As Seen By A Digital Pioneer
By Prensky’s definition I can definitely relate to a Digital
Immigrant. I do feel that I do
keep a “foot in the past”. For example, I am fully capable of tying a paper in
a Word document. I see the convenience of editing it on a computer. I
understand that it is “saved” and “filed” where I choose. But I still like to print things out
and file it in “real time” as well.
I just don’t fully trust the system yet. To continue with Prensky’s
analogies, I would go so far as to say I am a Digital Pioneer.
I still remember how easy it was to
lose all your work with the trip of a breaker or an accidental unplugging of
the computer. As antiquated as
that may now sound, I still experience and hear of incidents where people lose
a body of work, or misplace a file, or all is lost with a crash. Albiet with
the creation of things like Carbonite or the Cloud we will hear of fewer and
fewer of this type of problem. And
to the end, that is the beauty of the accelerated advancements that technology
experiences. But still…I can’t help but continue to print out those retail
receipts just to be sure…and to remember I even received them. Oh what a confession!
I do agree that there is an every expanding gap between the
Natives and the Immigrants that is no more noticeable than in the
classroom. Not so much for the new
“up and coming” teachers as they have the opportunity to learn to incorporate
the latest trends in technology into their initial teaching instruction (as
with this Masters degree).
However, I do feel for teachers who have been teaching for 15+
years. Their world is changing
around them dramatically and they are in a position to have to choose to go
back to school themselves to learn to keep up with their students, the Natives,
or be accused of antiquated teaching methods.
I wouldn’t totally agree with Prensky’s statement that
Digital Immigrants believe learning shouldn’t be fun. I believe that not matter
what method or generation a teacher derives from, if a teacher at heart, they
do all they can to make learning fun. The methods that teachers have used to
achieve this goal have simply looked different over history. But I absolutely
agree that we need to “learn new ways to teach old stuff”, especially rather
than doing away with “old stuff” all together. Lord help us if we become a world that doesn’t know how to
reason or process how we arrived at an answer! I believe the idea he came up with to create a “game” to
teach a whole new system to engineers was brilliant!! And he is so right. This
methodology can be used for all subjects.
We just need to learn to adapt to this new format of instruction, as we
are doing in this class.
Just Stopping In For A Visit
I found that David White’s categories, while perhaps more
modern as it pertains to social media, still are too definitive. Once again, I lean more toward one side
than another but I do not, myself, fit fully in just one definition. I have to agree that
Residents want to be visible at all times, and in order to do that they must
post even the most mundane of information. I find this to be a complete waste of time, both to post and
to read. However I do appreciate the accessibility and “real time” information
that social media affords and I can appreciate that to be current one must be more of a
Resident.
I identify more with a Visitor especially for the fact that
I am concerned with privacy on all levels. I felt his explanation that the
Visitor is not technology inept but rather uses/learns it on an “as need to
know” bases, i.e. to achieve a goal was perfect.
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