Digital Native

Blog assignment
Everett Durst
7-13-09
I realize the new generation of kids has changed, but I don’t necessarily think the change is as dramatic as Prenske lays out. I’m pretty sure every generation has said the changes in the new kids are different than ever before, which is generally the pattern. While I disagree with the idea that the change is fundamentally different than any we’ve seen before, I think he’s right when he says, “Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach”(Prensky 2001). I’m not sure it’s fair to say our education system was designed to do something specific for a certain kind of person. We have a system that was put together piecemeal, over multiple generations, and not even applied the same across the country. Previous generations could certainly have said television made my generation radically different than anything before us, and their forefathers might have lamented about the industrial age changing kids in a way we’ve never seen. I do see value in recognizing the next generation’s tools and habits, and using them to make learning better, so I’ll drop my counterpoint.

The addition of thousands of hours of video games and television has probably not reduced the amount of reading kids are doing, but instead probably replaced more physical activities. When I was in high school, I didn’t have a television for 3 of 4 years, and I never missed it. I had the woods, a dog, guns, motorcycles, snowmobiles, hiking, chores, a barn, etc. When it was dark out, I worked on one of my machines in the shop, read, or went to sleep. I’m not sure that’s a superior way to spend time, compared with video games and television, but it’s certainly healthier for the body. I’m definitely a digital immigrant, and I have physical scars to prove it. My experience with computers in the classroom started with cassette tapes for data in high school, and a few CAD classes in college. I used technology to get assignments done, and therefore to learn, but not actually in the classroom.

I see how the digital natives would have different learning styles, and I want to accommodate them. However, it’s a little inconvenient that most of our other classes teach us to write out goals and rubrics, and present them before any learning takes place. You cannot follow Prensky’s advice and lay out your lessons according to what we’re being taught. These articles haven’t changed my mind about using technology in the classroom, but I will be looking for ways to use their digital learning styles to get them interacting with my subject matter. I like the idea of computer based games, and I will keep looking for tools to use this principle with.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.