Students in college are now part of a media-savvy generation, armed with laptops, smartphones and tablets (Cisco. 2011). Connecting through Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, this is modifying teaching and learning for students and lecturers. The change of students learning within this generation is changing swiftly, students are using these devices everyday to talk socially to friends and to help enhance their education. In addition, the technology used within students education is rapidly changing, ensuring students are always learning new methods. The definition of education technologies changes almost as fast as technology itself (Cisco. 2011). When new technology first comes out, this generation has to be the first to have it, ensuring they discuss it with all their friends first, making them want to buy the upcoming product. I am sure that it’s the same within education if students learn the upcoming method, there will probably be another new approach released rather quickly after.
Almost one in four teachers (24 percent) report that they use digital media everyday (Cisco. 2011). If the lecturer is familiar with using digital media within education and everyday life, it will be easier for the lecturer to teach the student and for the student to learn faster. Furthermore, as students are normally familiar with upcoming digital media as it’s talked about on social media devices, they can use their knowledge and integrate it into their education. As digital media has become routine for students learning and lecturers teaching, it will always evolve into bigger and better applications. The way people communicate, collaborate and learn is evolving (Hootsuite University. 2016). Communicating is an essential within education because it ensures you have every guideline you need and enables you to listen to any additional information. Collaborations are always necessary because it enhances your coursework to the best of your ability and allows you to work with a professional clients within a specific field. Learning will always be evolving, because everyone learns at a different pace and every student has different abilities within education.
References:
– Cisco (2011) Video: How Interactivity and Rich Media Change Teaching and Learning. Available at: http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/collaboration-endpoints/collaboration-room-endpoints/k12_video_wp.pdf. (Accessed: 12 December 2016).
– Hootsuite University (2016) ‘Teaching Social Media in Higher Education with Hootsuite’, Hootsuite, pp. 1-16. Available at: https://hootsuite.com/en-gb/pages/landing/blended-learning (Accessed: 12 December 2016).
Abbie Fothergill 