Article Assesment 1

Listen to the Natives, Marc Prensky

OVERVIEW

This article emphasizes the generation gap between digital immigrants (often teachers), who are struggling to grapple the basic requirements of technology, and digital natives (many students), those who are self-educated and fearlessly immersed in the ream of technology. "Digital tools are like extensions of students' brains." Prensky speculates that it is impossible for digital immigrants to become as technologically savvy as digital natives, but he believes that they should strive to follow their progressive lead. The article outlines the disparity between what students are capable of as programmers and experts using digital tools, and the lack of opportunities for them to display and advance their capabilities in the classroom environment. Prensky indicates that technology is the one area of expertise that most students would love to be challenged in and to improve in, and yet schools and teachers are failing to provide a sufficient platform for growth and development in this integral area. Prensky points out the irony of schools that are scrambling to introduce a 21st century curriculum, before the close of the 21st century.

REFERENCE POINTS

• Educators must learn from students' 21st century expertise and abandon their predigital instincts



• A combination of desirable goals, interesting choices, immediate and useful feedback and opportunities to see their improvement engage kids in their complex video games.



• Engagement is superior to content, therefore adopt new systems for communication in class



• Encourage students to provide input and share their expertise; give them opportunities for involvement and make major changes based on their valid suggestions.



• Students should be treated as a resource, suggesting technology that they would benefit from in the classroom



• Students could feasibly invent technological solutions to streamline homework submission and correction.



• Adaptivity, along with connectivity, is where digital technology will have it's greatest impact on education.



• Students deserve to receive quality content through 21st century tools that are powerful, programmable, and customizable - through tools that belong to them such as cell phones.

APPLICATION

As a teacher I should strive to incorporate information that students have already acquired outside of class in their digital lives in order to make classes more engaging. I strive to make material relevant and often reflect on how I can engage my students and persuade them to enjoy literature with power points, document readers, CD's and DVD's. If I increased my expectations of students' technological contributions to class the responsibility of contributing to class discussions, presentations and to every facet of learning would be shared rather than monopolized by my great intentions.

Another personal paradigm shift would be to challenge myself on the digital relevancy of my classes.

On a practical note, I could ask students to search the internet for resources, clips or recent statistics that are relevant to our class discussions. Students could share their digital expertise by producing digital versions of their homework or project-work. If options and choices appeal to students in their interaction with video-games, I could strive to provide more options for assessment, give and receive frequent and useful feedback, and offer appropriate rewards.
I have often heard teachers describe themselves as entertainers who wear themselves out trying to keep students' attention with lively and dynamic presentations. I could give my students more responsibility and input through digitial presentations so that the onus of creating relevant classes is shared, and students would inevitably utilize available technology.