Today begins my professional blog. Here I will muse about computers, middle schoolers and tech education.
I have been taking a Graduate Course about Weblogs, Wikis and Podcasting. I have come to realize that my 'students' will become the Superintendent, School Board, Administration, and fellow colleagues, as well as myself. So begins this journey of learning together.
In my text, the author describes Mark Prensky's two approaches to the computer. One is being a Digital Native. A Digital Native is someone who has ...'grown up immersed in technology'. Since both of my children have been schooled since 1989, they are termed Natives. They are well versed in '....using the computer, digital cameras, cell phones, text messaging, Internet, Weblogs, and Podcasting...'. Computers have '....become the strategy for how to live, survive and thrive in the 21st century....'.
Digital Immigrants have NOT been surround by technology. They carry '.... accents: they [still] print out their e-mails, write checks to pay their bills, and use phone books to look up phone numbers....'. If you were in college before 1993 you can remember type writers, home phone land-lines, and car mechanics 'tinkering' under the hood. Who do you call when you can't figure something out on your computer or cell phone????? YOUR CHILDREN......the Natives.
My allergist just added another category: the Digital Illegal Alien. This person tries and miserably fails in all they attempt. Some, as my parents age 87 and 92, won't even attempt and are fascinated to 'watch' on the side lines.
So, please comment: What category are you in? How do you think you can move to the Digital Native or at least a Semi-Native category?
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3 comments:
I am definitely an immigrant! I am working toward "semi-immigrant", but doubt I'll get to the point where I feel integrated into the culture. Too many things are confusing to me. I just want to be able to search, type, find, buy.
I am considered a digital native, and I did not only grow up with these expanding technologies, but I am still growing with them. My generation did not build the crude versions of the “Oregon Trail” computers or the brick beginnings of cell phones, but we are on the frontlines of the quest to continually expand these technologies. I consider myself lucky to be a part of the generation that can easily pick up the advances in phones, computers and the internet, even though it would be easy to fall behind. Digital immigrants need only ask for assistance and we will do the best we can to explain all we know.
According to the author, I’m labeled as a digital native. I know how to use technology; I can type correctly with my fingers on “home row”, and use the Internet to keep up with my family and friends. The old version of the Oregon Trail game that came on the 3 1/2” floppy disk was the best! However, parts of me fall into the digital immigrant category as well. I still write checks to pay my bills and I still use phone books. (Sometimes it’s just easier to grab the phone book than to start up the computer.) I still remember our home land line and racing to see if we had any messages on our tape recorded answering machine. I’m perfectly happy to ride the fence between native and semi-native for the rest of my life. Sometimes the old way is still the most convenient!
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