Una’s Blog

I have just read Prensky’s Listen to the Natives (2005).

The underlying theme that seems to be present in this article is that teachers need to learn from their students in the digital areas where they feel less at home, and need to include the students in decsions about their own learning. However, to me, this valid message gets lost in the other claims Prensky makes. To me, this article seems to be about a very narrow group of students on the whole. It is about the kids that can afford the money and the time spent gaming and using the internet excessively. What about those students who do not have a computer at home, or have internet access, or own a Wii? The inequality of access does not seem to be taken into account. To label a whole generation ‘digital natives’ and another ‘digital immigrants’ seems like an oversimplification.

I have one overriding question, am I a digital immigrant or native? What about the generation of teachers at I am a part of? Where do we stand in Prensky’s distinct, somewhat polarising division between the teacher-immigrant and student-native? I have grown up with the internet, with gaming, with computers and mobile phones, and yet I am also a teacher, am I therefore technologically disadvantaged?

Image From: http://www.clipartof.com/images/clipart/thumbnail2/5720_computer_illiterate_ woman_sitting_in_front_of_a_desktop_pc.jpg