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THERE has been a dramatic increase in the influence of digital technology on young people over the past few decades, and these changes are having a serious effect on how they learn in today’s world. However, there has been little development on how these technologies could be used in enhancing learning, which, for kids, is most important. The government-led One Laptop per Family (OLPF) is one of the projects which is geared to bridge the digital divide, but can that alone do it? I don’t think so! A few hours of computer training would not help. Most kids these days practically “live” on the Internet. Many baby shops and computer stores across Guyana now have computers and tablets selling for our kiddies, giving them an even earlier introduction to technology.
In modern societies, we are giving more and more technology to kids. Whether this is a good thing or not depends on who you talk to. Some say giving kids more access to computers/tablets gives them an opportunity to have a head-start in learning how to use them, giving them an edge in succeeding in an ever more computerized world. Others say computers are depriving kids of natural play, exercise, and in some cases, even interfering with brain development.
Some say it is giving children never-before-seen abilities to connect with other kids the world over, thereby affording them access to other cultures, points-of-view, and ways of seeing the world. Others say the dependence on computers and social networking is stunting kids’ development of real face-to-face social skills, which are crucial to success in the real world.
Some say the Web gives kids never-before-seen access to information. From Online education to YouTube how-to manuals, kids can now find the answer to more questions than their parents or teachers could ever know.
The rich media world children and youth enjoy so much – television, movies, music, videos and video games, and the Internet – has a profound influence on their views of themselves and the world around them. While media offers children many opportunities to learn and be entertained, some media images and messages have been linked to health concerns, such as aggressive behaviour, substance use and abuse, poor nutrition, obesity, unhealthy body image, risky sexual behaviour and media dependency. In some areas of study, the evidence is indisputable.
The technology that is shaping our future and our children’s is not, as many assume, the computer anymore. These machines have been with us for decades, and now, with their advanced multimedia capability, they deserve considerable credit for enhancing learning among people of all ages. But I am taking about an even greater technology on the rise; a technology whose power is far more encompassing. I am speaking about the new and emerging forms of interactive communications, such as the fibre-optic Internet, the on4 network, the cloud, etc. that allow us to capitalize on our greatest learning resource; on how the young people of today and generations to come are taught to learn.
The future is now!! Technology has already has a significant influence on the educational system. When I think of the way my students learn, as opposed to the way I learned when I was in secondary school, it blows my mind!!
I can remember being in the final year and first being introduced to computers. Fifteen years ago, if someone told you they had a computer in their house, it was a big deal. Now, you can walk into just about any electronic/ computer store and purchase a computer for less than G$ 100,000. Think of the advantages that students of this generation have over those of other generations. My little niece (17months) loves to play with devices; she already knows how to turn on/off the television and portable media player.
Many students learn in classrooms where there are at least one computer. When it comes time to research for a project or essay, there is no need to spend hours in the library surrounded by reference books. Just log on!
In some classrooms, teachers have a SMART board. This piece of technology allows teachers to make their lessons totally interactive. Who needs a projector or even a television, when one can just embed a hyperlink into one’s PowerPoint presentation?
How children learn in the computer age?
The classroom is one of the places where most of our values, knowledge and skills for living in a fast changing world are acquired. The average child in Guyana spends at least 13 years of their life in a classroom.
So, what happens when the students evolve with their digital surroundings, but the way they are required to learn does not? Is the educational system outdated? Does it take the environment the children have grown up in into account? Are kids in Guyana prepared for this massive outbreak of technology speedily evolving towards us?
What is the role of a teacher?
Some people feel teachers still seem to believe that the education they received worked for them, so it will work for children in this digital age. But children today are massively different from when the teacher was a child. On the one hand, teachers tend to work through things step-by-step from instructions, in a passive and linear way. On the other hand, many children prefer to experiment and find the answer, in an active way. Passive learning is when the student is taught through observation or listening to the lesson. Active learning entails a more involved, interactive style of learning through experience. A good example of active learning is when a child goes into the computer store; the child learns from interacting with the device(s), touching the parts, seeing and feeling how it works. The opposite of this is to give the child a book about computer to learn from. While using the computer, the child is making his/her own discoveries instead of finding out about other people’s experiences.
Will children learn if they do not see a need?
In this increasingly evolving world it can be observed that children seem to have learnt to adapt to their high tech environment much more quickly than their parents generations have managed to. They have grown up in a world where high-tech devices and the Internet are omnipresent and they appear to be completely comfortable with everything from e-mail to game consoles, as a result some are so savvy that their parents turn to them for advice.
At the end of the day and at this age, many youths are not openly concerned with a job, in which the acquaintance of new and modern technology is very necessarily. Nevertheless, youth have to prepare themselves for their own decision of occupation in the future, and in this case to know the important of using modern technology, its communications and have some skills is very essential for their future.
As much as it could sound excellent, technologicalusage isn’t always so optimistic. Generally is agreed that new and modern technology is likely bring in new problems and issues. You know the old saying “Romancing the future or the past involves denying present realities.”
Teenagers and young people who could be called as “a cream of the society”, who are the biggest influenced part of technology and cannot be, must not be left to move on the pathway of destruction. Every single parent, school, and other social institutions must have a strong duty in taking care of kids and teenagers developing process. They all want older generation to advise them and as well as to provide them with activities, which could possible change computing games.
The biggest matter is that teenager and young people nowadays, the youth who is so lost, unhappy or just sad or with little moral values is believed to have come from technology issues i.e. social networking.
We need to ensure our children get a positive head start in a difficult and forbidding world. Our mission, on this; the digital age, is to use the new technologies to make sure that happens and that our youth are given what they need to become the best they can be. I’m ready for that challenge. What about you?
