Week 4 - Digital Native or Immigrant

Digital immigrant vs. digital native(source: www.craigaharrington.wordpress.com)

Being a Gen Xer I definitely fall into the Native Immigrant category, as defined by Marc Prensky in his article Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.  I grew up playing video games and had a personal home computer but they were very different from today's technology.  Heck, I didn't start texting until 2009.  I still prefer a physical book to looking at a screen to read and hand writing my notes for class.  But I am adapting to the newer way of learning.  I made the choice to attend OSU eCampus (fully online) for my last two years of school instead of physically going to the University down the road.  It takes me a little bit of time to get comfortable with new technology but I am resilient and adaptable.  I found a tool that bridges my love of handwriting notes and saving paper/uploading them to my laptop: the Rocketbook!  Those of us born before 1984 are capable of adapting well to the new way of learning.  

In his article, The myth of the digital native and the multi tasker, Paul Kirschner mentioned that not all Digital Natives are "digitally literate".  What he meant was that the assumption that someone born after 1984 knows and uses digital tools well and efficiently is not the case.  There are many people under the age of 40 that do not have blogs, code, know how to search the internet properly, use a cellphone well, type one handed on their cell phone, etc.  In the year 2021 there are more people with access to wi-fi and smartphones, but having something does not automatically mean you know how to use it well.  According to Kirschner's research he found that most people, regardless of age, needed further training to use various technologies well.