21st century learners

February 4. The "state of the art" technological "toy" today is the new "ipad" -- not the "ipod" -- that was SOOOOOO yesterday. This is the 21st century-- the environment in which today's students are learning. What makes the 21st century learner different? Well, that depends on what day it is! Today's learners are "digital natives" -- unlike many of the "digital immigrants" they have today as teachers. Students today are products of an instant gratification generation (IGG) -- fast food, fast information delivery. This presents a challenge for the learning environment -- no longer is the "Charlie Brown teacher" effective. Students today need the electronic stimuli they've grown up: with -- hand held devices that contain the world's information at a click, visual stimuli from a screen, and, of course, that keyboard -- albeit getting smaller and smaller all the time. So, in today's learning environment, our "IGG"ers' learning environment depends on what day it is, not what century it is!! While you're most likely reading this blog on an "antiquated" computer screen (antiquated has a new meaning -- last week's computer screen this week is "antiquated"), most IGGers will be reading this on a little hand-held device that contains the world's information at the click of a thumb!! Implications? Well, you'll just have to click on to the next blog to find out!!! :)