We recently gave a class for a client on managing across generations. In preparation, I put together some trivia from decades past and present. It reminded me of how far we’ve come in terms of technology, but our educational models sometimes seem so far behind.

Students today won’t tolerate passive learning. I suspect one-way teaching methods were never very effective, but generations past didn’t fight against it in the same ways they do today. Now, social networking sites and blogs are becoming increasingly popular, but can be misaligned with a learning strategy when they are used purely as an attempt to be hip.

As teachers/professors, we can’t just start using these ‘new-fangled’ tools and expect students to learn any better than they are now. We have to utilize them in the right way… in alignment with what we are trying to achieve. We have to also completely change the way we’re evaluating learners’ progress in our classes.

The CommonCraft Show puts out these wonderful videos that take challenging concepts and make them easier. Check this one out on social media and consider how you might integrate this concept in to helping people learn. Also consider Common Craft’s teaching methods and how they do eLearning different.

I’ll be writing on this subject more in future posts, but would love to hear your best practices in the comments section.