Immigrating to a Society of Digital Learners

1
Immigrating to a Society of Digital Learners

• By Melissa Herring
• Aisha Shepard
• Christina Flores
• Katie Alaniz

2
Prenskys Notions

• Natives

• Immigrants

• Natives are fast paced, and have the ability to
  multi-task with ease.
• Natives thrive on instant gratification and
  frequent rewards.

• Immigrants rely on step-by-step, simple
  information retrieval and presentations.
• Today, teachers are the immigrants. Students are
  the natives.

3
Prenskys Notions

• Students are inundated with information being
  presented through technology. Rarely do they have
  to rely on old-fashioned reading.
• The brain is constantly being reorganized and
  craves interactivity which is an immediate
  response to their each and every action.
• Digital Natives choose not to pay attention
  because information is being presented to them in
  traditional ways.

4
Prenskys Notions

• Traditional Views

• New

• Brain is static and unable to change.
• The same basic processes underlie all human
  thought.

• Neuroplasticity the brain is constantly being
  reorganized.
• Malleability the brain has the ability to
  change.

5
Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Some
Thoughts from the Generation Gap

• Timothy VanSlyke disagrees with Prenskys belief
  that different kinds of experiences lead to
  different brain structures, but that these
  experiences may lead to different thinking
  patterns amongst immigrants and natives.
• He believes that we may be doing natives a
  disservice by de-emphasizing legacy content
  which still contains vital educational skills.

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Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Some
Thoughts from the Generation Gap

• VanSlyke questions concepts of all students
  fitting into the Digital Natives definition and
  compares research that disputes Prenskys theory.
• He believes the computer is a medium, the
  learner, and teacher are the mediators.

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Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Some
Thoughts from the Generation Gap

• VanSlyke agrees that students are changing, and
  that computers play a great role in education
  however, he disagrees with Prenskys idea that
  Digital Immigrants must learn to speak the native
  language in order to be effective teachers.
• Immigrants should learn about Digital Native
  culture as well as aim to improve students
  ability to engage in higher-order thinking.
• He is in favor of creating better tools for
  teachers, then helping teachers to become better
  users of the tools.

8
No More Tech for Techs Sake

• Rick Caves article contains many points
• of agreement, along with several caveats,
  regarding Marc Prenskys Digital Native
  philosophies.
• To support his points, Cave uses evidence he has
  gathered from various schools, as well as
  citations from other researchers.

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No More Tech for Techs Sake

• The Advantages of Technology-Rich Classrooms
• Cave argues that if used effectively, technology
  can make a more significant impact upon todays
  tech savvy learners than traditional ways of
  teaching.
• To succeed in todays connected world, we all
  need to understand technology, and develop habits
  and methodologies that that utilize its
  strengths.
• If school leaders choose information
  consumption as a learning
  focus, as opposed to retention,
  technology will be an important tool in their
  teachers bag of tricks.

10
No More Tech for Techs Sake

• The Disadvantages of Technology-Rich Classrooms
• Because many initiatives are specifically
  designed to heighten students access to
  technology, a district can achieve its goal
  without actually improving student learning.
• Traditional assessments have not established a
  link between technology implementation and
  student achievement.
• Access to technology should not be the
• goal improving teaching and learning
• should be.

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Connecting Informal and Formal Learning
Experience in the Age of Participatory Media

• Classrooms today are struggling with relating
  students formal, in-school learning with their
  experiential learning.
• The authors suggest that we use participatory
  media to connect these experiences which foster
  learning.
• They agree that Prenskys definitions of todays
  learner need to be addressed and that teaching
  methods must be modified.
• The use of this media is a springboard for social
  interactions both in and out of the classroom.
• They promote digital video as a starting point to
  get Gen-Y teacher education students to use this
  medium in their classrooms.

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Laptops for a Digital Lifestyle Millennial
Students and Wireless Mobile Technologies

• The millennial generation (students born in or
  after 1982) has been exposed to technology the
  majority of their life.
• They stay connected using SMS, cell phones,
  email, and chat rooms while playing online games,
  listening to music and watching television.
• Students have ZERO tolerance for delays and adapt
  to a new activity quickly with little to no
  delay.
• Universities are predicted to
• support wireless devices
• provide wireless internet on campus
• have multipurpose learning spaces (instead of
  computer labs), and
• develop immersive virtual learning environments
  and communities.

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Laptops for a Digital Lifestyle Millennial
Students and Wireless Mobile Technologies

• Laptop Pilot Project
• Performed at Edith Cowan University over 2
  semesters
• 100 laptops given to undergraduate Digital Media
  students for use in and out of class
• Used to see how the millennial generation used
  laptops at work, for studying, and in their
  social lives
• Data collected
• Through surveys
• Student descriptions of use through a weblog
• Students commented on changes to their lives due
  to study

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Laptops for a Digital Lifestyle Millennial
Students and Wireless Mobile Technologies

• Positives

• Negatives

• Laptops fulfilled their need for immediacy.
• They could use them for everything.
• I have noticed I am a lot less stressed with
  more free time on my hands. I also produce
  material of higher quality as I can make changes
  to stuff when I see fit (McMahon, Pospisil 429).

• My sister thinks Im a snob when I bring it to
  places to do work (McMahon, Pospisil, 426).
• They made students lazy.
• When computer would fail, students would complain
  strongly emphasizing their need for immediacy.
• Teachers had difficulty integrating the laptops
  into the teaching and learning programs.

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Are we reaching todays students appropriately?

• A Vision of Students Today

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Reference Page

• Bull, G., Thompson, A., Searson, M., Garofalo,
  J., Park, J., Young, C., Lee, J (2008).
  Connecting Informal and Formal Learning
  Experiences in the Age of Participatory Media.
  Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher
  Education, 8(2).
• Timothy VanSlyke (2003, May/June). Digital
  Natives, Digital Immigrants Some Thoughts from
  the Generation Gap. The Technology Source
  (http//ts.mivu.org/).
• Rick Cave.  (2009, February). No More Tech for
  Tech's Sake. Scholastic Administr_at_tor, 8(5), 24,2
  6.  Retrieved June 15, 2009, from ProQuest
  Central database. (Document ID 1648457731).
• McMahon, M., Pospisil, R. (2005). Laptops for a
  Digital Lifestyle Millennial Students and
  Wireless Mobile Technologies. Retrieved from
  http//www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/brisbane05
  /blogs/ proceedings/49_McMahon2020Pospisil.pdf
  .