Revista simpozionului Eficiență și calitate în educație - 19 mai 2017 Eficiență și calitate în educație | Page 21

DIGITAL CHALLENGES FOR THE 21 ST CENTURY LEARNERS
Cosmina Almăşan, Colegiul Naţional „Octavian Goga” Sibiu
Abstract:
The changes in technology have brought inevitable changes in education. In order to be able to respond to
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the needs and expectations of the 21 century students, who are “digital natives”, we need to update our
knowledge of IT technology so we can integrate the web resources into the teaching process. This article will
offer recommendations regarding the use of software applications which are available online, based on my
personal experience of using them in class.
Key words: software, applications, visuals, engaging, motivation.
In a world where nothing stands still, technology has made its way into education and it is
here to stay, as it has left its mark on the way we teach and on the way students learn. It
has forced the teachers to shift emphasis from the traditional, “brick and mortar” methods,
based on the blackboard and the physical student’s book to more advanced educational
tools. We must all acknowledge the fact that our students are “digital natives” and for them
technology is second nature, so we should be able to put to good use their digital skills in
order to improve their learning experience.
21 st century education is no longer based on memorizing information, but on
integrating and analyzing it in a creative, original manner. Therefore, the tasks which
require the students to do research and to present information collected from multiple
sources give them the opportunity to exercise their critical thinking and will also lead to
increased student motivation. Graphic interfaces made up of photos, illustrations, charts,
maps, diagrams, and videos are gradually replacing text-based courses because studies
have confirmed the powerful impact of visual stimuli on the learning process. It is a fact
that visuals stick in long-term memory. One of the easiest ways to ensure that learners
store information in their long-term memory is to match concepts with meaningful images.
Visuals help students underst and the content and pay attention, making the learners
remember information easier.
According to the Visual Teaching Alliance (http://visualteachingalliance.com/) we
can make sense of a visual scene in less than 1/10 of a second because 90% of
information transmitted to the brain is visual. Visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in
the brain than text, improving comprehension and learning by up to 400%. This is due to
the fact that images affect the students on a cognitive level and stimulate their imagination,
making information easier to process, improving performance and increasing student
achievement.
Visual and video materials evoke powerful emotions and increase students’
concentration, but learning is much more efficient when the students are actively engaged
in creating such materials. When faced with such a task, they learn not only how to use
their digital skills in an organized manner, but also how to structure and plan the
information they are about to present. Students learn how to plan and to organize ideas to
communicate information efficiently. As a consequence, this learning method helps
students learn more, without getting bored. They will no longer reject learning as a boring,
routine activity, but be more enthusiastic knowing they can take charge of the learning
process.
Students will thus make the shift from being passive receivers of content to being
the creators of valuable resources and learning is thus self-directed and more rewarding.
The students can get satisfaction from knowing that their work is available worldwide
through various channels. They can share their work not only with classmates, but with
friends and even unknown people online. The job well done can be appreciated and ‘liked’
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