Important information:
Today’s children are built differently. It’s the number one topic that comes up frequently in conversations with educators at all levels, from the classroom to the district office. It’s not just stories, either. Everywhere you look, the data backs it up:
- “Eighty-one percent of principals believe student behavior concerns are worse now than before the pandemic, and 35 percent say the situation has gotten much worse.” (EAB, 2023)
- “Eighty percent of teachers are concerned about student engagement.” (Gradient Education, 2023)
- “Overall, students give their school a C+ for making them feel like they’re learning…Perhaps similarly, students give their school a C+ for teaching them in ways that meet their needs.” learning disabilities.” (Gallup, 2023)
Something is broken here. Bosses see it. Their teachers. Students see it. So what’s up?
The gamification of incivility
The idea of gamification has existed on the fringes of educational reform for many years. Many apps and curriculum publishers have tried to “make learning fun” with mixed results. But unfortunately it wasn’t the edtech industry that won the childcare race – it was social media.
Sadly, we all know what happened next. The screen generation completely fell into the dopamine traps that are TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and many more. Instead of opening our children’s eyes to new experiences and ways to improve themselves, social media has magnified and encouraged the worst of human nature. Call me a curmudgeon if you must, but the data speaks for itself. Social media has been repeatedly linked to depression, addiction, anxiety, sleep problems, and many other physical and mental health problems.
When schools reopened after the pandemic, they welcomed a group of students with completely new voices and worldviews made up of 30-second video clips. The result was a class that doesn’t have the tools to understand the difference between how people behave online and how people behave in the real world.
At the time this article was written, Congress has passed several bills aimed at strengthening COPPA and protecting children from harmful content on social media forums. If done correctly, this law would address the root cause of many of these issues by increasing modern accountability for social media and technology companies.
Schools are also fighting back as best they can by creating different types of cell phone bans to reverse the downward spiral of student disobedience and self-confidence. State legislatures have already gotten involved, and at least a dozen have signed the bans into law by 2024. Teachers across the country have begun celebrating the implementation of these policies. , citing commitment levels he hasn’t seen in years (if it ever happened, they’re new to the job).
But can we ride that speed and save what we have already lost? Many believe it is still possible.
Let’s talk about the fact that student engagement requires more than edtech tools. Teachers are ultimately the key to raising student engagement levels. But as long as digital learning is part of the curriculum, the onus will fall on publishers to find the sweet spot between meeting acceptable classroom needs and appealing to students in ways the old guard no longer does.
The incredible rise of artificial intelligence and the great variety of languages could not have come at a better time. As schools look to reduce screen time after too many years of hybrid and distance learning, that time needs to be even more productive. No, AI isn’t a panacea technology, but it does open up interesting possibilities for the sad timeline of so-called “personalized learning.”
You can’t take a Generation Alpha student, sit them down in front of the same digital learning tools that kids were using 10 years ago, and expect the same results. You know the formula – students watch an instructional video or read a concept summary, complete a cookie-cutter activity that may or may not include a game or two, and demonstrate “ability ” see by filling out a few optional questions. The only “personalization” involved is often limited to the order in which lessons are delivered.
Today’s students don’t want to read general articles about things that happened 10 or 20 years ago. They don’t want to learn math with apples and oranges clipart. They want the same level of choice and representation they are used to as digital natives. They want to work on topics that mean something to them, like Roblox, Caitlin Clark, or the Paris Olympics. They want feedback and guidance in real time now, even if teachers are not immediately available to help them.
This idea of ”personalized learning 2.0″ isn’t about chasing the shiny new thing—it’s about changing with the times. We need to stop looking at AI as “the future of education” and start thinking about how we can take the time to help create more magical moments in the classroom. Perhaps the right edtech can help open the door wide enough for teachers to walk through.
The dangers created by modern technology cannot be undone, but they can be reduced. At what point do we step back and realize that we can’t keep banging our heads against the wall with old methods and tools of education? How many consecutive years of declining test scores will it take before school systems begin to realize that they are not getting the return on investment they were promised from their six-to-seven person contracts?
Children these days are built differently. Let’s look for the same programs that we put in front of them.
#Skibidi #anarchy #role #technology #postpandemic #classrooms