Who is the Contemporary Learner?

 

How will the characteristics of our Gen Z learners depicted in the Meet GenZ video define their engagement in the traditional classroom snippet?
Gen Z want to be independent. They want to learn on their terms, and they want to learn in a way they can absorb knowledge. Old school teaching methods might not work as much on them as previous generations did. Gen Z appear to rely heavily on other sources, Social media, Hot takes etc for chunks of information and want to learn things they perceive to be relevant to their interests. Students in a classroom setting are still requiring to be directed and guided though.

Referring to the ideas presented by Willis and Robinson, is this level of creativity in evidence in the schools you have attended, both as a student, and as a preservice teacher? Furthermore, is this level of creativity in evidence in your university units? As secondary pre-service teaching students, you will experience a variety of approaches to teaching, learning and course design in your discipline studies. Why were your previous studies presented in that particular way? How could they have been presented?
Creativity cannot be in every subject or more so at the core of every subject. Curriculum is set that must get certain information across that can demonstrate a student’s understanding within those courses subject matter. Being a more experienced, not necessarily more mature, but more experienced in life allows me to accept that this is the way that universities would like to put their subject matter forward to the learners. Personally I think that allowing students to blur or cross those lines through self-interests or perceived ideas may not show that a student has that relevant subject understanding. If Educators give certain allowances whilst not stepping outside these lines than that is as much creativity as you can allow without the chance of subject failure. And that will all depend on who the individual teacher or collective Teachers are, and what the relevant subject is. For example, within Industrial Arts students may be required to create or design a movable object for their assignment or job. But in Maths, they can not have the same allowances on an algebra assignment or test due to the way in which they are requiring a student to answer. 1 + 1 will always equal 2 no matter how hard we try to show otherwise. 

What do you think the implications are of a curriculum that is linear, progressive, aimed at a single learning outcome for the development of both individuals and the society we live in?
Some curriculum has a beginning and an end. It is black and white. This is where we started, and this is where you must finish to get your degree. In others, they may have a more flexible route from beginning to end. It is not to say that is better than the other but at the point of writing this, certain subjects require you to have certain quantity of knowledge to complete. Some students may not like how the course is run or what the course entails, but it gives the individual a look at what they need to pass the subject. Looking to the future, it may also assist some students with the career or aspiration outcome. I want to be a rocket scientist or Crime Scene Investigator, but I am not good or tolerant of Maths and couldn't understand Science or Biology. That could assist in a student not wasting many hours, months or years of their lives chasing a hopeless dream. But it may get them to think about resetting or redirecting potential future goals.

How can ICTs help you in the development of a professional learning network? How are you feeling about this?
ICT is always going to have a part to play in the education setting. ICT may be limited in my chosen field at this moment but as we have seen in recent years it may play a much larger part of my education career down the road which at least makes me feel not completely starting from scratch.