Digital Immigrants Article

Wow! This article really sums up what is happening in education with regards to the technology gap between the education system and our students. I truly believe that "today's students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors" because I have seen it first hand. I think we all have. I remember when I was in school, I needed absolute silence in order to finish my homework, study for a test, or even take a test, but I have student's that constantly ask me to listen to their MP3's while doing classwork or taking a test (which, by the way, I am unable to let them do because of school policy) because they say it helps them focus.

I don't consider myself a true "Digital Immigrant," I don't think anyone in our class would be considered one, but I'm not quite a "Digital Native" either. I at least recognize the discontinuity between our current education system and the way our students learn and process information and am trying to find ways to bridge that gap. The article talked about not know "which is harder: "learning new stuff" or "learning new ways to do old stuff." I believe,as the author proposed, that the latter is more difficult. Learning "new stuff" is a natural occurrence, it's part of growing up. The hard part is taking new stuff that we learn and the old stuff that we know and finding a way to integrate the two to make them both beneficial. Proper technology integration is a step in the right direction. I don't know if we will ever get to a place where an administrator can walk into a classroom and see student's working on a computer, listening to music, and say, "Yes, learning is going on here," but I can hope. If we, as educators are going to be able to reach these "Digital Natives," there has to be a profound shift toward embracing technology in our education system.

Introduction

Hi! My name is Chrystina. I'm writing this blog as part of my Internet Apps class. I'm going to be using it to reflect on several articles in the upcoming weeks.

Internet Applications