The importance of engaging learners online

When pupils tell teachers they spend most of their weekends playing computer games some might be tempted to ask why they can’t find anything better to do.

Blended learning

Perhaps the questions ought to be;

It’s a simple fact for anyone under the age of 30 that laptops are old technology.

It’s also a far from simple fact for teachers and politicians that a significant number of young people are switched off in school and don’t reach their full potential. It’s an unfortunate fact for employers that some school leavers lack the basic numeracy, literacy and ‘softer’ skills to cope well in the work place.

Digital natives

Today’s learners have been called ‘digital natives.’ Watch a five year old with a smartphone. What they don’t understand is why the TV screen doesn’t change when they touch it.

Exposure to thousands of media images per day, video games, sounds, lights, music – all delivered electronically – should suggest to us that learners raised in this environment think and learn differently from previous generations. Maybe we should stop bemoaning some pupils’ attention span and ask if they are just processing information differently.

Klik2learn is exploring these ideas. Through interactive and game- based multi media technology we want to meet the needs of digital natives. What we’d really like to do is get them addicted to learning. In fact we’ll have succeeded if they’re having so much fun they don’t even realise they’re learning.

Blended learning

Of course, we’re not saying technology holds all the answers. That’s why, at the heart of the Klik2learn system you’ll find the teacher. The teacher is our subject matter expert involved in the design of our online courses. People also learn through developing a relationship with a real person who can guide them and lead them to the next step. People learn from other learners so the Klik2learn system lets users connect with each other whenever they like.

Digital learning is itself on a journey. At Klik2learn we’re enjoying being part of that.