Technology and Our Students


I'm fairly comfortable with classifying myself as being a "digital native" (Prensky, 2001). I was born in 1994 and for as long as I can remember I've been exposed to and very much reliant on technology, both in my day-to-day life as well as in my schooling. Since a young age, I've used computers and the internet, played video games, watched TV and now Netflix, listened to music on portable CD players and then digital music players, now mostly in Spotify as an application on my iPhone and laptop. I've been an active audience to the progress of technology and am able to recall the transition of handing in my assignments to teachers on a floppy disk, then a CD-Rom, then a USB and now uploading them to some form of online storage system. I'm excited to be a witness to this marching progression, in which devices are becoming smaller and more compact, to the point where some have now literally disappeared into a cloud.  

I am able to cope with this constant and rapid advancement in devices and software, recognising patterns and common threads that allow me to adapt and classify myself as a "native speaker" (Prensky, 2001) of the digital language. There are aspects from the digital immigrant that I have adopted. For instance, in my job, I always print reports that I'm writing, or journal articles I’m about to read. Knowing that I can't depend on autocorrect and being broken of the habit of skim-reading articles online, enables me to edit and absorb information more deeply. These are examples of the "digital immigrant accent" (Prensky, 2001) and are a result of my parents, lecturers and employers, who are digital immigrants, telling me to print and read any piece of work before I finalise it. Prenksy refers to "Legacy content" which includes reading, writing, arithmetic, logical thinking and understanding the writings and ideas of the past; all of which are important and will still persist in future curriculums. But with time, as more educators are digital natives and so teach Legacy and Future content in the their language, I'm interested to think of a time when all relics of digital immigrant language are lost completely. 

A few weeks ago I had smashed my iPhone screen and needed to get it replaced immediately, so I took it to the repair shop during my lunch break at work. I was told to come back in 40 minutes and the phone should be ready to be collected. I decided to wait around the mall where the repair shop was located as I figured I could occupy myself there for 40 minutes. As soon as I walked away from the shop however, I felt immediately disorientated. I don't wear a watch, until this moment I'd never needed to and so I didn't know the time or when I'd be able to pick up my phone. I walked from shop to shop looking for a clock, even into the JB Hi-Fi but all the clocks on their devices were set to the wrong time. I'm embarrassed to admit how long it took me to realise I could just ask someone passing by. I couldn't even occupy the time with getting lunch or some quick shopping. I've become dependent on card-less withdrawals using my phone and so had forgotten to bring my card with me. The whole time I was in the store, I had an immediate desire to message a friend to share with them the silliness of my situation, but I couldn't call or message or tweet. I was panicked that my boss would be trying to email me about something and I didn't have my phone to respond. All in all, the 40 minutes without my phone felt like hours and left me starkly aware of how reliant I'd become on a technological device and the multitude of software built into it. This scenario highlighted for me that growing up with technology has altered the way in which I think and process information, and so in a moment without technology I deeply rely on, I has to grapple for tools which are secondary to me but would be primary to a digital immigrant. 



Presnky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon. 9(5) pp. 1 – 6. 

Comments

  1. Wallaroo24 July 2017 at 16:36

    Lauren thank you for your deeply insightful personal reflection it was enlightening. I am an immigrant and can go goes without using my phone, the iPad is another thing altogether." To lift your blogging to the next level try to incorporate readings beyond the learning modules in your discussions. Sandra SC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown24 July 2017 at 16:47

      Thanks Sandra, I'll take this advice on board in my future posts!

      Delete
  2. Michelle M26 July 2017 at 21:48

    Hi Lauren, great to hear from a digital native. I'm an immigrant and although I have a strong handle on technology and use it extensively, I realise from reading your post that I would probably not have faced the same anxiety in that situation. I still wear a watch and generally carry a wallet (albeit very slim as most of my cards are stored in my phone as well). I guess I still have that accent. Do you think the printing of documents is something that you would not need to do if not taught by others to do so? This is something I struggle with. I avoid printing but when reading for Uni I have to force myself not to skim, usually by taking notes with a pen and paper as I go. I wonder whether my children will be able to both skim and deeply read online.

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