Digital+Natives

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** It’s a Digital Line between Love and Hate ** ** Natives need to learn more and more ** ** But Immigrants don’t want to participate ** ** A Digital Native can explain the purpose of a mainframe ** ** And a Digital Immigrant likes things to remain the same ** ** “Technology is moving way too fast for me, so I’ll just take it slow” ** ** “Sorry to hear that, but I just learned how to convert avi files into mp4” ** ** “By the way… Is that a Polaroid Camera with the Flash on top?” ** ** “It’s better than your All-N-One phone that you can’t afford to drop!!” ** ** “You’re going to go blind one day looking at that computer screen, that’s why I choose to use a **** TYPEWRITER  **** for everything” ** ** “Actually, you’ll be the one so far behind, that with both of your eyes opened wide ... You’ll still be blind!!!!” **

[|Marc Prensky], is an international author, speaker, consultant, and game designer in the critical areas of education and learning, he created and defined the terms used to describe individuals when being compared to technology as either “**digital natives**” or **digital immigrants**”. These two terms help one to understand why others grasp technology faster than others and explain why our educational system is not as successful as it should be.
 * Digital natives- ** have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. People who fall into this category speak the language of technology fluently and frequently. Digital natives are our students… our future.
 * Digital Immigrants- ****are those individuals who must adapt to the new world of technology. Some individuals adapt faster than others, because they have accepted and noticed a change is taken place. Digital immigrants are teachers in the educational system. **

Technology is constantly advancing and what was new three months ago is now old and outdated. Computer programs, games, and digital gadgets are constantly being upgraded; to operate faster, provide and send information faster, and of course save space. Digital immigrants are not able to entertain or maintain their relationship with digital natives. Today, every job requires a person to have basic computer skills, basic means… computer literate in all major programs such as Microsoft programs and programs in one’s field of study. We as educators are responsible for preparing our students to succeed in society and become good citizens. Therefore, our students must be able to communicate effectively using technology and comprehend the new programs created. Digital immigrants must strive to learn how to use the latest technology or be left behind. Educators should try to have an open-mind about different technological tools used to educate our youth… our future. One must understand the difference between digital native and digital immigrant, in order for our education system to be successful. Educators today constantly tell students, “Please put your phone away…” and “Could you please put away your MP3 player…” Students today are on the go! “Generation X”, is what older adults refer to students today as. Generation X, which could possible mean clueless about the real world. However, it is the adults who are clueless about their world. Students like to have, receive, and find information as fast as possible. Reading a text message on phone is foreign language to some people. Teachers have to learn how to grasp their students’ attention and keep it. Many students complain about school being boring and teachers on the hand complain about students not listening. Teachers should welcome the world of instructional technology and use it. In conclusion, teachers should begin to incorporate technology in their classroom. This will help grasp and keep the students attention. Many students who take the FCAT complain about the boring black and white stories printed, and enjoy reading the stories in the NRT, because the stories are filled with colors. That says a lot! Teachers should be provided with work shops and training, on ways to implement technology in the classroom. Our educational system can not be jeopardized due to the digital gab between digital natives and digital immigrants. All educators need to work together, in doing so; teachers and students will both converse using the same technological language.