The students of today have changed radically and are no longer the people our education system was designed to teach. Today children are growing up with technology and most have spent their entire lives immersed by the various forms of technology, that even their parents have never used before. 

I know that in my own household, for example, my parents tend to ask my brother and I questions on how to use technology such as the computer, internet, ipods, mobile phones and cameras. Also, my brother who is 2 years younger than me, is often better at using new technology than i am. I often find myself asking him how to use new technology or to fix things that are not working. However, when it comes to the technology that I have grown up with, I find that he needs to ask me how to use it as I have had more experience. 

I found a video called  Lost in Time (Foxtel HD) on You Tube. This Foxtel HD commercial serves as a flashback of Australian Technology and cultural evolution, through each era, separated by a whistle.

My brother and I are referred to ask a “Digital Native” because I was born between the 1980 and 1994 but my parents are referred to as “Digital Immigrants” as they were born before 1980.

Many researches believe that Digital Immigrants need to adopt new styles of teaching, which incorporates the use of technology. There are problems, however, with getting digital immigrants to learn to use technology, is that although they do adapt to their environment, they always retain, to some degree, their original “accent”. Prensky (2001) believes that many “digital immigrants don’t believe their students can learn successfully while watching tv or listening to music, because they (the digital immigrants) can’t”. But of course children can learn things watching tv.

At my house this morning my mother opened up the newspaper and was doing a quiz and she thought she would quiz my brother on the questions she thought were difficult. She asked him “how many hearts does and octapus have?” and he easily answered 3. When my mother asked him how he knew that he simply answered “I saw it in a South Park episode.”

Many Digital Immigrants believe that you can not learn by having fun, but of course you can. Play provides natural opportunities to engage in concrete and meaningful activities that enhance cognitive development. It lays the foundation for later academic success in writing and reading. it provides hands-on experience with real-life materials and helps children develop abstract scientific and mathematical concepts. It is critical for the development of imagination and creative problem solving skills.

Tapscott (1998) believes ”there is a growing appreciation that the old approach (of teaching) is ill-suited to the intellectual, social, motivational and emotional needs of the new generation.” Large-scale surveys of teenagers’ and childrens’ use of the internet reveal high levels of online activity by many school-aged children, particularly for helping with homework and for social communication. 

On the other hand, the research also showed that family dynamics and the level of domestic affluence to be significant factors influencing the nature of childrens’ home computer use. Therefore, to focus mainly on technology comes with the danger that those less interested and less able will be neglected and that the potential impact of socio-economic and cultural factors will be overlooked.

Overall, I believe that teachers need to adopt new means of educating their students, making it fun and interactive, but they should not rely on technology as the only means of their teaching. I believe that in the future I will implement various forms of technology into my classroom to make it interactive, fun and allow for various learning styles. It would be much easier for me to implement technology in my classroom as i was born in the digital natives era but by the time I start teaching there will be new technology to learn and I may have to learn from my students.

 Refernce List:

Bennett, S., Maton, K. & Kervin, L. (2008). The ‘Digital natives’ debate: a critical review of the evidence. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(5), 775-786

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf