Engaging the learners and students is the main and fundamental thing for the learning of the 21st century learners. The most appropriate tool for the engagement of the learners is to provide them the methods and equipment that are according to the modern technology and electronic gadgets that are used by them in the daily life. There is a need of the inculcation of the new and advanced methods for teaching and the skilled strategies in order to ensure the unique and quality knowledge deliverance that is helpful as well as valuable for the learners and the students of the 21st century learners. The teachers and the mentors need to acquire the fundamental and technological strategies and modern teaching styles for the equivalence of the teaching assistance with the demand of this advanced age and era. The modern teaching styles and the strategies ensure and enable the teachers to deliver the knowledge in a better and informative way and also contribute by formulating the new and helpful methods and ideas for the well-being and grooming of the students. Moreover, it is the thing that can enhance and improve the engagement of the learners of this modern era. We are living in the age of information. Here the strength and survival depends upon the knowledge and information of the best and unique technologies and strategies. If we do not adapt to the needs and demands of the modern electronic and technological environment, then we may be ruined and lose our power and survival chances. In this way, it is essential and mandatory to engage our new and passionate learners in the useful and positive activities so that their character and profession both can develop on the modern requirements of the technological age with all the modern and advanced skills equipped with them as a tool. (Figg & Jaipal, 2009)
In this modern age, the learners are equipped with totally new skill set as compared to the learners of 19th century. They are now better connected and comfortable with electronic communication, digital purchase and selling options, online meetings and chat rooms, electronic collections and downloads, and utilization of the search engines for the quick and instant access of the data and information. In other words, we can say that all these skill sets have been inculcated into the lives of these learners and are found more relevant and comfortable technology tools for the learning. All these technological tools have added the meaning and positive sense in the knowledge and information and also made it easy and instant for the passionate learners. Different and improved strategies are to be made and inculcated into the learning methods and styles in order to engage the learners in a better and logical way. It includes the identification of the learning styles according to the given situation. The learning styles may be individual one and the collaborative one. One method of learning is not useful always in every situation. It depends upon the type and context of the knowledge that which learning style should be used. The learning of the particular social and marketing strategy should be in a collaborative style. If this is taught in the individual manner, it will lose its meaning. Similarly, the individual style of learning has its own timing and situation. The learning medium is also very considerable and significant in the process of learning and exploring the world. The medium of learning can be visual, auditory and kinesthetic. The visual medium of learning includes the lectures, presentations, assignments, and graphical explanations. Similarly, the auditory medium includes the audiobooks, audio lectures, voice notes, and many more. The kinesthetic medium of learning is highly specialized and is mostly used by the psychologists. It is considerably used to infer and benefit the learners with the emotional intelligence and social networking with the focus on communication skills, team management, psychology and nature of human beings, and the principles established for the better and charming relationships. Different medium of learning is useful for the different situations. For example, if we use only auditory medium for the training of a social influencer and relationship expert and counselor, it will not significantly add to his knowledge. The kinesthetic method is very well and relevant for this type of learning. However, we have to consider that the idea of the technological methods and tools is not much inculcated in our educational institutions and environment. Our teachers are not much familiar themselves with these novel and useful tools and lack the knowledge to use them efficiently for the purpose of learning. Moreover, the institutions and education centers are not cooperative and assistive for the teachers in providing the technological tools and electronic services for the learning process. If the teachers are not provided with the advanced tools and gadgets, how they can manage to scale the learning system on the pillars of the modern and novel ideas. It will affect the quality of the lecture delivered to the class rooms. The teacher would not be able to considerably manage and handle the inclusion of the data and material for the best and useful information. (Suharwoto & Niess, 2008)
