digital natives / digital immigrants

I found Prensky's article about Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants an interesting read. While I am definitely a digital immigrant (example: I remember when Microsoft Word fit on a 3.5" floppy disk - yes, that's right, the entire program), I hope that my "accent" is not terribly pronounced. Even though I did not grow up with an iPod or a wi-fi connection, I worked in an industry that was strongly reliant on computers and related technologies, which forced me to keep current.

My high school experience with computers consisted entirely of the use of my mother's Mac, which her employer allowed her to bring home. I used it to type up all my papers, and when I left for the U of A, a similar Mac went with me. I was the only person in my dorm with my own computer, and after the campus computer labs closed each night, my dorm room was a popular spot! At that time, computers were used mostly for creating documents or, if you were a computer science or engineering student, creating programs.

A few years later, when I began teaching at PSU, part of my responsibility was to teach students how to use email, navigate the internet, and conduct research online. Our classrooms were also small computer labs, and my colleagues and I became pretty proficient with using the internet as well as utilizing software (such as Excel) and games (such as the Sims) to support the curriculum. Prensky wrote, "Today's teachers have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students." Looking back, that is exactly what we were attempting to do; we were learning and adapting to the world in which our students were already living.

Learning to swim is no substitute for having gills, however, and I am aware that students today and in the future will navigate circles around me in the digital sea. I am grateful that I find technology interesting and useful as opposed to confusing or scary; hopefully, my curiosity will serve me well as formats and modes of communication continue to evolve.

When considering how to communicate with digital natives, I think that finding ways to engage with students in their "native language' is critical. Learning how to design activities and assignments that will not only earn students' interest but actually teach them something is critical to my success as a teacher. Since they are far more discriminating about what earns their attention, I want to learn how to get their attention and how to use it productively for the nanosecond that I have it!

Thinking of myself as a digital immigrant among digital natives is a useful way of considering my role within the world in which young people live: if I want them to look to me for knowledge, I need to navigate their world at least somewhat gracefully and communicate with them in their language as clearly as I am capable.