S. Craig Watkins – A Professor Who Understands the Digital Nature of Today’s Students

Some advice for educators on teaching today’s digital natives.

On the Wired Campus blog at the Chronicle of Higher Education we came across a Q & A with S. Craig Watkins, an associate professor of radio, TV, and film at the University of Texas at Austin. Watkins is the author of the recently released “The Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social Network Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future.”

Students and Social Media

In his Q & A, one clearly sees that this professor has a great feel for the implications of the “new age of social networking and media.” He does not question the move by employers and even college admissions folks who are using candidates’ Facebook and MySpace pages as a source of information when making decisions – in simplest terms, if people place information on the net for all to see then they should expect that some people will seek that information out for decision-making purposes.

In contrast, he does not support universities using postings as a way of policing student activities on campus. In other words, using social media as a way to discipline students for specific actions is not something Watkins supports.

This represented a very interesting distinction for this writer. Therefore, it is one that college students should think about very carefully.

Implications of Technology Access

More noteworthy for educators is Watkins’ assessment of students in this new age of technology.

Today’s students are “really the first generation of teenagers who grew up with the household computer and the Internet as a kind of everyday experience and everyday technology in the household,” notes Watkins. “So they’re used to a much more active way of engaging their environment, a much more active way of gauging the information landscape.”

Watkins rightfully offers that today’s digital generation expects to have access to technology in all settings including the classroom. More importantly, today’s learners have “developed habits that are simply out of step with those more traditional ways of conducting or modeling a classroom.”

As for excluding technology in the classroom, Watkins insists that will essentially be a losing battle.

“The students are walking in armed with this technology, from their mobile phones to laptops. Most college classrooms are now wired, so students can access all of their applications, all of their social networks while sitting in a classroom.

“It’s a very different technological environment, but it’s also a different social and cultural environment, too. Students are coming in with the expectation to have this technology, and they’re determined in some ways to use it while they’re in class.”

Implications for Instruction

As for the person in charge of the classroom, he or she must check his last line carefully, especially the part that suggests today’s students are “determined in some ways to use” technology while sitting in the classroom. Therefore, limit such use at your peril.

As for instructional practices, today’s digital generation is in need of a more modern teaching style, one that features extensive interaction. Watkins explains this simply:

This is “really forcing university professors to think about their teaching style and the pedagogical techniques that they use in the classroom. In other words, I’ve become increasingly dissatisfied with simply delivering a traditional lecture in the classroom.”

Remember the discussions about the slow death of the lecture format? Watkins essentially signals it is time to break out the coffin.

“I’m beginning to debate whether or not (the lecture format) it’s effective, whether or not it works, whether or not it’s a useful tool or a useful way to engage and create a kind of learning space or a learning environment. They’re active learners, as opposed to passive learners. That one-way flow of content — I don’t know how effective that is anymore.”

Of course, reading between the lines he is being kind, being suggestive instead of prescriptive. But there is no ambiguity in the suggestions.

Summation

Ultimately the advice for educators on teaching today’s digital natives is really quite simple:

Using the lecture format as your basic method for teaching today’s technology-raised youngsters is essentially a recipe for disaster. In addition, limiting technology use by students is also essentially a recipe for disaster.

The question is: Where are you as a teacher and where is your school as an institution in regards to these two educational developments.