Higher Education Teachers have lived most of their lives in the analogical age, yet 21st century education with 21st century students requires a new kind of teacher.
A true teacher is supposed to be like Socrates, a purveyor of the truth to their students. (Of course, look what they did to poor Socrates!) However, a professor in the 21st century has to realize that it is not the 19th and modernize the ways that they teach and pass on information to their students. Updating course materials, using new technologies, and connecting with an ever more diverse student population are the challenges and responsibilities of the 21st century professor.
I would like to remind you that in the last 500 years every new century has been questioned by wise minds about what needs to be new in order to meet the challenges of a new age. Although in our time the risks of human self-destruction have increased, the training of teachers is rather unlikely to change. But there are always new little challenges facing teacher education. In Germany it was suddenly discovered that teachers were missing, and quite massively. In earlier decades teacher training was completely neglected because the number of children decreased. Migration has changed things. Thus, the subsequent reaction to failures in the last century is actually the greater challenge than the new era offers.
My paper titled Instrumental Teacher Education and the Incoming Tide of Information Technology addresses this question from the perspective of training 21st C instrumental guitar tutors. In a nutshell I would say the role is that of an educational concierge: informing the students of the educational resources out there, what is best suited to their individual needs and how to go about making the most of the available resources. I suspect this approach is applicable across a very wide range of educational settings.
Defining the role of teachers in the twenty-first century is a very complex task. It is necessary to take into account the interests of the popular sectors, to think in a process of critical reflection so that the students of the 21st century can incorporate the feeling of belonging, and to realize that they are situated in a contradictory reality in which there is inequality and conflicts that devastate even more the humanity. In this sense, it is necessary to reflect and understand that the teacher must contribute in the formation for the life, for the perception, for the reflection and for the confrontations.
In 2018, most universities "worldwide" will be joined by the first batch of students who mostly belong to the 21st century solely.
These students are expected to master using the tools of IT & their performances will be closely connected to the application of such tools in helping them for a better learning at a higher educational institution. The challenge is to utilize these tools positively (e.g. in downloading notes or questions) & to refrain from using these tools negatively (e.g. in cheating during exams).
At present, we observe that the young generation thinks that it has gained lot of information but if we look well into the matter, we will find out "bits & pieces" of shallow info which amount to "illusion of knowledge". Students need teachers who direct them to look after in-depth know-how. Teaching methods have to be diversified & each university lecturer ought to have some degree in education besides the degree in his/her specialization.
21st century students' cognition, attitude and behavior is shaped by the advancement in information and communication technology along with role of social media. They are the most connected, generation to date virtually, and most loneliest generation of era in physical terms. They have their own fears and insecurities to survive with previous generation. 21st century teacher has to see into their minds, he/she has to be prepared to have distracted students continuously busy with their smart phones or E tabs or laptops. He/she has to accept the disagreement and always strive to get their attention and to attract them and to engage them; no matter how 21st century teacher establishes it, 21st century teacher has to play more smarter than these alien students, only then he/she could be able to survive in today' s class rooms(virtual/physical).
A true teacher is supposed to be like Socrates, a purveyor of the truth to their students. (Of course, look what they did to poor Socrates!) However, a professor in the 21st century has to realize that it is not the 19th and modernize the ways that they teach and pass on information to their students. Updating course materials, using new technologies, and connecting with an ever more diverse student population are the challenges and responsibilities of the 21st century professor.
See
Education Skills for 21st Century Teachers https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-319-22608-8
Keep in mind that computers are not new. Although a baby boomer, I programmed computers in high school and have lived most of my life with computers. I have been teaching higher education students online for ten years. As for any teacher, my role is to decide the skills and knowledge the students will need, the assessment suitable for those, create and curate materials and tools to help with that learning and then help the students learn. For this I have undertaken formal teacher education which emphasized digital teaching techniques, as discussed in my book "Digital Teaching In Higher Education": http://www.tomw.net.au/digital_teaching/
In the 21st century, students have enough opportunity to learn and investigate information therefore theachers' role has already changed. Now teachers should be in a manner of elder brother or sister, mother or father who can listen to them and help them overcome their daily problems.
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