Digital Natives; Digital Immigrants

After reading Marc Prensky's article Digital Natives; Digital Immigrants, I realize that I am not one or the other, but a combination of both. I began my schooling during a time in which computers or the internet were not viable tools for students to use or access for assignments inside or outside of the classroom. By the time I began high school, I was able to write papers, save information and complete research on the internet using computers that were honestly nothing like what know today. We as students were able to learn enough about this new technology to make learning easier and cut down on time spent writing out papers by hand. As I work my way through my first semester as an MAT student, I realize even more that there will be a huge disparity between some of us as teachers and our students when it comes to literacy with today's technology.

"Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach." With the advancement of these tools now common place in households before most of the students we will teach are born, there is an inherent gap between today's teachers and their students. Today's students will be more proficient and technoligically advanced than most of their teachers. Considering that our education system is still based largely on outdated policies and strategies designed well before the technology used today was even developed. With this in mind, we as educators will be forced to adapt and accept that technology will be part of the learning process and to avoid it will be impossible.

To provide the best possible platform for student success, teachers will need to be well versed in the digital tools their students' will have mastered by the time they reach the classroom. Prensky states that, "our Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language." Personally, I feel comfortable enough browsing the internet, writing and printing documents on today's computers. However, I still have trouble syncing my ipod with my macbook, I am not proficient with microsoft excel, and have yet to create a powerpoint presentation. In our MAT classes alone, I see peers using powerpoint efficiently in classroom presentations to enhance their content. I realized immediately that I will have to become familiar with every aspect of today's technology to even come close to relating with my students' and the current times. I believe this will be a struggle for many current and future educators.

Prensky adds, "So if Digital Immigrant educators really want to reach Digital Natives – i.e. all their students – they will have to change." To survive, teachers will have to put aside their fears, technological short comings and anxieties in order to provide their students with the tools they will need to achieve success in and out of the classroom. In the end, it would be beneficial for us digital immigrants to catch up with today's advances and use the resources at our fingertips to strengthen and enhance the learning process.