The concept of digital natives and
digital immigrants are proposed by Marc Prensky in 2001. You should not be
surprised, when you see that a five-year-old child knows how to watch the
latest animated cartoon from the Internet and around the age of ten students
are already adept at operating the phone. Our students are living in the era of
the Internet and mobile phones from their birth. We call them digital natives.
However, the era of teachers’ growth experienced the process which digital technology
grows out of nothing. Therefore, they are new residents of digital technology.
If you are accustomed to print out electronic documents for reading or if you
call to confirm that you have received an e-mail, etc. In that case, you have
the typical characteristics of digital immigrants.
Predictably, the distinction between
digital natives and digital immigrants is debatable, not least because the
digital universe currently inhabited by digital natives was in fact conceived
and created by digital immigrants. It also makes assertions that may not be
consistently valid, for example, the idea that younger adults and children are
always comfortable with technology, and that correspondingly older people are
more likely to find technology awkward.
Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak
an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a
population that speaks an entirely new language (Prensky, 2001). For
digitization and high-tech, every teacher and the digital age are still in the
run-in period, and they are going through a process of learning and adaptation.
When the digital immigrants encounter digital natives, traditional education
methods already facing challenged. Teachers as a digital immigrant how to use
new technology teach students? The answer is that teachers need to improve
information literacy, and change methodology and content.
Reference:
Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital
Immigrants. MCB University Press. Vol. 9, No. 5.
I don't agree with your argument that “the distinction between digital natives and digital immigrants is debatable.” Your argument is “the digital universe currently inhabited by digital natives was in fact conceived and created by digital immigrants.”That is true and not true.
回复删除On one hand, I think the object of definitions of digital natives and digital immigrants are general people group, not a handful of people. It's like the case although some African children are born without anything and therefor you deny the fact that most children in the world are born with various digital products.
On the other hand, absolutely the digital world was created by a handful of older people, but not all. Most of older people are definitely born without any digital products. And even for those older digital products inventors, the case is the same. I believe using digital products is just their skills, not instinct. They invent and practice them after they are adults, unlike young people, practicing them from a child. That is like the difference between native language and second language.
Therefor, your later question about an example is still fault.Indeed, younger adults and children are always comfortable with technology, and that correspondingly older people are more likely to find technology awkward. This sentence points forward the whole society overall, neither a handful of children nor a handful of adults.