The term “generation gap” refers to the differences between people of a younger generation and their elders. College students are now taught by men and women who are sometimes twice as old as their parents. Thus, students are inarguably at one side of the generation gap, especially when it comes to technology.
As children of the 1990s, college students grew up during a technological boom. The Internet made its grand entrance along with cell phones, mp3 players, and DVD players. Daily life became much simpler. The graphing calculator made its debut in 1990, invoking a collective sigh of relief from math students everywhere. The advancement of technology has made many everyday tasks much easier, but has the seemingly harmonious marriage between students and technology actually interfered with education?
Dr. Kincaid, a math professor at Southern Arkansas University is a centrist on the subject. “There are both kinds of students. There are those who are using technology to a wonderful advantage, doing things beyond what I could’ve in my wildest dreams.” But she also recognizes the group of students who only see technology as a toy and “don’t see the value for intellectual development."
The growing dependence on technology is also a cause for concern. Most professors see the addition as a curse. Calculators, for example, are an incredibly important development in education. But they have spawned concern that students depend on calculators so much that their critical thinking abilities are not being developed, because now a calculator can think critically for them.
Another concern that did not exist 15 years ago was the abuse of cell phones in the classroom. Described as “rampant” across campus, Dr. Kincaid believes that the dependence on phones as a connection between friends is detrimental. “If students can’t make good decisions about when to sit in class and pay attention to what’s going on, if students are so afraid that they will miss a text from a friend, that’s a problem, and that is huge.”
The change of technology from one generation to another has also changed the expectations in the classroom. Now that students have literally and infinite amount of resources right at their fingertips, professors expect them to take advantage. “They have higher expectations for us, because of our resources. We don’t really have an excuse not to be able to do the things they never could as students.” Says Majesta Miles, a junior.
Teachers now expect students to utilize their instant access to decode problems they don’t understand: a quick dictionary lookup for a new word in British Lit, or studying a website of facts about the periodic table for chemistry. Students now have innumerable amounts of knowledge ready at the touch of a button or the tap of a finger. “Whereas professors only had the books they could find in their libraries.” Says James Schlag, a junior. “They didn’t have so many sources readily available.”
Professors ask now that students use their technology to aid their education. A reasonable request: the request that students use their smart phones to actually make them smarter. It looks as though technology and the way it is being used can be shown as solid evidence of the generation gap between students and professors. But it doesn’t have to be a barrier between the two. Rather, it shows the incredible difference of the daily routines and mindsets of the youth and elders.
In Dr. Kincaid’s words, “The world we live in is a changing environment and none of us have figured it out yet.” So it seems no matter when the generation, there will always be the gap.
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