Digital Natives: for or against them?

Many things have been said about Digital Natives (DN) and the way in which they use technology nowadays. It is not a secret that they process information in a different way, a way that Digital Immigrants (DI), are not used to. Digital Natives are the first generation to grow up in a world in which technology is the center of their lives.They do everything on the computer and do not understand their parents’ way of doing things. On the other side, Digital Immigrants are those who were not born with technology,or at least it was not so important.

In 2001 Prensky wrote an article called  “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”, there he shared  some ideas about DN and DI that we would like to comment on. One of the things he said is that instructors nowadays are not use to the way in which people communicate. Digital Natives process information in a different way, they can do many things at the same time and are updated with the new technologies. We agree when he says that these differences make it difficult for instructors to teach DN, as they do it in the way they have learned.

Second, DI educators need to think how to teach DN “traditional” content and digital/technological content in the language of the Digital Natives. As they are used to manipulating these new techcnologies it would be easier for them to get involved in the lessons and find them interesting. At this point, we cannot completely agree with him. The fact that DN were born together with technology doesn’t mean that educators have to adapt all content to get them engaged with the lesson. It may help them in certain cases, but we don’t think that the value of the content would change according to the way we present it.

So if Digital Immigrant teachers really want to reach Digital Natives students, there are certain things that they will have to change. Although this means that teachers will have to prepare themselves and change some methods when working, it also brings a new interesting tool to the classroom and a good way to engage students in the process of learning. Of course it does not mean that we will have to forget our own way of teaching, our own essence because it is that what makes us be who we are. Last but not least, it is time to take digital instruments and technology as friends and not as enemy and start to think that “it is better to join them than to beat them”.

References 

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the horizon, vol. 9 No 5. 1-6

Picture taken from:https://www.pinterest.com/pin/515451119831021087/