I read an article recently by Marc Prensky, an international thought leader, speaker, writer, consultant, and game designer on the subject of education and learning. His expertise explained how today’s teacher/professors are having difficulty educating the students of today, thus Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants demonstrating how teaching and learning has changed.
Mr. Prensky, explains how Digital Natives receive information fast, prefer graphics like icons, pictures and video to text. He writes – “our students’ brains have physically changed – and are different from ours – as a result of how they grew up.” But whether or not this is literally true, we can say with certainty that their thinking patterns have changed.
According to Mr. Prensky you know you are an immigrant when:
- you print out your emails or documents to edit
- you text one letter at a time
- you are always looking for a book or manual rather than reaching out the internet for the information.
He goes on to say; “And a language learned later in life, scientists tell us, goes into a different part of the brain.”
My perception is that those born before 1970 have challenges with the fast pace of technology happening today. We are the immigrants learning a new language, culture, and yes, ways to communicate. Immigrants learn to adapt to the environment, culture, and language of the new country. We as immigrants have adapted to technology, cell phones, texting, social media, communicating through emails, Skype, and our all time favorite TV. Who would have guessed we could rewind our favorite show to watch again and again. We have come a long way baby, in just hoping our parents would buy a colored TV.
"Where is my Mimeograph?!"
I know many immigrants in the business world have had issues with printers not printing, computers shutting down for no reason and our all time stressor – email is down… and why? Not to mention, “What do you mean I need to SAVE every once in a while?” That is when I throw my hands in the air and ask “Where is my Mimeograph Machine?”
My generation’s terminology for Face Time was when called to the principal’s office or Dad’s study for a scolding. I would have much rather faced today’s younger generation’s idea of Face Time -a parent’s “scolding” over the iPhone. Typically, the only social media we had was associated with the church social.
I remember passing notes in class…sometimes the wrong person ended up with the note or the teacher ended up with the hard proof and tangible evidence! I imagine if we had the ability to send text messages back then! It would eliminated detention for passing paper notes back and forth – or worse – the note reaching the wrong person!
In closing, while it is humorous to reflect upon how quickly times have changed, I’d like to
"iPad?! What is this thing?"
ask you if you’ve experienced a similar struggle with technology. Similar to how children can pick up a new language faster than their parents – they also quickly absorb changes in technology!
As far as those of us who are Digital Immigrants – we can still learn! While what I refer to as “technology syndrome” often plagues me, I am picking up new information about technology and social media every day. It’s not easy, but it’s how we must adapt to the times! What are your thoughts? Please share your stories and experiences in the comments below!
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