Digital natives and immigrants in high schools

The image of bored, apathetic and unruly teenagers at high school is a common stereotype and unfortunately is a reality. Working in secondary education the divide between digital natives and digital immigrants is quite apparent and the result is a lack of engaged and satisfied students. Digital natives (Prensky, 2001) are the members of society that have grown up using computers and digital devices and are confident with the many different applications of technology. On the other hand are digital immigrants who have not grown up with these technologies and are not so confident utilising the many different digital tools available. The divide between the two results in an unfortunate and disheartening situation in secondary eduction classrooms.

As students, digital natives automatically disconnect when they are faced by long and boring classes. Activities such as ‘chalk and talk’ and the term ‘heads down and working quietly’ simply do not make for an actively engaged classroom. Copying notes word for word off a board or even a boring power point presentation does not ensure that a student has an understanding of the topic or even an interest. In twenty years time chances are that students will barely remember any content they have been taught but they will remember the relationships they had with their educators and the way they were taught.

Adolescent students thrive in learning situations that are interactive and collaborative. Methods of e-learning enable creative innovative avenues for interactivity and collaboration. There are a number of digital native educators coming through now and the difference is exciting and inspiring. When students are enabled to creatively use a range of technologies the results are very positive. In this situation students are engaged and there is an immediate rapport that develops between teacher and student. This rapport is essential for a dynamic and positive learning environment and is an aspect that students will carry with them into their adult life.

References

Culligan, M. (2003). Digital natives in the classroom. In B. Hoffman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Technology, Date viewed 27/08/08, ,URL: http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/digitalnatives/start.htm

Ian Jukes and Anita Dosaj, "Understanding Digital Kids (DKs): Teaching and Learning in the New Digital Landscape," the InfoSavvy Group, June 2004, URL: http://www.ibo.org/ibap/conference/documents/IanJukes-UnderstandingDigitalKids.pdf

Marc Prensky, " Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants: Part I ," On the Horizon, vol. 9, no. 5 (October 2001) date viewed 11/08/08, URL: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

Wikipedia contributors, 2008, Digital native, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, date viewed, 27/08/08, URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Digital_native&oldid=228909642