A Novel Approach

It's an exciting time for teachers and learners. Every day, it seems, new developments or innovations emerge that could allow a new means of engagement, if not alter the entire way classrooms operate. And every day, there are instructors who work hard to understand so-called digital natives, whether by sharing high-tech tips or by expressing concerns that a digital age prohibits learning.

But too many instructors have taken this understanding to an extreme. They believe that today's students either demand a high-tech approach, or worse, that students no longer have the attention span or learning capacity for books and lectures. The result is an unfortunate array of uncreative gimmicks that not only fail to engage students but patronize them.

Other instructors, however, have taken it upon themselves to continue to challenge their students with difficult readings, the old-fashioned way. Sometimes to their surprise, this group has found that when given the opportunity to challenge themselves, students will often take the more difficult path. They have found, in short, that books are not dead.

What's left, then, is to balance technology and content, which takes us full circle back to the beginning of this post. And it is indeed an exciting time. Instructors have at their fingertips initiatives such as coursecasting, WikiProjects, and peer-to-peer learning, and it remains their choice to adopt any of these.

All we ask is that instructors adopt these methods not simply because the technology is available or because of fashion, but for the sake of their students and for the sake of learning.