How well do we know the students we teach? B Y
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t is not news to anyone that life, and particularly the way we communicate with each other and consume music, has changed radically over the past 30 years. There is also nothing to indicate that this evolution in communication will not continue. This cycle of change has only become swifter as new devices and applications are introduced and become commonplace in our everyday lives. Perhaps lost on some of us more seasoned educators at times is that much of what we perceive as new technology has been a part of our students’ lives for as long as they can remember. We would be foolish to assume that this state does not affect our students’ learning and therefore should also be considered in our teaching decisions and actions. Specifically, communication technology should be of interest to educators. It goes without saying that great teaching is dependent on successful communication. Our understanding of how our current and future students most effectively communicate can only serve to enhance our efforts to educate. Perhaps this topic is best explored with a brief snapshot of a typical college student in recent history. To help focus these images, I’m going to refer to data compiled within the past 12 months by the Gallup and Nielson polling services. Baby Boomers It is probably most appropriate to begin with Baby Boomers—those postWWII children who enrolled in colleges in the late ’60s and ’70s. My guess is that many current senior faculty members on our campuses are in this group. As college students, the landline telephone we leased from AT&T was the center of our personal communications. Some may remember not even having their own phone line and having to use a hallway or lobby pay phone for calls. I definitely remember having some shockingly high long distance phone bills from time to time. We were exposed to new trends and developments through radio and
COLLEGE NOTES IMPORTANT DATES November—Make a convention housing reservation online. November 15—TMEA scholarship application deadline. December 31—TMEA convention mail/fax preregistration deadline. January 14, 2013—Leadership Summit registration deadline. January 19, 2013—CTME Leadership Summit at Dallas Baptist University. January 24, 2013—TMEA convention online preregistration deadline. February 13–16, 2013—TMEA Clinic/ Convention in San Antonio.
We owe it to our students and ourselves to attempt to respect, master, and employ the new technologies we can to meet them at a midpoint in our mutual pursuits. Southwestern Musician | November 2012 67