[This is a special post by Rebecca Ryan for Madison College, where she spoke on Tuesday, January 4. This three part blog series, “Education: Is there an app for that?” is based on her convocation address with the same title. You can view Rebecca’s slides here.]
In part one, we talked about the power of expectations, how what we expect of our learners is likely to become true. We also talked about how - in order to master something - you have to fail more than you succeed. [Read part one here.]
In part two, we talked about how students learn (Hint: It’s not by sitting-and-listening.) Specifically, there are five characteristics of learning environments that enable students to learn and master their subject matter. How well are you delivering on these five? [Read about them here.]
Here - in our final installment - we’re going to talk about two additional trends that educators must know, to do their jobs with excellence.
Who are your Future Students?
Take a look at this short video - featuring a 2.5 year old - to understand the unique needs and attributes of your next generation learners.
As you can see, within seconds, this toddler has figured out:
- How to “swipe” the screen on the iPad
- How to clear the screen by pressing the button on the bottom of the device
- How to start a new game
- How to use a new spelling game
What else do you see? Participants say things like “No fear,” “Discovery,” “Interactive learning,” “Trial and error.”
One of the things that I notice when I see this video is the interaction between the learner and the device. For example, she received a success sound when she spelled “L-I-O-N” correctly….and the lion itself spun around, as if celebrating her good work! She intuitively knew she had been successful - you see her pick up the device and grin - and look to her dad for more positive feedback.
These sort of smart applications - that give the user feedback - are in development all over the world. For example, at MIT, they’ve invented a “smart wallet.” The wallet is in constant communication with your bank via bluetooth technology. As your account balance gets lower, your wallet becomes harder to open. This is brilliant, isn’t it?
I’m waiting for a laptop that starts smelling rotten when I have too many emails piled up in my inbox.
The bottom line is that our next generation will continue to use - and rely on - “smart” devices like this one. This is why they are called “digital natives.”
This is your future: classes filled with digital natives, for whom their devices are a deeply important and personal part of their lives.
Now, here at Madison College, your average age is 29 years old. This means, they are at the top age range of Millennials, who were born between 1982-2001 and are turning 10-29 years old this year. (For a chart of the last two centuries’ generations’ names and birth years, read “What should we name the next generation” here.)
Meet Christine, the Millennial
To help us understand your average Millennial, we’ve created a fictional character, Christine. Christine is 22, a recent college grad, and a Millennial.
Christine does everything with a large, diverse group of friends. Christine herself is not Caucasian; she’s Asian-American. Christine represents what some demographers call “the browning of America’s youth.” For example, the U.S. Census Bureau’s new statistics on school enrollment show that fewer than half of all children under three are white. Non-white children like Christine will make up the majority of all American children by 2023 (or sooner.) (Source: Brookings Institution.)
Christine doesn’t have a serious boyfriend; she socializes in groups of both guys and gals. Some of Christine’s “BFFs” are guys. This is why parents have to rent stretch hummers to get their kids to prom; Millennials don’t date one person seriously; they do stuff in groups.
In Christine’s world:
- 30 is the new 20. Christine’s generation is pushing “adulthood” back. She’s staying in school longer, getting married later. She’ll move back in with her parents, if she needs to.
- Life is lived online. For Christine’s generation, their cell phone or smart phone is more important than any other gadget. Even a car.
- Her relationship to time is different. Raised in homes where they can “TIVO” Grey’s Anatomy, Millennials are used to time-shifting, being able to do certain tasks at a time that’s convenient for them.
- Her relationship to place is different. Our next generation will look upon us with awe when we tell them, “In 2000, when you called someone on the phone, you couldn’t see them.” Christine and her generation use Skype, iChat, and GoogleChat to talk - and see - their friends anywhere around the world! So the idea that you have to be in a classroom at a certain address to learn...well, that may also become “old fashioned” to the next generation.
Christine’s generation - because of its size and diversity - will cause great shifts in educational institutions like Madison College. Here, you have a choice: you can hang on stubbornly to the way you’ve always done things - and turn off an entirely new generation of learners - or you can attack this stuff like that 2.5 year old with the iPad...with a beginner’s mind, open, curious, and fearless.
Your Emotions are Contagious
Did you know that you can catch an emotion as easily as you can catch a cold? That’s right, the British Medical Journal published a study a few years ago that followed 4,700 people for over 20 years. They found that emotions are indeed contagious! And the effects can last for up to a year!
Here's what they found -- if you are happy,
- Your next-door neighbor has a 34-percent increased chance of becoming happy.
- A sibling living within a mile, 14-percent increase.
- A friend living within a mile has a 25-percent chance of becoming happy.
- A co-resident or spouse, 8-percent.
Read more about the study here.
Now, think about this in terms of your day to day work at Madison College. How much do you increase a student’s chance of believing in themselves, of having a positive attitude towards learning, when you yourself show up with a happy and positive sense of presence? And this isn’t just for teachers and students...your students can “catch” a good vibe from the bookstore, the custodial staff, from cafeteria folks...everywhere!
Is it hard? Some days it will be. Will you sometimes blink? Hell, yes! But must you be vigilant? Absolutely.
You have a responsibility to carry a positive emotion into each day’s work.
These students - young and old, poor, middle class and beyond, black, brown, white, with orange or gray hair - they are in no small way laying their dreams at your feet. Treat those dreams with care. Gird your emotions. Put on your “game face” every day...and bring your unwavering belief in them, in their dreams.
What the Living Do
As we talked about in Part Two, art and science amplify each other. So while I’ve been talking a lot about brain science and how students learn, I want to close with a piece of art, a poem called “What the living do” by Marie Howe.
Marie is in the second phase of her career as a poet. The first part was before her brother, Johnny, died prematurely from AIDS. The second part of her career was after his death, when her poetry really came alive...it was as if she felt that her life now had to be lived for the both of them.
So I leave you with this poem…
What the Living Do
Marie Howe
Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days,
some utensil probably fell down there.
And the Drano won't work but smells dangerous,
and the crusty dishes have piled up waiting for the plumber I still haven't called.
This is the everyday we spoke of.
It's winter again: the sky's a deep, headstrong blue,
and the sunlight pours through the open living-room windows
because the heat's on too high in here and I can't turn it off.
For weeks now, driving, or dropping a bag of groceries in the street, the bag breaking,
I've been thinking:
This is what the living do.
And yesterday, hurrying along those wobbly bricks in the Cambridge sidewalk,
spilling my coffee down my wrist and sleeve,
I thought it again, and again later, when buying a hairbrush: This is it.
Parking. Slamming the car door shut in the cold. What you called that yearning.
What you finally gave up.
We want the spring to come and the winter to pass.
We want whoever to call or not call, a letter, a kiss--
we want more and more and then more of it.
But there are moments, walking, when I catch
a glimpse of myself in the window glass,
say, the window of the corner video store,
and I'm gripped by a cherishing so deep
for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat that I'm speechless:
I am living. I remember you.
I believe that those of us who are sucking up oxygen on this planet, we have a debt to pay. We have to leave then world a little bit better by being here.
And for those of you in this auditorium today - whether by choice or by some cosmic, intergalactic accident, you have been put in the way of thousands of students who are dreaming of different prospects, brighter futures. People who are laying their hopes and dreams for a better life at your feet.
How will you serve them?
This is what the living do.
