The Past vs. The Future "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" by Marc Prensky

Just reading the title of the article, I thought it was about something completely different. Needless to say, I was way off!

In Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Marc Prensky argues that there is a fundamental disconnect between teachers and students in contemporary society. He maintains that teachers from previous generations think and learn differently than people born in this generation because of the abundance and accessibility of technology. Prensky hypothesizes that the prominence of digital devices, computers, and the internet has physiologically changed how young people learn. Such an interesting theory! He categorizes young people as “Digital Natives” because they were born in this fast paced world of technology, while older generations are “Digital Immigrants” because they retain “accents” or characteristics of a world with less technological advancement.

I feel that his argument is quite sound for several reasons. In my experiences, professors fear technology and avoid it whenever they can. While I can also say that Rhode Island College, as an institution, fails to promote the widespread use of technology in the classroom (or anywhere on campus for that matter), there are few instructors that use more than the overhead projector. Even that is a stretch sometimes! I think students are really bored with the way information is taught. In a world where everything is literally at your fingertips in the internet, students don’t want to go to a library and trudge through microfilm for some tidbit of information! I’m sorry, but it’s true. I personally don’t feel that way (for reasons I will discuss later), but I can certainly sympathize with those who do!

Well, sounds easy to fix right? Just put together some workshops and everything will be all set! Teachers will manipulate information into games so that students of future will be able to learn old information in more appealing ways! Right? No, not that simple. Prensky does not pretend that it will be an easy transition from the old methods of pedagogy to the new exciting ways he proposes.

But, in my opinion, his prescriptions are not at all viable. He thinks that everything can be turned into a game. I consider myself between his “Digital Natives” and “Digital Immigrants,” so I can appreciate both – which puts me in a good position to judge. While I feel that technology isn’t being used enough and students are indeed learning differently, to say that we can transform all disciplines and topics into some sort of first person shooter game is pretty ridiculous. I mean, what’s next? Are we going to make traditional research more like a game of Halo?

I think that making use of technology in more liberal and exciting ways is an important first step. Lets not get all crazy here…. Doom anyone? And for God’s sake, embrace teh internets!