Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

Marc Prensky.


Understandable:
Prensky's main point in this article is quite clearly that "Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach." It is this fact that challenges educators everywhere. The generation gap seems to be growing between those who grew up with computers and those who did not. Prensky challenges teachers to step outside of their comfort zone and really embrace all that technology has to offer. This means interacting with students in ways that they are accustomed to.

Not so understandable:
While technically I am a digital native, being only 22, sometimes I feel that I am of the Digital Immigrant persuasion. Why does everything have to be so technical. I like the feel of a book. I can't seem to just sit down and type at a computer, I need to hand write things out first. Does this make me old fashioned? Perhaps. Why all this angst towards people who are not computer savvy? I understand that the digital age is the time frame that we are living in, so naturally we need to adapt, but is a teacher necessarily bad because they do not include technology into their classes? I'm not sure. I think teachers just need to be engaging, whatever that entails.

Connection to class:
Clearly this class is lead by someone who is all about engaging her students in a computer friendly way! We use our blogs, power points, video clips, and other means of technology each class. Also, in reference to media literacy Prensky's article fits nicely. I feel that Prensky would advocate for media literacy everywhere as he stresses the importance of technology and being able to decipher and use it properly.

Questions/Comments:
One random thought...what is going to happen to books? How long til we as a society use only technology?