Digital Immigration is a term that was defined by Marc Prensky. Marc Prensky defined two terms, Digital Immigration and Digital Natives. These terms oppose each other.
To be a Digital Native, Marc Prensky would define you as a student whom has been “surrounded by digital media to such an extent that their very brain structures may be different from those of previous generations” (http://www.wisc.edu/depd/html/TSarticles/Digital%20Natives.htm.)
When he says “those of previous generations”, he is referring to digital immigrants.
Digital Natives are used to receiving information really fast, when they need to know something, the first place they look is on the internet. However, Digital Immigrants are different from Digital Natives as the last place they would look to find out information is online.
The two terms basically is explaining the difference between two types of generations, one of which whereby people have been born into a technology mad world and have been bought up with technology at their fingertips, to those of the digital immigrants who still use the older methods.
Prensky’s main argument with the whole digital native/digital immigration is that teachers can no longer educate their students to their best ability as the students do not learn in the way that the teachers are teaching them, i.e. older methods rather than computer games! “According to Prensky, Digital Immigrants are attempting to teach the Digital Natives with methods that are no longer valid”. (http://www.wisc.edu/depd/html/TSarticles/Digital%20Natives.htm.)
Prensky believed that students should be taught through computer games, even for serious topics that they where being taught. He had strong opinions to the fact that teachers where not using these new methods to teach their students, “just dumb (and lazy) of educators—not to mention ineffective—to presume that (despite their traditions) the Digital Immigrant way is the only way to teach, and that the Digital Natives' "language" is not as capable as their own of encompassing any and every idea”. (http://www.wisc.edu/depd/html/TSarticles/Digital%20Natives.htm)
2 comments:
Hey Megan!In mine i have talked about the digital divide that maybe apparent in university life for example between us students and the lectures and how we maybe affected . I was wondering what your thoughts were on it do you think we speak a different 'language' in terms of the digital divide.
I think that it would be unfair to make teachers teach us through computers like Prensky suggests just because he thinks that is how we would leanr better, specially considering the fact that he thinks digital immigrants dont know much about computers - Why would digital natives benefit from learning from people in a way that they dont even understand themselves? Bit silly really I think.
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