“If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” American philosopher and educational reformer John Dewey is said to have made this statement about a century ago. If John Dewey were alive today, would he say, “Teachers have done injustice to the present generation of learners by robbing them of their tomorrow”?
I am raising this question because, of late, many teachers say that it is difficult to understand and engage or manage the present generation of students implying that they are not able to connect with their students. If it is true, will such teachers be able to teach or help learners learn effectively and prepare them for the future?
The teachers of the 21st century need to constantly ask themselves whether they have the 21st century teaching skills and are able to connect with the 21st century learners. In order to make their profession relevant and meaningful in the modern world, teachers need a new mindset. Teachers with a 20th century mindset cannot be effective teachers for the 21st century learners. Bidding bye to their old mindset may be difficult for many teachers, but without a paradigm shift, connecting with the 21st century student community is not possible.
What should Gen X (born between the early 1960s and the early 1980s) and Gen Y (born between 1984 and 1996) teachers do to engage Gen Z (born after 1997) learners effectively? By understanding Gen Z-ers, knowing their tastes and needs and changing teaching styles to match with the learning styles, Gen X-Y teachers can connect with Gen Z students and engage them better. In other words, teachers should be willing to undergo a paradigm shift.
What are the characteristics of Gen Z learners? Many studies have shown that they are technology-reliant, independent, smart, visual, and so on. They value freedom. Their dependence on technology is more than their dependence on teachers. They want to be taught and tested creatively.
Wide gap
Twenty-first century learners speak a different language. They speak the language of technology which is incomprehensible to many teachers who are either unwilling or struggling to learn the language. They are digital natives and most of them digital device addicts. They are quite active on social media and some of them take shelter in it. When we compare the attitude of the students towards technology and their technology skills with those of the teachers we can notice a wide gap. Many teachers are neither active on social media nor aware of the enormous potential benefits of social media in education. If teachers do not have adequate technology skills which the learners possess there is a self-imposed digital divide and it leads to communication gap between the teacher and the student. So, there is an urgent need to bridge the gap. Those teachers who say that they are not comfortable with technology cannot be comfortable with Gen Z. “Publish or perish” is an old mantra but “digitize or diminish” is a new mantra that the teacher should use to focus on their personal, interpersonal and professional development.
Gen Z students are said to be smarter and more independent than Gen X and Gen Y groups. They believe that with proper guidance from experts they can learn anything by themselves with the aid of technology. They do not want the teachers to treat them like sponges that absorb everything. They want to learn from different sources and not only from teachers. Their concept of learning is “any time - anywhere”. So, teachers are required to teach creatively in such a way that they can lead the students from a dependent stage to independent and interdependent stages.
Freedom
Gen Z-ers learn by doing. They expect teachers to give them more freedom to experiment new things. Teachers who encourage students to take risks and allow them to carry out innovative experiments/projects will be able to connect with Gen Z students well.
It is true Gen Z students find audio, visual and digital content more interesting than textbooks. Teachers who produce, use and allow the students to use the digital content will be able to connect with Gen Z students better.
Unlike any other profession, teaching requires the practitioners to deal with people who are a bundle of emotions. If there is a proper emotional connection between the teacher and the learner, there will be a proper intellectual connection between the two groups. If there is proper emotional and intellectual connection between the teacher and the taught, then the teaching-learning process will be smooth. Teachers who learn the language of Gen Z learners and communicate with them in that language will be able to connect with Gen Z better. That is the meaning of being in sync with Gen Z students.
The author is an academic, columnist and freelance writer. rayanal@yahoo.co.uk
