Educational Technology Research

 Generations Evolving

Believe it or not, there are many differences between each generation. The world is constantly evolving because of us. Recently, I looked at an article published by Mccrindle that displayed different characteristics amongst the different generations. Below is an infographic that demonstrates a few differences between them:

Image Source: www.mccrindle.com

This infographic really put into perspective how much we change over the years. Since I was born in 1997, I fall under generation Z. The iconic toy for this generation was the folding scooter and, let me tell you, I LOVED my scooter. I would take my scooter with me everywhere I went in the neighborhood. Generation Alpha will probably not use scooters as frequently as I did as a kid, let alone even know what a folding scooter is. We have to remind ourselves that with these new and upcoming generations, different ideas and concepts are changing. Students do not learn as they used to and we must evolve with these new generations to meet their needs.

Social Media

According to the article I read from Mccrindle, "Almost half of Gen Z turn to TikTok (48%) and Instagram (46%) to teach themselves new things daily" (2023).  I fall under this percentile as a Generation Z, as I use TikTok to learn new things. I am easily influenced by people on social media and use social media as a platform to get new ideas. I follow teachers on TikTok that teach me new classroom management strategies or how to teach inferencing. It is amazing to think that social media can impact us in such a positive way. As for our students, I know they go on TikTok frequently. They tell me about TikTok videos they see all the time! They have easy access to any videos they want to watch with the click of a button and a search bar. My students can easily access information quicker than any previous generation, which is why these statistics surprise me. I thought the numbers would be higher because social media is so prevalent in our lives. Another statistic from the website states, "Gen Z (42%) and Gen Y (41%) continue to turn to YouTube for self-learning daily, while Gen X (27%) and Baby Boomers (14%) also find it a valuable resource for acquiring new knowledge" (2023). This shows how much the different generations learn something daily from YouTube. I, personally, go to YouTube a lot for any projects I need to have completed around my house. When I first moved out of an apartment and had a garage door for the first time, I had no idea how to connect the garage door remote to the garage. Where did I got to figure that out? YouTube! I am able to have my questions answered immediately. On the other hand, Baby Boomers and Gen X do not go to YouTube as frequently to learn new ideas. The statistic for YouTube surprised me as well. Many of my students go to YouTube for music access and "how to" videos. I had a student in my advisory class look up a video on YouTube on how to solve a math problem. When I asked him why he was doing that, he explained to me that maybe someone on YouTube could explain the math problem better than his teacher explained it. I thought that was interesting that the student was able to quickly come up with a solution using technology to help him.

Slang

Just like social media, slang is evolving as well. Chen, a Buzzfeed New Reporter, wrote an article about a 43-year-old high school teacher that keeps a list of slang terms that he hears his Gen Z students say. She quotes him in the article stating, ""It is interesting to see how Gen Z kids use social media and memes to not only communicate with each other, but also to share and spread cultural information," he said" (2019). Students in newer generations have certain forms of communicating with each other that has never been seen before. They abbreviate lingo as well such as "LOL" for laugh out loud. Other kids in the same generation are able to understand these slangs and abbreviations, whereas older generations do not understand it. Students can use these slang terms to gain a connection with one another that others do not get. Soon enough, Generation Alpha will have slang terms that we do not understand, but they understand amongst each other. It is kind of neat if stop and think about it!

Image Source: www.giphy.com