“Today’s students are no longer the people our educational
system was designed to teach.” As I was reading the article “Digital Natives,
Digital Immigrants” by Marc Prenzy; one of the main topics he discusses in his
article is about not being afraid of re-inventing certain topics. When it comes
to teachers; there are certain teachers that say this is impossible to teach
unless I give an hour lecture about the history of Africa. Prenzy says that,
“…we have to invent, but not necessarily from scratch. Adapting materials to
the language of Digital Natives has already been done successfully.” He
believes that when you are “…teaching Digital Natives…invent computer games” to
get the work done even if its “…for the most serious content.” Which I agree
with, sometimes it takes a little imagination in order to bring something that
tends to be so boring to most of us that are Digital Natives more interesting.
Plus as a teacher, isn't boring to teach the same thing, exactly the same way,
over and over again? Yes I am sure it might be time consuming to try to
recreate something that appeals to the upcoming digital natives. Although, wouldn’t
it be great if the students in class are actually eager to learn in class?
Prenzy presents it as, “Similar rethinking…” that “…needs to be applied to all
subjects at all levels.” This includes Education and the workplace. Prenzy
brought up an interesting fact about how for many students the subject
Geography is very boring and outdated and a lot of memorization involved.
Although as he mentions “…there is no reason that a generation that can memorize
over 100 Pokémon characters with all their characteristics, history and
evolution cannot learn the names, populations, capitals, and relationships of
all the 101 nations in the world. It just depends on how it is presented.”
I was reading this article by John Page and thought it would be a great way to summarize why Prenzy and I think its crucial to incorporate Technology in Education.
Thanks for the link to the 10 reasons for technology in education! Lots to think about! How do you see this argument translating to youth development contexts, which are mostly outside of school or at the fringes of formal education?
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