Reflection on Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

Marc Prensky brought up a lot of insight on the topic of technology and students in today’s generation. In the opening statement of “Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants” Prensky says that “today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach”. I completely agree with this statement. The education curriculum has been changing for years. It feels as though the ideas and techniques that my parents were taught in middle school or even high school are now being taught in today’s elementary schools. This is because, like Prensky said, our generation is the first generation to grow up with all the new technology. For me personally, I remember getting a computer in sixth grade. I was actually one of the last of my friends to get a computer and the internet. Before my family’s first computer I was actually using a typewriter, which let me say is not an easy way to type up papers. However, after I got the computer and learned how to use the internet I felt like I was in a whole new world. I could find information at the click of the mouse instead of having to look everything up in books. It was amazing! I think the internet is one major reason why the generations today have so much more knowledge. It is now so much easier to find resources and new information.

Now because of all the new technology such as the internet and video and computer games, today’s generation of students want and need a new way of learning. Prensky talks a lot about how teachers need to start changing their teaching methods if they want to get through to their students. Prensky talks of teachers and other grown-ups of today’s age as “digital immigrants”. I think that’s a perfect word to describe them. Digital immigrants aren’t used to all the new technology since they didn’t grow up with it around them. Digital immigrants need to learn how to use technology unlike the “digital natives”, which are today’s generation, who are used to the technology since they grew up with it. Prensky brought up a point that I definitely related to about the difference between digital immigrants and digital natives. He talks about how digital immigrants turn to the internet second rather than first, unlike the digital natives. This has happened in my household so many times. One time my mom and I wanted to make a new dish for dinner, something we had never tried before. Her first instinct was to go straight to her books and magazines to find a recipe. However, my first instinct was to go on the computer and use Google. It is just so interesting to see how my mom will do anything before having to use the computer, since she hardly even knows how to turn it on.

Just like my mom is reluctant to use a computer, some teachers are the same way. They feel that using the traditional method of lectures is the best way to teach their students. However this is not true anymore. As Prensky explains, students today want a different way of learning. The lecture taught methods just aren’t working for them anymore. It’s boring to them, and if they are bored, they are not going to listen (which I can say I know from experience). I know that if I sit in a class where the teacher just talks the whole time, I usually zone out after twenty minutes. However, if the teacher had more interactive methods of teaching I know I would be more apt to pay attention. Technology is a great tool to use for interactive learning. The internet could be used, different software with simulations could be used, or even video and computer games could be a great resource for learning.

I believe that if teachers want to get up to the same technological pace of students, they should take classes and workshops to learn new techniques. Having up to date ways of teaching I feel is extremely important. Teachers don’t want their students leaving a class feeling like they gained nothing, but in order for their students to gain knowledge they need to be able to get through to them. Getting through to students today means using technology.

In Prensky’s part two of “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants: Do They Really Think Differently?” follows up on some of the information he talked about in the first part. This time he focuses on how it is a fact that the brain changes depending on the environment you’re surround by and the various types of stimulation. I found all the different tests and experiments that have been done extremely interesting, such as the experiment done with the rat. The experiment showed that the rat that was in an “enriched” environment showed brain changes unlike the rat in an “impoverish” environment. I can definitely see why this is true because I feel that where someone grows up, such as in what type of household they grow up in has a huge impact on how they learn. That is why I feel it is very important to adapt to children’s learning styles since everyone learns differently and as Prensky says thinking patterns change depending on experience.

Prensky focuses a lot on video games in this portion of his writing. He talks about how video games are extremely helpful with learning (educational video games that is). If the video game is created correctly it can have a huge impact on the child’s ability to learn different tasks. I have two nephews who are three and six and both of them have a ton of educational video games which they love. I also must say both of them are very intelligent for their ages and I think the games have a lot to do with that. I found a paper online that talks about the benefits of educational video games in education and how educators have been ignoring that fact that they are helpful, it’s very interesting. Check it out at http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~myoung/IJIS.doc (Prensky is actually one of the references).

The only problem I would have with video games being used for learning is how would all the children get their hands on them? If they were in the schools that would be great, but what about at home? Prensky talks about how if the children were to play six hours of educational videogames at home, it would be like adding an extra day to the school week. But how do these kids get the games at home? What if their families can’t afford them? I wonder if schools would be willing to buy games for the kids to take home. I think one way to solve that problem could be having a video game library. Just like children can sign out books, they would be able to sign out games. I can definitely see how video games and other technology would be a huge benefit to children today.

However, I personally don’t believe that technology should be used all the time. I think having some traditional methods is good. I think students should still know how to look things up in books, and should have outside activities in the real world dealing with issues they are learning about rather than doing everything on a computer. Technology is definitely important in a classroom, but I do feel like other methods should be implemented as well.