• Excessive over-stimulation lowers student focus on traditional classwork.
• Younger generations have been expected to know how to effectively use technology as a resource, without actually being properly taught necessary skills to utilize as an effective resource.

We must find a way to use current technology more effectively to enhance student engagement! Here is an example of a time I used very simple materials to craft a microscope that uses student's smartphones as the lens!

Issue 1 - Underwhelming of Over-stimulation

Simply put, kids are underwhelmed and uninterested in how they are learning in schools. Notice I said how they are learning, for what they learn is not going to be the topic of this entry. In today's generation, kids are stimulated by media and technology to such a degree, that traditional forms of education are no longer able to stimulate and engage them. Everything nowadays is highly interactive and animated, full of visually pleasing colors and graphics. Everything, except school. Even as a teacher in a school that heavily embraces the online/virtual use of education, there are major cracks in the system. We have utilized a few different online curricula, and not one has been created with the amount of attention to detail as a typical app is. The user interfaces are clunky, hard to navigate, and appear very outdated.

With how good people have become at creating highly pleasing user interfaces, it is a wonder why these techniques are not implemented in online curricula. This generation is highly focused on social media and gaming, and no online curriculum (to my knowledge) has taken advantage of implementing some form of social media platform mixed with gaming. I am no programmer, but it doesn't seem too difficult to turn education into a type of virtual game. For example, a system where students create their own avatars and earn different badges or cool gear for their avatar after they show mastery of some subject. Students could interact with each other and share their achievements over the system, allowing them an interaction like they get on any social media platform. I think if educators and the board of education started thinking more creatively on how to implement curriculum so it increases student interest and engagement, we would have much higher national test scores and an ultimately better education system. Our out dated educational models fail to address changing times, and because of this, have created generations of disinterested youth.

Issue 2 - Assuming Technological Competencies

This isn't taught in schools any more! Image Source

Our youth, from nearly infancy, are shoved in front of tablets, computers and smartphones. It is amazing how fast they seem to pick them up and begin using them, even apparently with higher efficiency than adults! Because the youth appear to be so adept, actual proper education in the utilization of these technological resources has been overlooked drastically. What I am seeing with my students is that not one of them were taught very basic computer skills. One major issue is that I do not see typing or multi media classes being offered or apart of required curriculum anymore. I have early memories being in kindergarten, in front of big old computers with no color, and being taught home row and how to type efficiently without looking. This is completely removed from education now, and this has had a huge impact on how efficiently students can use technology. There is already a de-emphasis on building handwriting and penmanship skills (an issue to be discussed in later entries), and to couple this with a lack of good typing skills, you have made it so much more difficult for students to express themselves through writing.

When tasks are needlessly more difficult than they need to be, it definitely does not encourage students to try and improve their writing skills. On top of a lack of curriculum that enforces typing skills, students are not being taught how to use simple word processing and spreadsheet software. Students struggle with creating and formatting basic papers, slideshows and spreadsheets. Combine this with the inability to efficiently type, and you are making generations of students who are terrified to write research papers, or any papers, for that matter.

To make matters worse, students aren't even taught how to effectively use the internet as the invaluable resource it is. I have seen too many times that students do not know how to conduct effective google searches and locate sources of credible information. Literally everything humans have learned is accessible at the palms of our hands, and it is scary that the youth still have trouble accessing good information. How did we drop this ball? I remember having entire classes solely about how to find and cite good sources of information. The youth are overwhelmed with all of these tools, and understandably so!

Ultimately, I try to place myself in the shoes of my students. It is no wonder to me why students simply just don't care about what is being taught any more. It's not interesting or relatable to their worlds. If an educational model can figure out a way to tackle some of these issues, I believe that students can begin to be motivated and excited by what they learn again. Black and white textbooks (or textbooks in general) just don't do it anymore, and when our greater education system begins to embrace these cultural changes and how to overcome the problems as an effect of these changes, we will see an emergence of interested youth once again.

What are your thoughts? Am I missing anything? Have you seen educational models in your area implement anything mentioned in this blog? If so, what were the results? Again thanks to @eaglespirit for the initial inspiration in writing these posts! If interested in my first post on this matter, here ya go!

Part 1

Thanks for stopping by and reading! If what I have posted resonates with you, or you think it is something another steemian would appreciate reading, feel free to resteem! I also greatly appreciate your upvotes! Nothing is more motivating than seeing those!!!! Until next time :)