I've been alive for almost 24 years and it's amazing the amount of technology I've been introduced. By now, I have just come accustomed and pretty much numb to everything technolgy because I use it and see it excessively every single day. What I find most interesting are the advancements in technology that are occuring on a day to day basis. Think about your first experience with the internet, a cell phone, DVD's, Ipods, etc. Now think about your most recent experience with any of them. The speed, design, and capabilites of those devices have come from basically non-existent a decade ago to a necessity in society today. We are now in a generation that works prodominately in a digital world with the interent, text messaging, and avatars. These kids, termed Digital Natives by Marc Prensky, are being socialized in a way that is vastly different from their parents. "The numbers are overwhelming: over 10,000 hours of playing video games, over 200,000 emails, and instant messages sent and received; over 10,000 hours talking on digital cell phones; over 20,000 hours watching TV, over 500,000 commericials seen- all before the kids leave college" (Prensky, 1). In terms of Prensky's ideas of digital natives and digital immigrants, I would put myself some place in between. Although, I was alive well before the internet was carried in your pocket, I grew up in a very digital world and I find myself immersed in new-age technology.
The type of technolgy I was introduced to the the classroom was very different between high school and college. Throughout my years in high school, the technology was primarily getting acquainted with the interent. Discovering tools that speed up and enhanced the depth of my research. However, in college, techonolgy in the classroom took on a whole new meaning. I had courses that were only offered on-line or in computer labs. Professors who advised bringing lap-top computers to class and exams that were taken with hand-held clickers to answer questions that were displayed on an overhead screen. I also was encouraged to use facebook and text messaging to communicate with professors and other classmates about course work. All in all, the learning experience was very much enhanced from high school to college because of the technology. However, there was a learning curve that I had to get used to as I had never learned this was in the past.
After reading the Prensky articles I am intrigued by how public education will change because of the advancements of technology in the class room. Many of our teachers and professors in the classroom today are digital immigrants and are so comfortable with their style of teaching that the connection between the teachers and students is becoming serious. "The biggest problem facing education today is that our digital immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language" (Prensky, 2). The goal now needs to find a way to get the digital immigrants comfortable with the technology that is important and impertive towards the education of the digital native students of this generation.
I believe that as teachers, it is important to entertain our students. Inspire them, engage them, and find out what they enjoy. For many of them, technology will play a major role in what they like. "All students we teach have something in their lives that's really engaging- something that they do and that they are good at, something that has an engaging, creative component to it" (Prensky, 62). If we get our students engaged through technology, interactive learning games, group activities, and hands on-minds on learning it will potentially make a huge difference in their education.
Adapt to your students.
References:
Prensky, Mark. (2001, October). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon (Vol.9, No.5, pp. 1-5). MCB University Press.
Prensky, Mark. (2001, December). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 2: Do they really think Differently? On the Horizon (Vol. 9, No. 6, pp.1-9). MCB University Press.
Prensky, Mark. (2005, September/October). “Engage Me or Enrage Me,” What today’s Learners Demand. EDUCAUSE Review (p. 60, 62, 64)
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Your final comment, adapt to the students, is so true and so challenging! It is something that needs to be faced everyday in order to get the students the knowledge that they need. Thanks for the great thoughts here.
ReplyDeleteHey Ty,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your response. I too consider myself a digital native. Since we are the same age we definitely went through the same technological advances together. It was nice really growing up along with the internet. I remember when I first used the internet in like '95 it was so much different and less user friendly than it is now. I also agree with how crazy that each and every day technology is growing and advancing. For example I bought the Envy 2 cell phone from Verizon about a year and a half ago. At the time it was the top of the line phone. However, when I go to recontract and get another phone next June my phone will be considered old and no longer popular. I liked your second to last paragraph the best. It is entirely true that teachers are so comfortable teaching the way they have been doing it for years that most are unwilling to change. And in the end it is really going to hurt the students that they are trying to teach. They won't be able to relate and won't be able to reach them at all. Great article!
Ty,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post! I feel like I am right there with you somewhere in the middle of being a digital narrative and a digital immigrant. There are so many things that I am comfortable using because I grew up using it, but many of the new advancements in technology are starting to get a little more challenging for me to understand.
There will always be more to learn as technology continues to advance, and as teachers we are going to have to, as you say, adapt to our students.