There are many factors that can affect the quality and context of the lecture that is being delivered and transferred by the teacher. However, there are many useful strategies that are helpful in the formation and fabrication of a successful and majestic lecture. The first and most important technique that is particularly useful in the making of a content rich lecture is the selection of the activities utilized during the lecture. This technique says that the technology which you are using in the lecture should be relevant and significantly related with the type of content and information you are delivering. Moreover, the method and process used for this technology should be synchronous with the method of utilization of this technique outside the classroom. Mostly computer technology is used for the learning process in different parts of the world. There are many reasons and boundaries for the immense use of computer technology in this criteria. Firstly, the research is most important and fundamental part of learning process. Computer is the best tool for this purpose. It can store all the data, collections, statistical data and other explanations used during the research. The most important and helpful characteristic of the computer technology is the data collection. It is used to collect, analyze and compute the data in a better and quick way. Electronic communication is the property and feature of the computer technology that is most useful and attractive for the students and learners of 21st century. It provides the facility of electronic books, software notes, writing, electronic mails, power point presentations, and many other features. The education through entertainments is also an exclusive and brainstorming way of learning. This method uses the utilization of video games, videos, video animations, and the power point presentations. All these features are unique to the computer technology. That is why it is preferably used in the learning process than other technologies. (Kraic, 2013) The other technologies cannot provide all these feature and benefits at the same time with the ease of access and quality to be delivered. However, it is important to use the technology in the authentic way. The technology should be used for the purpose that is best fitted and suited for it. If we are working on a small set of data, it would be better to use hand madden tools than to use the computer. But if we are dealing with the huge amount of data in the form of many pages and layouts, then we would use the computer software for the better and instant results. However, if the intent is to compare and calibrate certain type of data and document, it would be better to use spreadsheet for this purpose. In the same way, video can also be used to demonstrated the facts and figures if we are willing to pause the process on the way in order to allow the students note and analyze the data and verify it. Different situations require different sets of methods to be used. That is why it is very important to use a technology in the authentic way so that the correct and meaningful information can flow from the teacher or instructor to the students or learners. Another very important strategy in making a lecture successful and understandable is the process of chunking. Chunking is defined as the phenomena of dividing the lesson in many smaller parts that are easily absorbed and digested by our brain. The process of chunking helps our brain retain maximum information from the absorbed knowledge. The reason is that the brain has enough time to store it and process it step by step. The education experts say that we should take a short gap from the learning process after some time that should be predefined and fixed. This short brake should help us to refresh our brain and then again it is ready to absorb the new information. This technique is called pomodoro technique. In the process of chunking, it is kept in mind that the a few skills are selected to be delivered during one lecture. The reason is that, the more we divide our lessons in the chunks, the more efficiently it is absorbed and stored in our brain. (Tomlinson & Carol, 2001)The use of a few skills in a lecture is called differentiation. It is even more important to choose the particular and specific skill sets in a specific stream. Many teachers have found a great deal of ease and enthusiastic response from the learners by adopting this technique. The use of a particular and concise skill set helped the students and learners most to understand and digest the lesson easily. It can be explained with an example. A teacher decreed his students to make a graphic organizer in order to check the ingredients of a food that are used in the lunch. The students located and identified the ingredients from the search engines that are available on the internet. The knowledge acquired from the search engines was used to diagnose the food and fulfill the requirement of the ingredients. The assignment was easily done on time. The reason is that it included a particular skill set from a specific technology. The students got help from the technology and completed it very easily. In another example, a teacher gave a task to students to make a slide show requiring multiple knowledge with many skills that are to be acquired. The students have to acquire many skills simultaneously from the internet and then they have to collect many information and data from the global network to make the slideshow. The project ended in the frustration and chaos. The reason was that it was hard and difficult for the students to acquire the skills simultaneously within a short interval of time that were required for the project. In turn, the project can never be completed by the students and ended without any accomplishment. These two examples tell us that it the first and foremost need for the teachers to be capable to utilize and understand the importance of differentiation and chunking. If too many skills are delivered to the students in one time, they would not be able to absorb any one properly. The above mentioned task could be made easier for the students if it were divided in the chunks or small steps. Each step should be delivered to the students properly with the proper knowledge and process. Teacher should use many novel acronyms and abbreviations to make the lecture understandable and easier. The example can be used in the use of abbreviations and acronyms. There is a technique that is used to teach the students that are web scrapping lovers. (Martz & Maxwell, 2015) It can be delivered to them in an easier way of four steps. The acronym used for this purpose in NETS. This abbreviation stands for:
