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key background reading and references for my blog article on Digital Natives (at http://bit.ly/ctslearning-digitalnatives )
Updated on Oct 11, 12
Created on Oct 11, 12
Category: Schools & Education
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Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants
By Marc Prensky
From On the Horizon (MCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001)
>> It is amazing to me how in all the hoopla and debate these days about the decline of education in the US we ignore the most fundamental of its causes. Our students have changed radically. Today's students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.
Bennett, Sue (09/01/2008). The "Digital Natives" Debate: A Critical Review of the Evidence. British journal of educational technology. (ISSN: 0007-1013), 39 (5), p. 775.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007.00793.x
The idea that a new generation of students is entering the education system has excited recent attention among educators and education commentators. Termed ‘digital natives’ or the ‘Net generation’, these young people are said to have been immersed in technology all their lives, imbuing them with sophisticated technical skills and learning preferences for which traditional education is unprepared. Grand claims are being made about the nature of this generational change and about the urgent necessity for educational reform in response. A sense of impending crisis pervades this debate. However, the actual situation is far from clear. In this paper, the authors draw on the fields of education and sociology to analyse the digital natives debate. The paper presents and questions the main claims made about digital natives and analyses the nature of the debate itself. We argue that rather than being empirically and theoretically informed, the debate can be likened to an academic form of a ‘moral panic’. We propose that a more measured and disinterested approach is now required to investigate ‘digital natives’ and their implications for education.
Neil Selwyn, (2009) "The digital native - myth and reality", Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 61 Iss: 4, pp.364 - 379
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00012530910973776
Digital Natives: Ten Years After
Apostolos Koutropoulos
University of Massachusetts
Are digital natives a myth or reality? University students' use of digital technologies
Margaryan, A., & Littlejohn, A.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.09.004
Digital Denizens
Instructional Technology Resources
Richard Stockton College
Prensky uses this dichotomy to raise awareness of differences in technology usage and as the basis for recommendations for changes in approaches to educating students at all levels. He is a strong advocate for computer simulations and gaming in the education process.
While thought provoking, his analysis of technical skills of students and educators is very simplistic. Just as all educators do not reject or resist technology, neither do all students embrace technology. However, we are all denizens of a digital world.
Perhaps a few more more categories might be useful in raising digital awareness:
Digital recluse – A person in this category absolutely refuses to knowingly use electronic technology. Computers are forbidden in his/her household. Microchips exist only in tools where their true nature is disguised (e.g., automobiles, microwaves, heating/cooling systems).
Digital refugee – A person in this category uses technology unwillingly. It has been thrust upon him/her by his/her environment. Although using technology is a chore, not using it is even more of a challenge. S/he may have grown up with technology or may have been forced to adopt technology as an adult. S/he prefers hard copy and distrusts electronic resources. S/he may regularly enlist other for assistance in the use of technology, particularly reducing technology to a non-electronic form (e.g., printing e-mail before reading it).
Digital immigrant – A person in this category has willingly traveled to the land of technology. Although unfamiliar with the full potential of various electronic tools, s/he holds an underlying belief that technology can be a useful tool, especially for repetitive tasks. S/he may have grown up with technology or may have adopted technology as an adult.
Digital native – A person in this category uses technology in executing a wide variety of tasks and readily adapts to changes in the tools that s/he uses. S/he may have grown up with technology or may have adopted technology as an adult.
Digital explorer – A person in this category pushes electronic tools to the limit and is always on the lookout for new tools that do more, work faster, and work more easily.
Digital innovator – A person in this category doesn’t just look for new technology tools, s/he builds new tools and/or adapts old tools to new purposes.
Digital addict – A person in this category is highly dependent upon technology tools. S/he may become quite distressed when access to technology tools is disrupted.
In Born Digital, leading Internet and technology experts John Palfrey and Urs Gasser offer a sociological portrait of these young people, who can seem, even to those merely a generation older, both extraordinarily sophisticated and strangely narrow. Exploring a broad range of issues, from the highly philosophical to the purely practical, Born Digital will be essential reading for parents, teachers, and the myriad of confused adults who want to understand the digital present—and shape the digital future.
Herther, Nancy K. "Digital natives and immigrants: what brain research tells us." Online Nov.-Dec. 2009: 15+. via Academic OneFile.
http://bit.ly/GALE-A211794589
http://www.infotoday.com/online/nov09/index.shtml
10 items | 14 visits
key background reading and references for my blog article on Digital Natives (at http://bit.ly/ctslearning-digitalnatives )
Updated on Oct 11, 12
Created on Oct 11, 12
Category: Schools & Education
URL: