Introduction:
How can 21st century students be expected to function in a 21st century world, with a 20th century education? It may be easy for some students, but for the majority of the student population, the present style of teaching is no longer relevant to their needs. This being said, most students have a new way of looking at the world, as the world itself now looks different than it did when those teaching methods were created. Education should be restructured to reflect the 21st century learners, to enhance the intellectual capital of Canada through adapting teaching styles to the modern mindset , logical incorporation of technology, and increased variety of courses to reflect today’s job markets. Students of the 21st century are accustomed to fast paced information intake through technology and media, creating a distance between the student and the teachings. This distance grouped with the lack of variety in course selection leaves the majority of students unprepared for the real world.
Adapting Teaching Styles to the 21st Century Mindset:
New technology and media have an outrageous effect on the students of the 21st century. This draws their interests and focus away from the standardized education system to a more modern approach of communicating (Niess, Margaret). Students are more accustomed to the style in which media portrays information to them, which are not often represented in a classroom setting. Strategies used by teachers in this day and age should be reconstructed to adapt to the 21st century learners through mimicking the media, and portraying information the way media does (Bitner, Noel). Incorporating media and relating lessons and ideas to relevant points in a student’s life is an effective communication method. Nowadays, students have a short attention span, and have a lot of different learning styles. Majority of students are visually focused, meaning their learning is driven by pictures,
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