Aging vs technology:

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Aging especially older adults who are still working in schools face more challenges in adopting new technologies in teaching process due to generational gaps or lack of ICT knowledge. The senior teachers / experts in field couldn't transfer their knowledge as their wish.

Hello Myloga
The aging population presents unique challenges that modern technology seeks to address through various innovations. Medical devices and assistive robots improve the quality of life for the elderly, while smart homes equipped with sensors and automated systems enhance their safety. Telemedicine and health applications facilitate the monitoring of chronic diseases and medication management, providing remote access to care. However, digital inclusion remains crucial, requiring training programs to familiarize seniors with technologies while ensuring the accessibility and security of digital platforms. Socially, technologies like social networks and virtual reality bring cognitive and emotional benefits, though ethical challenges and data protection issues persist. Future innovations in biotechnology and AI promise even more advancements, potentially transforming the landscape of aging in the coming decades.

Yes , it's true. Aging has its own challenges. I don't know how many of you realize that the youngsters including young kids are very fast catch up the IT gadgets. They are quickly grasp and adapt the technologies. Simply say, parents let them engage with IT gadgets to overcome their busy days might be a reason. Other side, maybe the educational apps and games designed for children often incorporate elements of gamification, making learning enjoyable and rewarding. This encourages children to engage with IT gadgets as a form of play while developing skills and knowledge. I can see this in my daily life. I am downloading game apps from internet ; they are uploading their apps in internet. This is an example how far they are.

yes, but in general students prefer action and strategy games and rarely educational games...........Is it the same for you?

Best regards from Tunisia
Chokri

Exactly sir. They more prefer to physical movements rather thinking actions. Looks globally children growth is same.

As a teacher i couldn’t understand why the children dislike studying. Is it because of theory method knowledge or irrelevant to their lives or the subjects are boring? Or the digital surroundings makes them harder to focus on studying.

@MYLOG47799627c6

As a SPED teacher, I think it is multifactorial, all depends on the particular case. Sometimes, traditional methods can seem disconnected from students' lives, making it difficult for them to see the relevance. Subjects might come across as boring if they are not presented in an engaging manner also. Additionally, the digital environment can be a double-edged sword, while it offers many distractions, it also provides innovative tools that can make learning more interesting.

Incorporating interactive and relatable content, perhaps through digital educational games, community-based learning, project-based learning, AI, VR, and AR can bridge the gap, making learning more appealing and relevant to students.

Best,
Mr. Bryan

@MYLOG47799627c6
Hello Mylog,

You mentioned about students dislike studying. In my school, students do not show interest in their studies. There is lack of parental involvement. Educators with the support of our Ministry and other stakeholders, various initiatives are being undertaken so that to make teaching and learning fun and enjoyable.
We are encouraged to integrate innovative pedagogical approach, continuous professional development programme is organised frequently so that educators are fully equipped to embed new technologies in the classroom. Children have multiple Intelligences and the appropriate techniques and methodologies will further develop their skills. According to me, aging is not factor that hinders the proper implementation of technology in the classroom, it is completely the dedication of the teachers. It is true that we have digital kids nowadays but if the educator creates a conducive learning where inquiry based learning , virtual field trip and the use of augmented reality are made, students will surely show interest as it is the case in my school.

Greetings everyone,

This is an interesting topic for discussion. As an ICT teacher, I often notice that children, who are practically born with gadgets nowadays, lack basic computer skills. For example, they struggle with simple tasks like creating a folder, copying files, printing documents, and even performing more complex information searches.

In my childhood, it was cool to take apart and assemble a computer by oneself and install the operating system. Because of this, we generally understand how everything works. Now, I have decided to focus on these activities during my lessons. To achieve this, I need some computers that we can use for hands-on practice.

Regarding the older generation, there are also challenges. They have essentially witnessed the rapid development of these technologies, from the basic technologies that everything is now built on to VR/AR/AI technologies. The difficulty lies in the fact that these technologies also require constant learning and knowledge maintenance. I encounter colleagues who are not willing to update their skills, which leads to problems.

I am now opening evening courses at the school for parents and teachers, where we study both basic and advanced technologies. It's interesting that today, everyone has a device with enough computing power to launch space shuttles, yet most people use them primarily for watching shorts, stories, or playing games.

@Denis-Kudaymetov
You are absolutely right, new technology offers many opportunities for elderly people, but they always need a companion.....they are always our parents or our loved ones.
Best regards from Tunisia
Chokri

@Denis-Kudaymetov

Hello Denis,

In my school, students are very eager to learn basic ICT skills. I have observed that students of lower primary can effectively create folder, use the Microsoft Word: copy, paste, align document and use the Microsoft Paint. But when these students join secondary schools they drop the subject ICT/Computer iin upper grades. I think because of the structure of the syllabus for Grade 10 and Grade 11.

@Denis-Kudaymetov Absolutely! We have recently faced the problem when some of the students submit essays/reports or other documents inappropriately in terms of margins, fonts, organising paragraphs, titles and pages. They are unable to perform simple operations to edit the document according to the requirements. So we decided to focus on these next year.
On the other hand, digital children and teenagers often offer creative ideas for summative and formative assessment tasks to combine educational content and technologies, which makes the tasks more relatable to them.

Hello Ekaterina
Digital children and teenagers often propose creative ideas for assessment tasks by combining educational content and technology. They can create explanatory videos, applications, educational games, blogs, websites, podcasts, or use augmented and virtual reality. They can also design interactive infographics and campaigns on social media. These approaches make assessments more relevant and engaging while developing essential skills such as critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration.
Best Regards from Tunisia
Chokri

@Ekaterina-P
Hello,
During the primary phase, students are very curious about computers and tablets. They perform several activities under the supervision of their teachers. Even they are very at ease while conducting formative assessment on their tablets. But once the same students join the secondary level, that eagerness decreases as they have their smartphone.

@Housna

Hi Housna,
Hope everything is going well.

It's fantastic that your students are eager to learn basic ICT skills early on, but it's concerning that their interest decays in secondary school. This decline could be due to a less engaging syllabus for Grades 10 and 11 as you mentioned. To address this, consider advocating for a curriculum review to include more hands-on, project-based learning that integrates ICT with other subjects, making it more relevant and exciting. Maybe that could be a good move for their benefit.

Best,
Mr. Bryan

Elderly IT-immigrant generation

I personally encountered this problem while collecting data for my research with teachers, it turned out to be that elderly ones have no e-mails, whereas in our digital world we actively use emails in ordering tickets, onine shopping and booking hotels.

In fact this trend is another explicit evidence of life-long learning given the fact that every day we see a widening gap between progress and society’s ability to cope with its consequences. Besides, 4th Industrial Revolution changes we see around us threaten to overwhelm us if we cannot collaborate to understand and direct them.

We are already talking about unprecedented advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and using them not only in education. More than that robotics, the internet of things, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, nanotechnology, green energy, they all are totally blurring traditional boundaries, creating new opportunities. This on its turn requires creative teaching to grow creative IT-friendly learners.

Moorning Bilim
I think this is a very difficult goal to achieve with senior citizens.
Best Regards from Tunisia
Chokri

Morning, Chokri.

We now realize that pedagogy and technology interaction enhances learning. Teachers are responsible for the product and process. Learning happens in partnership of students and teachers increasing their mutual potential. Unless teachers are not open to learn acquiring new skill it will stay challenging

I think it would be a great idea to implement a buddy system in schools, where younger teachers with more experience using technology could assist their older colleagues in learning about new tools.