More about Digital Natives vs Digital Immigrants

Hi there! In my previous post I commented on Digital Natives and Digitals immigrants according to the distinction made by Marc Prensky. In this new post, taking into account that audiovisual materials are much more appealing for digital natives, I will post a video which summarizes and makes reference to what Prensky stated in his article “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.”

In this video you will find the definition of both concepts with their specific characteristics, and some quotations and questions that make us reflect upon the importance of technology for our digital native students. 

Digital Natives vs Digital Immigrants

In this post I´ll share with you some comments on the article “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” by Marc Prensky.

First of all, I would like to make a distinction between these two concepts provided by the author. Digital Natives are the children who were born during the technological era whereas Digital Immigrants are “those of us who were not born into the digital world but have, at some point in our lives, become fascinated by and adopted many or most aspects of the new technology.”

We, as teachers, musn´t ignore that our students have changed radically due to the fact that they have been surrounded by technology since they were born. Therefore, their way of processing information differs greatly from the one we are used to. They prefer multi-task activities, graphics, hypertexts, videos, games and it´s something that sometimes digital immigrants find difficult to understand, feeling overwhelmed when it comes to designing new activities.

I would like to highlight the quote I agree with the most: “(…) we had better confront this issue (educating Digital Natives). And in doing so, we need to reconsider both our methodology and our content. First, our methodology. Today´s teachers have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students. (…) Second, our content. It seems to me that after the digital “singularity” there are two kinds of contents: “Legacy” contents (the ones that are still important, but from a different era) and “Future” contents (not only does it include software, robotics, hardware, but also the ethics, politics, sociology, languages, and others things that go with them).” I consider that this quote summarizes our aim as future teachers of 21st century students. Methodology and contents are the keys for engaging learners and, consequently, enhancing their learning process. In varying the way and the contents we teach, keeping in mind our sts´ interests, needs, contexts, we could bring about a beneficial change in their attitude as regards learning.

On the other hand, the quote that I disagree with is “Digital Immigrants think learning can´t (or shouldn´t) be fun.” Personally, I don´t consider that all Digital Immigrants go along with this assertion. The fact that we are not digital natives doesn’t necessarily mean that we are against having fun while learning. Students can thourougly enjoy a lesson without the use of technology as well. I mean, technologies are helpful and engaging tools, but learners can also have a good time by just playing a game with some flashcards or role-playing, for example.

As a final comment I would like to add that not all children born in the digital era have access to these new technologies. In this case, there seems to be no clear-cut distinction between digital natives and digital immigrants. Many children don’t have any idea of what these new technologies are, how they work, and which benefit they can obtain from them. That´s why, it is important to bear this in mind when planning our lessons.

Do you consider yourself a Digital Native or a Digital Immigrant?