Today vs. Yesterday: Week 7

Using technology today: today’s students vs. yesterday’s students


What some of the first articles pointed out that we read were that people our age grew up in a completely different environment when it came to education than today’s young students. I completely agree with the statement when it says that older students today must have silence when they study, and cannot understand how some of the younger students can study with so much noise and music. I like to be immersed in complete silence when I do my reading and homework, and the slight distraction bothers me. Today’s students are growing up with more distractions around them. They have more electronics around the house than when we were their age. I did not have my first computer until I was a junior in college, yet many children now have computers and can use them even in pre-school or for elementary school. Some of the later articles said that email was the preferred way of communication between students and professors, but I am sure that if a high school student or an elementary school student was having problem with an assignment, he or she could easily send an email to their teacher and the teacher would quickly respond to that student.


Other ways that today’s students are different from traditional students are that traditional students go to college immediately graduating high school. In today’s world, sometimes that cannot happen. Money is a huge factor in college. Sometimes a student has to work a few years and save up finances to pay for a college education. Perhaps a child was born and they need to provide together for their child for a little bit before continuing their education. Maybe something happened in their family and the son needs to stay home and work and bring home some extra money to help the family out. Traditional students differ in the way that they immediately went to college after graduating from high school, and typically graduated in four years. Some went on to pursue a master’s degree, and a few more onto a Ph.D. Times have changed today that non-traditional students are becoming more and more of the norm and traditional students are becoming the non-traditional student.


I can, of course, only speak for myself when I say this, but this online course has really helped me this semester. I was a traditional student when I earned my bachelor’s degree, but took several years off, and am now earning my master’s. I currently teach, and I would find it extremely hard to attend a class every Wednesday night. Having a class online really helps me, since I do not have to turn in an assignment at the same time every week, and I can do it a few days early, or perhaps do it a day later the next week. However, to have an online class, there must be instruction. The instructor needs to know that her students understand the material. We must turn in our own work that the instructor can measure and that we can show our progress in the course. We must work in teams to help each other out. Educational material must be posted on the web for us to view, and we must be motivated to learn. More importantly, we must be able to see how we can imply this into our own classrooms.