"Ultimately, the digital natives argument tends to essentialize generations - and in the process to 'exoticize' young people, to make them seem inherently strange and different."
As a 24-year-old who is amongst the youngest in my profession, I often observe the split between my elder colleagues' and my students' usage of technology, specifically cell phones. I am most usually right in the middle of that split. I had a cell phone throughout high school and would consider my cell phone usage today to be very high. With that being said, I don't feel the need to be on it incessantly, like some of my students. I identify with this quote because I often see and hear the negative comments about young people being stuck in their phones, and the negative connotations that come along with that habit. I use Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and more, and although these outlets can be strictly entertainment at times, they are very large sources of information and learning. This quote sheds light on what people perceive that cell phones are used for: social media and gaming. Hence, they label these habits as weird or different, but social media outlets contain International News platforms, factual information, and endless resources to today's young people. Many times our young people use these platforms for learning purposes, which is not recognized enough. If a student had their nose stuck in a newspaper every day, would bad light be shed on them? Probably not, even though they are getting some of the same information from the newspaper that they could from a Twitter page, not to mention that they could have read about the same topic on Twitter hours before they can get it from a newspaper.
In Chapter 1, Michael Thomas wrote about some of the positives of young people's technology use and how it is transforming them in the workplace:
"...digital natives are problem-solvers; they have new expectations; they invent new processes; they don't only work for an organization, they think of work as play; they are enthusiastic and skillful."
I completely agree with this quote on page 4 of our text. Growing up with digital resources at my fingertips, I have fun while simply scouring the internet for new resources for my students. I feel that although I do not know nearly enough about technology, I am proficient in many skills that allow me to do this and I am thankful for that. I think many digital natives have the ability to see through the internet what is possible in their respective professions, therefore push themselves each day to be better than they were the day before.
A short and sweet definition of what it means to be a digital native is included in Chapter 2:
"So to me, being a digital native is about growing up in a digital country or culture, as opposed to coming to it as an adult."
Change is hard, in any aspect. I think this is one of the main reasons why there are people that deem Digital Natives as weird or different. Many, but not all, people who did not grow up with the opportunity to learn through new technologies as young children have a hard time adapting to the new resources and a hard time understanding why students now do not want to use a book to reference, but would rather simply Google or YouTube something. It is right at our fingertips in a matter of seconds using the internet and although books can get us to arrive at the same conclusions, in today's world efficiency is key.
Drawing again on the advantages of social media outlets, I have picked the following message from Chapter 3:
"A related move in education is away from the institutional provision of learning systems, variously called learning management systems (LMSs), course management systems (CMSs), and virtual learning environments (VLEs) - such as Blackboard, WebCT, and their open source competitors Moodle and Sakai - and towards personal learning environments (PLEs) (Weller, 2007)."
I like this quote because it emphasizes the change in the student's role. In a PLE, the student has more responsibility to communicate and understand ideas by navigating through information. PLEs can include social networking, which also allow for a student to be in an environment where they feel comfortable and proficient in using the tool at hand.
My thinking towards digital natives has changed somewhat after reading these chapters in the fact that there are even more positives than I thought to be talked about and discussed towards the younger generation's technological abilities. It has opened my eyes to a lot of different perspectives towards this group of learners and different ways to facilitate their learning, by ways such as using a PLE.
Growing with Technology
I chose the picture above because I think it depicts what it means to be a Digital Native: to grow as a person while learning via technology.
I really liked the first quote from the forward and the usage of cell phones. Like you I am in between the gap of the older generations and the young generations. I also see how cell phone usage is such a big deal with them that its almost like they can not function without it. With the usage of cell phones there is the good and the bad. The good, I do see how it can be used for learning. I am always reading articles that pop up on my Facebook that seem interesting to read. I probably only do this because they pop up. The bad I guess is that I feel that its almost like they are out of touch with the outside world. I do find it annoying when your trying to visit with someone or talk to someone and they are checking their phone every five minutes or just continually on it. I feel that this bugs older generations and their friends just see it as a normal behavior.
ReplyDeleteAwesome quotes! The quote from chapter 2 was especially interesting. It was a great new perspective on what a digital native is that makes it into something where they do not have some sort of inherent advantage over the digital immigrant. Your metaphor captures the youth with technology almost perfectly. The only thing that could make it better is if she was using snapchat or instagram.
ReplyDeleteNatalie,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with and understand why you chose those three quotes. I am right there with you with being in between your students and your older colleagues. I feel the same way when I look at my students and the older teachers in my building as well because I do use my phone but not as much as my students but more than other teachers. I feel that since we grew up with these resources at our fingertips that we want to take full advantage of what they have to offer compared to people that have to learn about them as an adult. I love trying to find more ways to implement technology into my class and using online resources for my students to benefit from.
Natalie, I loved your segment about how social media can be a legitimate source of learning-particularly news sources.
ReplyDeleteI, too, use twitter in place of visiting a news web site. What I find particularly interesting is that the "digital" generation demands that our news be delivered to us, whereas previous generations had to seek out their news sources. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Perhaps both? We may risk losing valuable news sources because we have created a middle man that filters what we see. But, then again maybe they are more qualified than we are?
On the other hand, your visual metaphor truly resonated with me. Your image accurately depicts what it is like to see the world through the eyes of a digital native.