Helping Teachers Understand and Teach the Rewired Brain
Helping Teachers Understand and Teach the Rewired Brain
Today’s children have grown up with access to the internet, computers, video games, and social media right at their fingertips. In the year 2020, schools had to shift their learning environments from face-to-face instruction to distance learning. After managing crisis-teaching when this shift to distance learning first happened, it is now clear that online learning has settled into our schools and will stick around for the long-haul. With the constant access to quick information, informative Apps, and learning programs, there is no end to the possibilities technology can bring to our schools and their students.
However, the frequent use of technology may alter our intelligence, attention span, self-esteem, memory, critical thinking processes, empathy, and social relationship by rewiring our brains. How do we know this is happening? By examining and learning how technology is changing the way students’ brains function, educators can adapt their instruction and content delivery methods to keep students motivated to learn.
Professional Development Courses at the University of La Verne offers its timely three-semester credit course Understanding and Teaching the Rewired Brain to help teachers get started.
Understanding Brain Function to Successfully Engage Students with Technology
For teachers to successfully craft a plan to reach and teach students whose brains have been rewired by technology, it is essential to learn how these young students' minds respond to the environment. Teachers also need to know how these rewired brains process information, engage in social behavior using technology, critically think and commit information to memory, and use other necessary skills to thrive in a technology-forward society. While teachers and parents cannot control the forward momentum of technology, there are ways to understand, utilize, and hone-in on techniques that will allow their children to not only thrive but be responsible users of technology.
Key questions answered throughout the course Understanding and Teaching the Rewired Brain include what type of instructional models are the most effective to encourage attention, how the brain retains information and skills to avoid information overload, and how technology affects children's thinking?
Benefits of the Course Understanding and Teaching the Rewired Brain
In the course, Understanding and Teaching the Rewired Brain offered by Professional Development Courses at the University of La Verne, K-12 teachers and administrators will master many concepts. Topics include learning about the effects of television on children's thinking, how information overload affects decision-making, how to engage students with the flipped classroom method, improving thinking by integrating the arts into other subject areas, and educational benefits of video games.
Further topics include:
- how technology affects students’ brains.
- focusing on the rewired brain as the organ of thinking and learning.
- integrating technology into the classroom.
- how students and teachers feel about how to use technology in the classroom.
- overcoming major obstacles to using technology in schools.
- what teachers should be able to do with technology.
- how technology affects student achievement.
- how technology is affecting students’ ability to remember information.
- what changes we need to make in the curriculum to accommodate the rewired brain.
- the role educational video games play in enhancing teaching and learning.
- recognizing how technology is affecting social behavior and what can be done about it.
- mentoring students in the responsible use of technology.
Understanding and Teaching the Rewired Brain Course Contents
Successful completion of Understanding and Teaching the Rewired Brain will lead to long-lasting benefits for yourself and your students. It may also impact your professional career by allowing you to leverage your new skills towards salary advancement, license renewal, or recertification. Students are encouraged to seek approval from their district or state before enrolling.
Contents include:
- Views and status of technology in schools
- Brain wiring for spoken language
- Impact of technology on spatial and language development
- Addiction of electronic engagement
- Complexities of attention
- Memory systems
- Encoding into long-term memory
- Technology and thinking
- Thinking and learning
- Building the social brain
- Effects of technology on rewiring social behavior
- Educators and technology
- The age of the Internet
- Content curation in the 21stCentury
- Prevalence of social media
- Mobile learning
- Blended learning
- Activities and tools
Through Understanding and Teaching the Rewired Brain, you will develop strategies for mentoring students in the responsible use of technology, receive teaching examples and k-12 lesson ideas, and have access to a teacher-friendly technology glossary to understand relevant terminology and resources. This course is an excellent fit for educators because all content is self-paced, written in a user-friendly format, and accessible for completion in an online or emailed PDF format.
Understanding and Teaching the Rewired Brain can also be applied toward the Teaching in the Online Classroom certificate offered by Professional Development Courses at the University of La Verne. Other popular course options for this timely certificate include:
- Creating a Google Apps Classroom
- Blended Learning: Empowering Students for Success in the Digital Age
- Tech Tools for the Classroom
- eLearning Made Easier: Creating Dynamic Learning Opportunities
- Transform Your Online Instruction with Google Classroom: Ready, Set, Learn!
- Practical Strategies for Teaching Online
Note, the University of La Verne is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Since requirements may vary, students should check with their school district or state department of education before enrolling in a course.
How to Register
The course Understanding and Teaching the Rewired Brain is completed online or via an emailed PDF format. All books and materials are mailed to the student regardless of the format selected. Featuring online chat support and quick grading turnaround times, the course is open for registration at any time during a semester. Upon completion, students receive graduate, non-degree semester credit on official transcripts from the University of La Verne, an accredited university in La Verne, California.
Registration is simple and can be done online or over the phone. Courses are offered on a rolling basis during three standard semesters, and you can begin whenever you are ready! Courses are offered ongoing during three semesters. Students may enroll in up to a maximum of 15-semester credits at any time during each semester.
The registration dates are:
Fall: September 1 – January 31
Spring: February 1 – May 31
Summer: June 1 – August 31
Our course, Understanding and Teaching the Rewired Brain, offers such a wide range of tools to help you guide your students through the successful use of technology that we are sure you are eager to get started! Now is the time to understand the effect of information technology on language, attention, memory, thinking, and how to mentor students in the responsible use of technology to integrate these tools into the classroom successfully.