The Role of Teachers in Digital Learning

With most digital learning, students will be asked to do a larger task and make more of a class contribution. Because of this, students may be more inclined to do more. On the flip side, students may be more resistant to do more if they see it as unnecessary. As an educator, I do expect to see some resistance from students when asking them to make more of a contribution. I would mostly expect this from the older students (5th-high school), but I can also see the younger students resisting as well. Some students get by doing the minimum and are happy with that. Others may enjoy doing more and creating a greater contribution to the class. There are some students who take pride in their hard work and look forward to doing something different to see how they can master the new technology. Parents could also swing one way or another; some parents may feel that students should not have to contribute more to the class learning or view that as the teacher's responsibility. Others may feel this is a great way to get their children involved and more engaged. 

First steps I might take in building a learning community where students take on more responsibility for the learning of the class would be students teaching a lesson to their peers. This will build on communication skills, require them to research more into a topic to ensure they are presenting the correct information, and it would also build on class discussion. Students can create presentations and questions in relation to a topic to teach to the other students in the class. This could also be done in groups to build on the collaboration piece of 21st century learning as well. To implement this, I would first have students break into groups and have them simply discuss common topics of interest. Then building off of that, having the students create a mock presentation on a common interest. This could work as an ice breaker for students who may be less inclined for social interactions. Then, building off of this, students can work on a group presentation in relation to the class or from their textbook.