Why Social Media?
My blog has not been updated like it used to and the reason is just lack of time. I started all my social media activities at the same time I started this blog, August 2007. At first it was just a hobby to me, but connecting to other people in the digital world, I realized that this is the way the younger generations see the world. All the phones they know are mobile, they manage their life through Facebook, write and read blogs and use text messages instead of emails.
On the other hand in schools we teachers would like to keep the teaching the same it has been for decades. We have the new text books, which are somewhat more colourful than in my schooldays. We prefer black boards and photo copies and some advanced teachers have adopted the documentaty cameras and projectors or even have their notes on Power Point. Luckily the overhead projectors are dying.
Digital Age
What we should realize is that the digital age is here. Instead of writing everything down on their notebooks, students want to use tablet computers or netbooks. Those are something they use on their free time but the schools make them go back to the ancient methods. Textbooks can be digital and even interactive and we could save lots of trees by not printing them. Using the internet does not limit ourselves to just one book but we can use all of them.
The teachers are still needed to guide the students to choose the right paths and explain things the students don't understand. However many teachers are very reluctant to adopt any technology in their teaching. I can understand them. They were students in the old world and did not use computers while they studied. In fact no one really taught them to use computers unless maybe their own children did.
Now it is time for all teachers to update their technological knowledge and reverse their thinking because the digital generation is growing up! See for yourself.
