TEACHING the PlayStation Generation

1. TEACHING the PlayStation Generation • Anne Dwyer • rincondelospadresymadres.pbwiki.com

2. TEACHING the PlayStation Generation Take a couple of minutes; write down when you were born, three adjectives to describe your peer group, your education, your world, when you were young. • Why? • Who? • How? • What else?

3. Why focus on Learners? • “We can only be effective teachers if we know how our clients learn” • Supporting successful learning requires understanding of: • Who learners are • What they need • What they expect • What technologies students are using • Which technologies have real teaching and learning potential • How we can use the technologies to support successful learning

4. Generations • What makes a generation? • Grandparents – parents – children: “the gap” • Social, ethical, political, economic, technological change and influence • Every 20 years (sub-generations are shorter: war, disaster, recession etc) • From generation to generation… expectations, attitudes, rights and rules change. Understanding this helps us to understand parents and grandparents too!

5. Schools change from generation to generation

6. 1910-30 the builders, the lucky generation

7. Lucky =job for life, pensions, one income

8. The school days of the lucky generation were days of • Respect • Rote learning • The three Rs • Rule by the rod • Punishment

9. Values learnt from a depression childhood • Loyalty • Saving • The work ethic • Sense of mutual obligation • Patriotism • - parents of the early Baby Boomers • - grandparents of Generation X

10. 1930s: the silent generation

11. These were days of • Uncertainty, insecurity • Political unrest and war • Extremisms • Interrupted education • Emmigration to survive • A desire to make the world a better place for their children

12. Values learnt from a wartime adolescence • Strong community spirit • National identity • Pride in the country’s capacity to take its place in the war • Patriotism • Sacrifice, saving and hard work • - parents of the later Baby Boomers • - grandparents of millennials

13. The early baby boomers: the “greedy generation”B 1940 – 50

14. Parents = lucky generationChildren = GenerationsX/Y • A job for life • Opportunities for promotion And • This was the first generation to have a washing machine, a hoover and to be influenced by TV • Paris 68ers, money makers, pop music: Beatles, Rolling Stones

15. The Greedy Generation in 1965

16. Born 1950 – 1965?: the baby boomers in 1975

17. Post-war Boom Values : children of the lucky and/or silent generation (thanks in part to the Marshall Plan) • Optimism - hope for a new egalitarian middle-class • Social Welfare and guarantees • Openness to new immigrants based on expected assimilation • Early marriage, the lucky generation became ‘Doris Day Mum’, the ‘real Mum’ • Dr Spock • New houses, in the suburbs • Freedom: Sex revolution, hippies, comfort • Live to work - profession and progress

18. In schools… • More openness • New theories, new ideas: new maths, audiolingual language teaching • Less authoritarianism • More democracy – parent-teacher meetings • Promotion of girls • The first years to experience the ‘democratization of the university’

19. Late Baby Boomers: “we’re not here for a long time; we’re here for a good time”. • Wild youth - over protective parents • Desire for equality – unclear gender roles • Independent women • ‘Super Mums’ career, few kids, less time for kids, material compensation • High divorce rates • YUPPIES from ‘Love Generation’, idealists and revolutionaries to ‘Stress Generation’

20. Born 1965 – 1980 Gen x

21. Generation X • Consumers (spoiled as children) • Cynical • Short-term thinkers, • Job and money-oriented • Work to live • Few or no children • DINKIES - parents of the next generation!!!

22. Interactivity

23. Personalised teaching

24. 1980 – 1990: Gen Y/ millennials, the ‘kleenex generation’ • Action people • Personalised everything • Super consumers • Give up easily • High job turnover • High partner turnover • Concentration span of advertisements

25. Individualism

26. Teams and groupwork 1995

27. Born 1990 – 2005? The PlayStation Generation

28. The PlayStation Generation • High divorce rate among parents • Busy working mothers, inactive fathers • Message ‘girls/women are better’ • Will persevere, they don’t give up • Use of thumb • Use tricks and cheat sheets • Will and want to express opinions • Obtain, file and store info differently

29. 2008

30. Matures (before 1946) Dedicated to the job Respectful of authority Place duty before pleasure Baby boomers (1946-64) Live to work Generally optimistic Influence on policy & products Summary of generations • Gen X (1965-1980) • Work to live • Clear & consistent expectations • Value contributing to the whole • Millennials (1981-94) • Live in the moment • Expect immediacy of technology • Earn money for immediate consumption

31. Students who were very satisfied by generation 55% 38% 26% Percent Boomer 1946-1964 n=328 Generation X 1965-1980 n=815 Millennial 1981-1994 n=346

32. Multitasking

33. Multitasking means • Never normally fully concentrate on one sole matter • Focus is diversified

34. The PlayStation Generation … The Zappers • The generation inventing games • Without winners or losers, without start or end, and • changing the rules continuously…. • multitaskers • know urls better than irregular verbs • operate in a multi-linear way

35. Sites for playing with others

36. Messenger: 24/7, 10 conversations, 150 contacts

37. Video clips for communication

38. The PlayStation Generation is into

39. They take a non linear approach Non-linear learning strategies demand a redesign of content: learning assets, Objects to be accessed just-in-time

40. Media use: Holland

41. The PlayStation Generation • Will persevere • Use tricks and cheat sheets • Will and want to express opinions • Projects – people • Obtain, file and store info differently • Over-informed, saturated

42. Lifestyle • Special, Sheltered, Social • Team oriented • Achievers, Anything is possible • Pressured • “Yeah, right” cynicism amongst early ‘players’ • Concerned about future but live for today (still adolescents!)

43. Learning Style: difficult to ‘teach’ easy to ‘get to learn’ • Twitch speed • Active learning : Learn by play/fantasy • Tech friendly and savvy • Instant return • Research = surf • Parallel processing • Graphics first • Connected • CHALLENGE: critical thinking skills

44. So what we need to do?

45. Their dominant interaction modes: • multi-tasking, • social networking • and experiential, trial and error learning with peers

46. The PlayStation Generation and other Milennials believe • Learning is searching for meaning • Knowledge is communication about meaning • Digital data and information become a tool for knowledge construction • Learning with ICT goes beyond understanding of others’ thoughts by generating new ideas of your own

47. For schools this means • increasing emphasis on social aspectsof classroom learning • classroom learning : ideas and concepts are activelyexplored, constructed, applied and critiqued • students actively engagewith learning materials and problem solving, both individually or collaboratively • the teacher’s roleshifting to mentor/facilitator: model processes, challenge students to think more broadly and support students in this new environment.

48. What do they have that we didn’t have? • Keyboard skills • Multitasking • Instant info • Connectability • Over-stressed Mums

49. What did we have that they don’t have? • Freedom to play in the street • Freedom to get dirty • Throwing games • Dads who helped us to deconstruct ‘machines and gadgets’ • Someone at home after school (usually Mum) • Brothers and sisters

50. A ‘motherless generation’ What did Mums use to do (and no longer do)? • read aloud to them • help with homework • check that everything’s been done • call other Mums to check that everything’s ok • compare duties and pocket money and discipline with other Mums • sing to them 5 senses