Week 4 Discussion: 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, Modern-day students navigate educational life and, in general, think a lot differently than previous generations due to the easy accessibility of technology. Nowadays, technology is more accessible than ever, and we have constantly been around it. I have always been surrounded by technology throughout my life, so it is easy to forget just how crazy and impressive it is that the world changed so rapidly in just a few years, a fact that I am reminded of whenever my mom talks about her college experience. Preskey calls this new generation of students "digital natives." Meanwhile, people who grew up in an era without easy access to technology fall under the umbrella of "digital immigrants." This divide has caused specific issues within the classroom. For example, according to Prensky, digital natives are more used to a fast-paced life and will either be unable to pay attention during a lecture or choose not to. 


Meanwhile, for a digital native, the idea that textbooks and lectures are the only way to learn is outdated. If you do not understand a subject, you can quickly look online and find hundreds of video tutorials and websites explaining the concept. Sometimes, even these sources might be easier to understand than in a classroom setting if the student's learning style clashes with how the teacher is teaching their material.



What are some other myths Kirschner associated with Prensky's findings from 2001?


Kirschner deconstructs Prensky's writings and finds many flaws in them. Kirschner's first finding is that the knowledge of technology between the so-called digital natives and immigrants is not as significant as Prensky had previously believed. He states that this belief will leave students behind if they do not already have the skills that the teacher would assume that the students already have. Another disagreement Kirschner has is that "digital natives" are naturally better at multitasking. Studies have shown that his statement is not true. According to the 2010 Kirschner and Karpinski study, high-intensity social media users who study just as much as people who do not use social media have significantly worse GPAs. Because of this, Kirschner concludes that humans are naturally bad at multitasking, and doing so will cause more harm than good. 

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