individual and diverse needs of each student are not overlooked. While the overarching agenda of Oblinger is clear—that school reform needs to take the direction of incorporating information technology into the classroom—her message is really about addressing the needs and expectations of a constantly changing population of students. One element I found lacking in Oblinger’s report is the prevalence of media in today’s “new” student’s frame of reference and identity formation. While pop culture and media have always influenced young students (at least since the mid 1900s), today more than ever, students daily lives are saturated with media commentary, stereotypes and messages. This media-savvy aspect of students should take a front-row seat to instruction today. Instead of ignoring the messages that students receive from media outlets, why not invite it into the classroom and use it as a forum for encouraging student discrimination and choice, critical thinking and understanding? Certainly media ties to technology, the two go hand-in-hand, and without this consideration, a huge portion of today’s “new” student is left unseen, unattended and, ultimately, uneducated.