Digital Natives, as defined by Marc Prensky would be someone raised in the “native language” of computers, video games, and Internet. If we talk about digital natives that can be a large category of people included in the term. I have an issue that I am compared to a child born in 2000 and both of us would be digital natives. My level of experience and understanding is different than their level of understanding and experience would be. Are we all in the same cluster just because we had digital technology available to us during our childhood?
Sure, I will be the first one to admit having technology available to me made me more comfortable with the concept of new technologies while growing up. I also feel like part of my comfort and confidence in technology is a personality trait. I often feel like I am capable of figuring new things out, technology related or not. I like to get input and advice, but in the end I like to figure things out on my own.
In my educational career, I did not come from a school district that put their money into classroom technology. My mom went to school early to prepare her classroom and I would sit outside her classroom on the computer playing all of the games like Gizmos and Gadgets, Math Blaster, Oregon Trail, Super Science Show and more. I knew the technology was available, but it wasn’t used in my classrooms for educational purposes. I also can’t entirely blame my teachers for not using technology as most of my class couldn’t follow directions or obey rules.
I can’t remember most of my teachers even having a projector in the classroom, but I knew they existed. In my K-8 career I only had one teacher use a laptop or PowerPoint to present information. He used his laptop hooked up to a TV and we wrote down the slides instead of him putting it on the overhead.
Then in high school I had my two teachers that changed how I saw math and science. My math teacher, thank goodness I had the same one from 9-11th grade, was a mover and a shaker. She was a younger teacher, about 27 when I was a freshman. She wasn’t constantly using things like computers or projectors but She she let us use graphing calculators. I have to say; this was really exciting and not just because I’m a math nerd. This was the first time someone looked at our “high track” class and thought about giving us a shot at technology. Sadly, this was the first time in my educational career someone let me use a piece of educational technology in the classroom. My goodness, why on earth did I have to wait until I was in high school for someone to realize we could use technology in the classroom?
Up to this point, any technology I had used was strictly for a science fair project, something my mom let me play with in her classroom, or something my teachers let me use when I was done with my work for reward time. I see this discrepancy in many small town school districts, without enough technology for everyone technology becomes more of a “reward” instead of a teaching tool.
Note: To be clear, I understand (from a teaching perspective) the lack of technology with my particular class, we were the ones teachers had nightmares about…there were just too many naughty ones who didn’t care and would break something just to break it. However, there were about 6 of us that could have handled it out of 60. Even so, these teachers didn’t have access to it with the classes before or after mine.
The second teacher that made an impact was my high school chemistry teacher. He had taught both my parents, all my aunts and uncles, and cousins high school chemistry. He had retired 5 years earlier but they couldn’t find a replacement chemistry teacher so he continued to teach high school chemistry. He was 67 my sophomore year of high school and finally was able to retire in 2009. This man was clearly not someone who grew up with the same technology I did, but he was willing to learn and try something new for the sake of chemistry. His passion for chemistry was stronger than his lack of technology experience. He was able to buy some of the microscope cameras, temperature probes that attach to graphing calculators, and pressure sensors with his extra budget for labs. This class was had 18 students, only high track science and math students, and only if we had decided to take advanced chemistry. He didn’t have to worry about us stealing, breaking, or misusing technology. We were all so thrilled to be in a class that didn’t have discipline issues; we would have done anything he asked us to! He allowed us to use the tools in any way we thought would be helpful. If we were doing a lab and could find a way to use it the cabinet was open to us. The freedom to be creative and have an opportunity to use technology gave me back a passion for science and math that was almost destroyed by uneducated teachers and troublesome peers.
Note 2: The funding was not equal for most teachers in the district. Elementary teachers had $50 including all supplies like pencils, pens, tape, construction paper, book replacements, etc. while the high school teachers had a $200 budget each year plus additional funds for a “lab” class up to $1000 more.
As a kid I felt odd knowing my teachers as the teachers during school and outside of school because my mom worked with them. I would watch teachers after school and see half my teachers couldn’t log into their computer or use it themselves, there is no way they were going to rely on a computer instead of an overhead. Needless to say, my technology experience or my understanding did not come from my experiences at school.
I can’t exactly say my technology awareness came from home either. Growing up I didn’t have all the new and fun technology toys; my mom was a single mother on a teacher’s salary. I can’t remember a time when we didn’t have a computer and Internet, but that was the big technology in our home. When my mom got married and had two household salaries, technology didn’t change much in our home.
I had a cell phone in junior high and texting was a pastime. I wasn’t a text abuser; I didn’t have thousands of messages, so my parents allowed me to text. The problem came that not all my friends were allowed to text due to the fact they couldn’t control the number of texts.
To my mom new technologies were a want and not a need in our household. I had to save money from doing odd jobs around the house, grading papers, mowing the lawn, save birthday money to buy the technology I wanted. My mom was more than willing to let me spend my money how I wanted and she was encouraging and open to technology. I watched her openness to technology but also realized you can’t run out and buy all new things because they are fun. I had friends with parents that bought anything new and great, I had friends with parents who would buy the new toys and not be able to pay house payments, and I had friends who were told when they had the money they could get it. It really was a way of living and priorities where I grew up. Watching how my mom handled me wanting some new technology, taught me to consider how I spend my money. I can remember my mom being so excited when the first iPhone came out, she wanted to get it for me, she thought I would love it. I couldn’t get past the price and told her I wasn’t willing to have her buy it at that price. Here I have a parent willing to buy me something new and I can’t let her spend that much of her money on it!
