Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

 

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

This newer generation is the first to grew up in a time with new technology that has transformed the way the world lives. When Prensky alludes to the term "digital native" he is referring to today's students-the ones who have been exposed to newer technology their whole life. Digital immigrants are those who have not had this type of advance technology their whole lives and have operated a very different way before. Of course this has cause differences in the way each of us learned because we have been socialized in different environments. Digital immigrants can only teach the ways of knowing that they know. This new world they are still learning and beginning to understand how it works vs those of us who have only been born to this world only have this way of knowing. The difference is just knowledge and how we operate with it. I think that there are great knowledge from both sides but its essential to understand that we may understand differently and fill the gap in that divide. 

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

I fall into the digital native category! I have grown up with technology around me my whole life with access to information 24/7. I feel like this definitely has affected my learning. I think that because everything is so fast, clickable, and in short parameters my attention span has been affect. An example Id like to bring up is tik-tok, I feel I watch these 7 second videos and move to the next. Or for other social media the gratification on a like and then move to the next post. My attention span has been shortened as its been conditioned through the various site available to me. This makes it difficult in classrooms because I find my attention drifting off. My learning patterns have certainly change and its important that we update curriculums to be engaging to acquire student success!