Sunday, February 6, 2011

Profiling Today's Digital Natives

Profiling Today's Digital Natives
The term “digital native” was first used by Marc Prensky in 2001 as a way to describe students born into the digital age.  Dr. Thornburg, also provide several characters of a digital native stating that a typical 8-18 year old student is exposed to approximately six hours of technology each day.  Hall Davidson suggests that all of this early exposure is changing the way students learn and communicate.  In order to be more effective, teachers must be aware of how their digital natives are learning outside of school so they can better accommodate these new fast forward thinkers. 
The purpose of this podcast is to determine the level of digital usage and student attitudes toward using technology in different situations.  In the following podcast you will hear highlights of student responses to six technology related questions.  The students participating in this interview consisted of; one fourth grade male, one fifth grade male, and one fifth grade female.  Parental permission was obtained prior to recording this podcast.  I found that although my students were born into the digital age, they have not yet acquired all the characteristics of a true digital native.  Therefore, I must adjust my teaching strategies to accommodate for the varying levels of academic knowledge as well as the varying levels of technological knowledge each student possesses.

References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Program number 14: Debate: Digital natives and digital immigrants [DVD]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Program number 13: Today’s Students [DVD]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Prensky, M. (2001a). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5). Retrieved from http://www.hfmboces.org/HFMDistrictServices/TechYES/PrenskyDigitalNatives.pdf

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