All of that being said, I don’t feel like I wholly fit as a digital native but I am certainly not a digital immigrant either. I can identify at least 20 teachers (in my past 2 schools) that would not even qualify as digital immigrants. At this point they haven’t even acknowledged the boat exists, let alone get on the boat and travel across the ocean of technology to be an immigrant! This leaves me leaning more towards digital visitors and residents, but it really doesn’t hit the mark for me either. David White defines a resident as someone “who lives a percentage of their life online” and a resident as someone who “uses the web as a tool when the need arises.” Some people who are avid technology users choose not to live their life online, but instead utilize the applications they find necessary.
In my college education I have had some professors who utilize software at the age 60+ proficiently teaching college students how to use a piece of software to enhance their classroom lessons. The same professors also were the ones that couldn’t check their emails. Just because you can utilize and teach with one “piece” it doesn’t make you a resident. People find coping mechanisms that let them work through the issues they need to and the rest they won’t worry about. I find there to be just as many gaps or levels in residents and visitors as well. Someone might choose to be a visitor because they see the computer as a tool for an intended purpose, not to be their entire socialization. Just because a person is a resident there is no guarantee that the technology is being used effectively for yourself or learners.
I loved the video with Howard Rheingold. He had amazing and accurate things to say. While he isn’t a native, he does allow himself to use the tools at hand effectively. It is because of people like Howard and my personal experience that I am thinking we should reconsider the terms we are using to describe our technology levels. Brian Sullivan addressed the same leveling issue in Are You a Digital Native or a Digital Immigrant? deciding to include levels such as avoiders, reluctant and eager adopters. Dr. Zur suggested other levels such as avoiders, minimalists and enthusiastic participants. In the end I feel like we should be looking less at frequency with media and more to effectiveness and efficiency. Perhaps we should consider terms like effective users, social users, acceptors, and absolute refusers.
To me, a user would be someone who is on the technology bandwagon. I would consider two levels in the user category, the first being effective users, those people who are using technology effectively, efficiently, and proficiently. The second would be social users that accept technology, love technology, and don’t realize they could use it more effectively and efficiently. I believe many of my students are capable of using social media, their brains are wired for it, but they are not utilizing many of the technologies that would help them be better learners. While a powerful connection to social media could be an effective tool, I don't see a majority of teenagers viewing it as a tool to encourage or support their learning. These users are relying on being more social users than effective users of technology.
An acceptor would be someone who acknowledges some people learn better with technology and are willing to try. This doesn’t mean they have to run out for every new piece of technology with confidence. It does mean they are willing to try and accept guidance on how they might be able to use this new technology. I believe you will find most teachers are very willing to try new digital technologies with a little guidance.
An absolute refuser would be someone who wants nothing to do with the concept of technology. Sadly, there are many teachers who will not even consider using technology in their classroom. This teacher is not willing to listen or try anything new or innovative. These teachers tend to feel if it worked 30 years ago it can work today. I hear this type of teacher say kids don’t pay attention so why should I reward them with technology for not doing their work. I honestly feel that this type of teacher is no longer considering what is best for students. Both their passion for helping students learn and their passion for education need to have a “come to Jesus moment”.
I think teachers tend to be more open to technology and new ways to create an exciting learning environment, but our careers also leave us in a position that we cannot purchase many of the technologies available for our classrooms or even ourselves. I think if teachers were able to afford more personal technology there would be a burst in confidence and in classroom use. I understand no one wants to stand in front of a classroom of students, unsure if a lesson will be successful or bomb out. I see that fear increase when it comes to relying on new and possibly unfamiliar technology. It isn’t fair to say someone is in a using category or a not using category; there are some people who are willing to take the risk and jump out to new technology.
In education, sometimes we have to take the risk with new technologies regardless of training, and meet or students where they are in the best way we can. I think this video applies to taking a risk with classroom teachers and technology usage, we always have a chance to learn from our successes or our failures, but someone has to try.
JayMJ23 (poster). Michael Jordan “failure” nike commercial [video].(2006, August 25). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mMioJ5szc
Prensky, M. (2001, October) Digital natives, digital immigrants. NCB Univeristy Press (Vol 9 No 5).
Sullivan, B. (2011, August 12). Are you a digital native or a digital immigrant? Big Design Events. Retrieved on August 17, 11 from http://bigdesignevents.com/2011/08/are-you-a-digital-native-or-a-digital-immigrant/
Sullivan, B. (2011, August 12). Brain plugged into social media [photo]. Big Design Events. Retrieved on August 17, 11 from http://bigdesignevents.com/2011/08/are-you-a-digital-native-or-a-digital-immigrant/
White, D. (2008, July 23) Not “natives and immigrants” but visitors and residents. Retrieved from http://tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk/index.php/2008/07/23/not-natives-immigrants-but-visitors-residents/
Zur, O. & Zur, A. (2011): On Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives: How the Digital Divide Affects Families, Educational Institutions, and the Workplace. Zur Institute - Online Publication. Retrieved on August 17, 11 from http://www.zurinstitute.com/digital_divide.html.
