Digital Natives in the New Normal: Who are they & how they learn?

Nancy N. Sanchez

Teaching in a generation dominated by millennials challenges educators with a difficult task. One distinguishing element of teaching millennials is digital learning, which has facilitated the development of new learning methods. Today, information and communication technologies (ICTs) are rapidly infiltrating classrooms worldwide. Educators now face rising hurdles as they teach a particularly "wired" — and increasingly "wireless" — generation of students utilizing rapidly emerging technology.

The Millennial generation is the first to have grown up in an environment saturated with digital media. Because ICT has always been a part of their lives, Millennials are naturally drawn to it. They anticipate that it will aid in their learning and accomplish their objectives. Indeed, Millennials can perform more tasks with their mobile phones, portable devices, and other wireless equipment than they can with conventional computers.

To engage and educate Millennial children effectively, school institutions must be equipped with a baseline of ICT tools. Lessons must be developed so that students can relate to and respond to a collaborative learner-centered environment. Due to the integration of ICT into classrooms, educators must continue their professional development. Schools and school systems must equip classrooms with essential information and communication technology (ICT) resources to meet the learning needs of 21st-century pupils. Along with hardware, software, and infrastructure, it is critical to have continual technical assistance and maintenance.

Millennials are not the only ones who use technology. Millennials do not marvel at new technology as previous generations did; they embrace, adapt, and use it. Millennials are dissatisfied with traditional schedules and are not necessarily interested in learning in a classroom or working in an office. Instead of that, they want to study at any time of day or night, telecommute from anywhere in the world, and define balance according to their standards. *** **

The author is Teacher III at Sto. Niño Elementary School, Concepcion West District, Schools Division of Tarlac Province, Region III-Central Luzon