Learning Theory

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

“Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.”  (Prensky, 2001)

Comic strip credit: Fitz & Pirillo Blaugh.com

Definition 

Digital Natives refers to people who have grown up in the digital world using technology as a way to communicate, record, educate, and understand society. 

Digital Immigrant refers to those who were not born into the digital world but have embraced the use of new technologies.

The term “digital natives” was introduced by Marc Prensky (2001), who suggests “the arrival and rapid dissemination of digital technology in the last decades of the 20th century has lead to a discontinuity among todays learners. Although, the first mention of this theory is attributed to Don Tapscott who describes the future learners as the “Net Generation” (Helena Bukvova, 2009).

Characteristics of ‘digital natives’

• a distinct new generation with characteristics that separate it from the past generations.
• have had extensive contact to technology, particularly the Internet, throughout their upbringing. They are used to employing ICT under all circumstances.
• posses a high level of media literacy.
• certain characteristics are common to the whole generation of digital natives, characteristics directly influence the way they learn e.g. quick absorption of information, networking, work in teams, attention disorders
• the digital natives feel uncomfortable in the existing educational system. 

Applying the ‘digital native’ theory to today’s learners

Pluses 

Students are confident and familiar with using technology.

Learning activities can be presented in engaging and stimulating ways.

Minuses

All students have varying degrees of access to digital technologies, literacy skills, and participation within their peer culture.

Adapting teaching methods and incorporating new technologies requires professional development for learning managers not familiar with technology.

Availability of resources eg. hardware, software, internet connection and availability within the learning environment.

Interesting

As the same way migrants embrace and adapt to life in a new country, digital immigrants can change to include new methodologies.

“Today’s teachers have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students. This doesn’t    mean changing the meaning of what is important, or of good thinking skills. But it does mean going faster, less step-by step, more in parallel, with more random access, among other things.”

(Prensky, 2001)

“We may never become true digital natives, but we can and must begin to assimilate to their culture and way of thinking.” 

(Rupert Murdoch, April 2005)

References

Prensky, M (2001) On the Horizon: Digital Natives Digital Immigrants Vol. 9 No. 5, MCB University Press. Retrieved 7 November from http://www.marcprensky.com/default.asp