Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants

 

• According to Prensky, what is the immigrant/native divide, and how has it affected how students learn?

According to Prensky a digital native is an individual who grew up with the language of computers, video games, and the internet. Conversely, digital immigrants are individuals who did not grow up with this language. Digital natives had/have all the information that they want at their hands whereas immigrants had to learn the hard way. Learning was rigid and not made to be fun, unlike natives that had different learning materials online, like Kahoot or typing games. The differences in upbringings has also made a difference in how students learn. As Prensky emphasized, digital natives grew up with everything fast, "

They are used to the instantaneity of hypertext, downloaded music, phones in their pockets, a library on their laptops, beamed messages and instant messaging. They‟ve been networked most or all of their lives. They have little patience for lectures, step-by-step logic, and “tell-test” instruction." The fastness of the internet and having everything being at your finger tips shows the impatience that students now carry. This means that we now have to find different ways to help students learn, taking into account the differences between generations. One great tool that even I use all the time is Kahoot, as mentioned earlier. It is a great study tool but it is online!

• According to Prensky, what category do you fall into, and how has this affected your learning?

I believe that I fall into the digital native category. Ever since I could remember I had some sort of online, digital or internet experience. I watched 'educational' TV when I was younger, use Kahoot in my teenage years (and even now), and all of my work and some classes are all online and digitalized. I think this had greatly affected my learning but there is a sense of urgency. If I am struggling with a class or topic, it is challenging to slow down, stay present, and take the time to figure it out due to the fastness of the internet. Most of my study tools are online as well, Kahoot and Quizlet are the ones I use most often and I do find them extremely helpful. The biggest affect of the internet on my learning is that I do feel there is a lack of depth on understanding concepts. I am a Kinesiology major and I am currently in an anatomy course where I can spend hours in a lab, hands on and learning deeply about certain topics. For online classes and such, it is easier to learn just the bare minimum,  because it's all at your finger tips. 

Here is a interesting article I found about the presence of classes online: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/education/online-colleges/online-learning-stats/#:~:text=Online%20colleges%20and%20universities%20enroll,Around%2026%25%20studied%20exclusively%20online