Who is the Contemporary Learner?

Who is the contemporary learner?

How will the characteristics of our Gen Z learners depicted in the Meet GenZ video define their engagement in the traditional classroom snippet?

Learners today, need to learn in an optimal learning environment that is filled with engaging activities and class room discussions. We have technology now we should be using it and showing videos or interactive activities the students can engage with. The traditional classroom involves a teacher standing in front of a bunch of students babbling about the content with no engaging content or creative thinking. To properly engage our students we need be to creative thinkers as our students are becoming more distracted and more disengaged if we take the traditional route.

Referring to the ideas presented by Willis and Robinson, is this level of creativity in evidence in the schools you have attended, both as a student, and as a preservice teacher? Furthermore, is this level of creativity in evidence in your University units? As secondary pre-service teaching students, you will experience a variety of approaches to teaching, learning and course design in your discipline studies. Why were your previous studies presented in that particular way? How could they have been presented?

In the school I currently work at, teaching is approached in a fun and engaging way where teachers have a passion for their subject and this is evident in their students in class engagements. As a university student, I find some of the content hard to engage with especially when a lecturer is speaking for 2 hours with no power point to follow along with as it is hard to sit and listen as many students struggle with. I think if lecturers gave their students mid lecture activities to complete or created some form of engaging activity students would engage with zoom sessions more. I have only found this twice whilst studying other lecturers have made the subject very interesting by showing a passion for it.

What do you think the implications are of a curriculum that is linear, progressive, aimed at a single learning outcome for the development of both individuals and the society we live in?

With all the different learning abilities we come across, a linear curriculum is hard to follow when the learning outcome for students is not the same. Some students are not learning at the same level as theirs peers or do not learn the same way therefore delaying their development. It is our job as teachers to develop our own assessment or curriculum adjustments so that we get the best out of our learners that is best suited to their style and ability.

How can ICTs help you in the development of a professional learning network? How are you feeling about this?

ICTs are proven to be a helpful tool in creating online learning platforms for any learner. These include online forums or online chat sessions. A professional learning network can be styled to any way you like and with the development of ICTs we can create any platform we want with as many interactive programs as possible. I aim to become familiar with ICTs to give my learners the best learning experience that is familiar to them.