• Narrow the search
• Exact phrase
• Trim the URL
• Similar page search
This technique was sufficiently helpful in the work of web searchers. This technique was developed by Dodge in 2008. This technique provided the step by step process to learn the process and technology easily. The searching capability of the learners was significantly enhanced and improved by using this approach. Moreover, it has been observed that the use of activities that require anticipation from the students about the technology that has to be learned will make the students more interested and engaged. It will evoke the prior and previous knowledge of the students before participating in the learning activities. Let suppose, if a teacher has to tell his students about the ingredients that make up to formulate and vitalize their lunch, he will use the sources of the ingredients in order to tell them that how these ingredients were collected and assembled together to make their meal or lunch. The prior knowledge about the ingredients will definitely enhance the interest and engagement of the students and ultimately, the students would be able to better understand the lesson. The other technique that is very crucial for the teacher for the 21st century teaching demands is that they should know the process of sequencing. The process of sequencing tells a tutor how activities are used in a specific arrangement and which one strategy is to be used first and which one is to be used last. It tells the sequence and arrangement of the strategies that are used in the process step by step. It is important to be aware and familiar to use the techniques step by step. The order of the technology steps and arrangement is more important. If there is no need or time for a certain technology, it will add the wastage of time and will become source of boredom and inconvenience because of no connection and arrangement. The things should be delivered in order and with a particular sequence. In order to master this technique, the teachers should be used to planning before the deliverance. If a teacher has a significant knowledge of the technology before delivering it to the students, he will transfer the skills with the confidence. The teacher with the experience of the use of technology will infer the students with the new and informative style. However, the lack of knowledge will lead to the inefficient and mediocre lecture that would be unable to engage and motivate the students. Planning and practice are the two important factors for the teachers to master this technique. The proper knowledge will help the teacher to use the process with the appropriate steps and move sequentially.
In today’s world, it has become more easy and convenient for the students to get the information about any topic and find answers to the questions at one click. The process of creating Edu blogs is very helpful for the students in this process. These Edu blogs are created and formulated by the teacher in orders to help them find answers to the specific questions easily. These Edu blogs are actually links that help the students to reach the answers on the browsers and search engines. The Edu blogs can be divided into two main categories. One is treasure hunts and the other is scavenger hunts. The treasure hunts are used to provide the students with the list of all the questions concerning to the course and also the embedded links that display the answers to that question. The students can easily find answers to the questions with the provided links. In the scavenger hunts, the students are provided with a list of all the concerning questions but here the links for the answers are not attached. However, these hunts contain the key words that should be used to search the answers to the questions from different search engines. These key word will lead to the search results on different search engines that are immensely rich with the data and information regarding these questions. The scavenger hunts are used for the students that are proficient and expert in the searching experience. However, process of creating the treasure links is mostly used in order to provide the ease to the students. It is easier to use and utilize for all the students equally.
In short engaging the students and learners is the most crucial and demanded aspect in the 21st century. The engagement of the students could be increased by using different technology processes. In this age, the teachers should be much familiar with the technology and its use in order to engage students in the learning process. The use of daily used electronic devices are particularly helpful in making the students interested and engaged. There are several strategies and techniques that can be used to increase the quality of learning. The point of gaining the knowledge about the technology first, then acquiring the steps and processes of the relevant topic and the process of dividing it into small pieces called chunks and in the end using all the processes and steps in an appropriate and evident manner are some key elements in improving the quality of the lecture for the teachers of 21st century. The teacher should be familiar and experienced in the use of technology in order to deliver the knowledge with great confidence.
References
Figg, C. & Jaipal, K., 2009. Engaging 21st Century Learners and Differentiating Instruction with Technology, s.l.: s.n.
Kraic, M., 2013. 5 ways to prepare your students for 21st century, s.l.: Oxford University Press.
Martz, j. & Maxwell, 2015. Tips to engage 21st century students, s.l.: s.n.
Suharwoto & Niess, 2008. How do subject specific teacher preparation program that integrate technology throughout the courses support the development, s.l.: s.n.
Tomlinson & Carol, 2001. How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms, s.l.: s.n.
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