Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management Teaching Homo Zappiens New Approaches for New Generations Prof. Dr. Wim Veen

Is The Appearance of Homo Zappiens an Ordinary Generation Gap?

Ordinary Generation Gap Phase 1: looking for movement and change

Phase 2: we have seen it all…...

Phase 3: do not disturb…..

Who is Homo Zappiens The E-Generation is the generation of - the remote-control - Doom, Atlantis, Planetarion Unreal Tournament, PlayStation I and II The generation that cannot listen and is moving at your table all the time The generation for which learning is playing and having fun

Chatting in three rooms at a time with different electronic personalities

Sending e-cards including text, sound, and images

Surfing the Net using search engines

Finding out about the latest earthquakes

Who is Homo Zappiens The generation that invents games –with no winners, losers, no start and end, and making their own changing rules The generation that is skateboarding up the stairs, surfing the waves of the sea, and snowboarding in stead of skiing. The generation thinking of school as a meeting place

Complaining Homo Zappiens Short attention spans –I will explain how a volcano works! Hyper active behaviour –Sit down and listen! No discipline –This is the fifth time you forget your book! No respect –Don’t talk like this to me!

Homo Zappiens at Work Integrated scanning skills Multi-tasking Processing discontinued information Non-linear approaches

Integrated scanning skills Multi-tasking Processing discontinued information Non-linear approaches Homo Zappiens at Work

Skimming text, sounds, movement, colours, and images

Integrated scanning skills

Homo Zappiens at Work Integrated scanning skills Multi-tasking Processing discontinued information Non-linear approaches

Homo Zappiens at Work Listening his favorite music Phoning to his friend Surfing the Net Doing his home-work

Homo Zappiens at Work Integrated scanning skills Multi-tasking Processing discontinued information Non-linear approaches

Processing discontinued information Channel 1 Channel 2 Channel 3

Homo Zappiens at Work Integrated scanning skills Multi-tasking Processing discontinued information Non-linear approaches

Non-linear approaches BCAEFD Linear B C A E F D Non-linear

Why are they so different 1 ? Dealing with discontinuity –the ability to piece meaning from discontinued information chunks –discontinue information will be the rule as information flows grow beyond imagination Homo Zappiens develops the skill of a broad attention span, not a long attention span

Why are they so different 2 ? Dealing with active information processing –meta cognitive skills searching for structure of the information deciding on relevance or non-relevance on a continuous basis Dealing with multitasking skills –doing several things at a time: chatting, listening to music, phoning

Why are they so different 3 ? Dealing with information skimming skills, using multi parts of the brains –visual, textual, sounds –integrative scanning of screens Adopting a holistic approach instead of an analytical and linear one Celebrating individuality, weirdness, inconsistency, and openness

What learning is about... Learning is an active mental process of the learner Learning is constructing knowledge –through reflection with the ‘inner self’, and through communication with others –transforming information into meaningful knowledge Teaching is enabling students to be active, communicating, thus constructing knowledge

Society Individual New learning situations Knowledge Development Knolwedge Time ConstructionInstruction

First Conclusion Homo Zappiens prepares for future Education is underestimating the Homo Zappiens Education does not recognise the screenagers’ skills Education will have to adopt entirely new approaches

Second Conclusion ….The skills screenagers develop while scanning computer screens, zapping the TV channels, ‘criss-cross reading’ texts, and thus rapidly processing huge amounts of information, will guarantee the survival of our civilisation in the 21st century.

Teaching Homo Zappiens in Schools Children will be demand based learners –discovering by exploratory play –using electronic devices in classrooms –holistically addressing learning Children will be clients to be served –the learning process belonging to them Schools to take advantage of the new learning skills

New Approaches for Teaching Flexibility of content Flexibility of learning models Flexibility in time/scheduling Flexibility of goals and assessment Flexibility of the learning community

Flexible Content Learning goals in stead of curricula –using new resources available from everywhere math on the net (math) (math) environmental studies (Interwad)(Interwad) resources for kids (about.com)(about.com) –using the communication facilities for asking, finding out and discuss

Flexibility of Learning Models Teacher ledCommunity ledLearner led

Flexibility in Time/Scheduling 7 lessons a day each lesson is 50 minutes each week is the same 40 weeks a year Less whole classroom teaching Subject oriented timeslots Varying periods for individual and group working

Flexibility of Assessment Students own their learning process Schools may define competencies Students can take responsibility –formulating their own learning goals –and checking them Kids can prove their competencies –by submitting materials showing their competencies e.g. in electronic portfolios

Flexibility of Learning Communities Opening up schools –e.g. Tesco’s 2000 Network Learning Communities: learning with parents, external experts, governmental authorities: the extended learning community Schools will loose their primacy of educational services Schools as meeting places –learning taking place anywhere

New Roles for Teachers From a ‘Sage on the stage’ towards a ‘Guide on the Side’ From a content provider towards an information broker From an external expert towards a Side-by-Side Learner in an online learning community

New Roles for Students Students should keep track of their learning process Students should learn how to collaborate and give feed-back to peers Students should help their teachers in acquiring new Zappiens skills

New Roles for Parents Participation in school related activities –providing Internet access at home –learning how to search cyberspace Supporting schools to innovate Participate in electronic discussions on education –e.g. look for examples of best practice

Thank you for listening