Digital Native or Immigrant? Does it matter?

Having graduated high school in 2002, the year after Prensky’s introduction of the Digital Native/Digital Immigrant paradigm, his article was particularly interesting to read for me. According to Prensky I would fall into the category of digital native, which prior to reading his articles (and realizing when it was written) I would have placed myself in the digital immigrant. Not because I am not skilled with or shy away from technology, but because I view major shifts in technology and its use in education differently. I had access to computers as a kid, utilized them for general research in high school, and had video games. However, I see the major changes in the way that kids and teenagers learn or communicate to different technological benchmarks like the 2007 introduction of smart phones, and the proliferation of social media. While we did have Myspace, blogs, chat rooms etc., we didn’t have the ability to carry them with us in the same way prior to smart phones. 

My high school and college (1st time around) classes were pretty traditional as far as Prensky describes the word, but I feel like they attempted to incorporate technology here and there with more visual presentations, and interactive opportunities. I recall taking “keyboarding” class, ha! I would say as I entered the workforce that the gamification of learning became commonplace, especially over the last 10 years or so. For me a diverse combination of step-by-step learning and game style, of reading or lectures and of faster paced models work for me, it really just depends on the topic. 

Kirshner mentions what he believes to be the myth that digital natives have developed cognitive skills that allow them to multitask while learning. He suggests that this is not true, and that accepting and encourage multitasking is a detriment to students. This one is interesting to me as well, I personally like background noise while studying, or writing, but it honestly depends on the topic. If I am working on something more difficult, or complicated then I must give it my whole attention to be successful.  

I think it would be naïve to believe that there have been no impacts to the way that people process information and learn with the various changes in technology the last 25 years. With the increased access to information, having a constant connection to others, and the integration of social media into daily life. I think to what extent, and what that means for education should be an ongoing conversation. Ultimately, a good balance of traditional cognitive learning methods with innovation would make the most sense to me.