Multimedia Technologies and Familiar Spaces: 21st-Century Teaching for 21st-Century Learners

Source: Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 8(3), 264-276.

This article examines 21st century skills, nonlinear thinking skills, and the need for student reflection—which, taken together, serve as an essential foundation for digital-age teaching of today’s hypertext learners. The authors discuss why preservice teachers need to use multimedia technologies within the context of students’ familiar, technology-rich living spaces to develop their own teaching skills and the technology skills of their students. Exemplary multimedia samples are offered as demonstrations of ways to develop essential technology-related skills in the next generation of teachers.
The authors conclude that new technologies when presented to teacher candidates in the context of their intended use, which is to enhance the teaching and learning processes, seem to motivate, engage, and offer more opportunities for self-directed learning and reflection. Such technologies provide avenues for creativity and foster inclusion of 21st-century skills in teacher education curricula.