Teaching 21st centruy learners

In my class this semester students were tasked with completing a project understanding how economic principles apply for a small business.  Technology enables them to complete this project in a much more authentic way.  From their ability to interact and receive information from the small business man, to watching a range of short videos explaining Price Elasticity of Demand, which they can watch over and over until they get it, technology can help them understand things more deeply.   

I have to say write off the bat that I got really irritated reading the article by Rodgers et al.  To me it seemed to be full of generalisations and opinion dressed up as fact.  For example, it claims that the 21^st century learner has short attention span because of multi tasking.  Short compared to what?  What evidence is there that learners from previous generations had a longer attention span?  My son and daughter (like countless millions of children of the current generation read all 7 of the Harry Potter books.  My generation didn’t show that sort of commitment to reading!  The writers also state that today’s learners prefer acronyms instead of text.  That’s like saying journalists prefer shorthand. It also states that we process more information in 24 hours than the average person 500 years ago would process in a lifetime.  I have absolutely no idea what that means. 

I also disagree fundamentally with the statement that in the past the primary challenge facing students was to “absorb a vast array of specific information”   I do not know what institutions the authors attended but that was not my experience 30 years ago.

But the real reason I didn’t like this article was that in its conclusions it focusses on the changes need in course design (how to learn) rather than considering if new technology should change what we expect students to show they can do. And that is the big question, which cannot be answered at faculty level.  That’s institutional and governmental.