You would think as an educator passionate about technology, who is also a student studying a Masters of ICT in Education, I would be advocating the introduction of technology into all areas of the curriculum, for all ages. However, this is not the case. When I first read Prensky's 'Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants' (Prensky, 2001) earlier in my studies, I could not help but disagree with some of his assertions. In particular, Prensky's idea that today's students "have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, video games, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age" (Prensky, 2001, p. 1), does not ring true with my experience as a teacher.
I remember teaching a Year 3 class a few years ago. Whenever I asked the students to grab a computer, one of my students hid under the desk and started crying. I had to start warning her early each day if we were going to use computers and promise to help her, to avert her hysteria. At home, this student did not have access to any technology at all. While she was the only student to have a panic attack at the prospect of using computers, she was not the only one from a technology-free home. A digital native? I don't think so.
The following year I moved to Year 4 where, for the first time, students were provided with their own laptop. You would think, as digital natives, this would be exciting, yet fairly straight-forward for the students. Definitely exciting, however, not straight-forward. It took all the patience I could muster to get them to all log on correctly. As stated by Smith, Skrbis and Western (2013), "[a]s scholars increasingly critique the Digital Native myth, a key lesson is that young people do not speak the digital language until, like preceding generations, they learn how to do so" (p. 115).
I have found that using technology in the classroom provides added interest and motivation for students to learn. I have also found that it provides students with more opportunities to avoid learning. The ability to switch between programs and Internet browser tabs takes nearly no time at all, and so using technology in the classroom brings with it a whole gamut of additional considerations for the teacher.
Given that today's students are not necessarily digital natives (Bennet, Maton & Kervin, 2008) (Smith, Skribis & Western, 2013), it is therefore not necessary to completely change our curriculum and way of teaching (Kennedy, Judd, Dalgarno, & Waycott, 2010). If the use of technology improves educational outcomes? Of course. If not? Well, there might be a better way.
References:
Bennett, S., Maton, K., & Kervin, L. (2008). The 'digital natives' debate: A critical review of the evidence. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(5), 775-786.
Kennedy, G., Judd, T., Dalgarno, B., & Waycott, J. (2010). Beyond natives and immigrants: exploring types of net generation students. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26(5), 332-343.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1–2.
Smith, J., Skrbis, Z., & Western, M. (2013). Beneath the ‘Digital Native’ myth Understanding young Australians’ online time use. Journal of Sociology, 49(1), 97-118.
I agree with you the Prensky article makes a lot of assertions which can be questioned. These students although having been born during this revolution of technological change aren’t necessarily going to be able to use it when they come to school. Some may not have been exposed to the technology and others simply not interested. As teachers we need to focus on a range of strategies and not just think technology is the only answer.
ReplyDeleteStudents avoiding learning is a major issue in every classroom I have taught in! How do you go about ensuring they are actually on task with the learning you would like them to do? I have lost count of the amount of times the students aren’t on the correct App when using the IPad’s or they change programs on the computer when you are helping someone else? Have you a method or strategy?
Reading your blog also made me question whether the motivation of technology can he an easy out for the teacher, for example lets get the IPad’s about for some free time and use them to keep students busy, without actually having any intended learning outcomes. To me this is just a waste of time!