Digital Immigrant teachers those people who
were not born in a time when technology was not readily available to use at all
times and have had to learn over time how to use it. The Digital Native
students have been exposed to the use of technology from early in life and need
this to thrive in our school setting.
Digital Natives are used to receiving
information really fast. They like to parallel process and multi-task. They
prefer their graphics before their text rather than the opposite. They prefer random
access. They function best when networked.
They thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards. They prefer games to "serious"
work. But Digital Immigrants typically have very little appreciation for these
new skills that the Natives have acquired and perfected though years of
interaction and practice. These skills are almost totally foreign to the
Immigrants, who themselves learned - and so choose to teach - slowly,
step-by-step, one thing at a time, individually, and above all, seriously.
The
"digital immigrant accent" can be seen in such things as turning to
the Internet for information second rather than first, or in reading the manual
for a program rather than assuming that the program itself will teach us to use
it. The example include printing out your email (or having your secretary print
it out for you - an even "thicker" accent); needing to print out a
document written on the computer in order to edit it (rather than just editing
on the screen); and bringing people physically into your office to see an
interesting web site (rather than just sending them the URL).
The biggest
problem facing education today is that the 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speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to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.
I prefer the second choice, the digital
immigrants learn the new way because today's learners are difference. They are
no longer like the teachers when they were students. Kids born into any new
culture learn the new language easily, and forcefully resist using the old.
Smart adult immigrants accept that they don't know about their new world
and take advantage of their kids to help them learn and integrate. Not-so-smart
(or not-so-flexible) immigrants spend most of their time grousing about how
good things were in the “old country.”
If Digital
Immigrant educators really want to reach Digital Natives - i.e. all their
students - they will have to change. They have to
learn to communicate in the language and style of their students.
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