Marc Prensky - Digital Natives and Immigrants

I found this series of articles very interesting. Technology is certainly something that as teachers we will be dealing with on a daily bases and it is important to understand the many items that our students are using. I do believe that I am a digital native due to my use of  "Computer games, email, the Internet, cell phones and instant messaging" and how these have been an "integral parts of [my life]." Based off of Prensky's definition of a native, I feel as if on the surface level I am able to connect with my students about the different technologies in their lives. The purpose of this course, as I see it, is to find ways to use technology to meaningfully and positively affect the education process of our students. By doing this, we are giving our students an avenue to relate what they enjoy doing to their studies. I do feel that by being a digital native I do have a slight advantage in accomplishing this goal.

The variety of technologies that I have seen used in classrooms has been very minimal until my experiences at Concordia. Many of my former instructors would have fallen into the digital immigrant category and due to this used simplified technology. Overhead projectors and graphing calculators was about all I saw utilized at my high school and even at university saw similar techniques. My undergraduate experience was very similar to the one mentioned in the first of Prensky's articles. "I went to a highly ranked college where all the professors came from MIT," says a former student. "But all they did was read from their textbooks. I quit." While I did stick it out till the end, it certainly did feel like absorption of spoken information and regurgitation. This is hardly an affective teaching style.

While I might have been able to thrive and make it to today without a technological classroom, I cannot say that this will be the case with my students. I feel as if the lack of technology was more of a hindrance than helpful throughout my student career and hope to right that with my students. In my math classes if I had been given a computer program to help me learn graphing or an interactive game on the smart board for my times tables I know that I would have become a better mathematician. In this next generation I do not believe that these technologies will be only helpful but necessary. As Prensky puts it "Kids born into any new culture learn the new language easily, and forcefully resist using the old." If we do not speak the language of our students how can we impart any wisdom?

While I had previously understood the importance of technology in the classroom, these articles really clued me in on the why. I never thought of my generation as "digital natives" but the term and rational makes complete sense. We as a culture have been constantly assaulted with text messages, i-pods, video games and wireless Internet. With this over stimulation it is no wonder students are finding the old school way of teaching uninteresting. Prensky hit the nail on the head by stating "Every time I go to school I have to power down," complains a high-school student." I want to incorporate technology in my classroom in many different ways. The smartboard is a fantastic tool that I truly want to get my hands on. In social studies we could play a variety of games such as 'who wants to be a millionare' that would really keep students active and engaged. I also love the idea of documentaries. Students always say that these films are boring and slow. Well I say let them reinvent the wheel! Show me how YOU would make a documentary. Over all, I have found these articles to be enlightening and have truly set a positive tone for this course.