Digital immigrants vs Digital natives ?

Technology in the classroom: part I

Marc Prensky (2001) makes a difference when he names two generations. The one of humans  which have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, video games, digital music players, video camaras, cell phones and all the gadgets of the digital age and the other generations, the ones that includes all humans born outside this gadgets frame.  

To first generation he has provided the N – gen, or the technology gen, or  digital gen. It causes a new reframing of generations, the  DN which means digital natives. Everybody else, the ones who were not born under the technology spell but have been influenced, affected or enchanted by it, are called Digital Immigrants. It is important to recognize these distinctions since we have to know who our students are and come from.

In the same article Prensky provides interesting statistics: “average college grad have spent less than 5.000 hours of their Reading, but over 10.000 hours playing video games on top of 20.000 hours watching TV. Computer games, email, the Internet, instant messaging are integral parts of their lives. He also mentions “their thinking patterns have changed”.

Link to this article:

http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20-%20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part1.pdf

 

But let´s see first the definition of technology. According to the oxford dictionaries technology is:

·         the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry

·         advances in computer technology

·         recycling technologies

·         machinery and devices developed from scientific knowledge

·         will reduce the industry’s ability to spend money on new technology

·         the branch of knowledge dealing with engineering or applied sciences.

Did you know that this word was stated in early 17th century? It comes from the Greek  word “tekhnologia” which means “systematic treatment” If that is the case, we have been bombarded with technology since the 17^th century.

Let´s see what teachers have worked with along centuries:

The telegraph:  Samuel Morse - in 1837. This device he invented was very small, and was used for communication. With this people were able to spread news faster and hold long distance relationships/communications with someone in a different city. They would transmit the message as a series of dots and dashes called "Morse Code". Was this invention used for educational purposes?, I am not sure, but I am positive the whole world was influenced by it, specially diplomacy.

The radio: Experimental work on the connection between electricity and magnetism began around 1820 (Hans Christian Ørsted) André-Marie Ampère, Joseph Henry, and Michael Faraday continued to experiment.  The first systematic and unequivocal transmission of EM waves was performed by Heinrich Rudolf Hertz and described in papers published in 1887 and 1890. Has the radio affected education?, Yes, of course and  in so many ways. Some educational programs are still on the air.

The Cassette: The Philips Company of the Netherlands invented and released the first compact audio-cassette in 1962.  The next year in the U.S. sales began of the Norelco Carry-Corder dictation machine that used the new cassette tape. The consumer's demand for blank tape used for personal music-recording was unanticipated by Philips. In 1963, Philips Electronics designed a new sound recording medium - the cassette tape. Philips patented the new technology in 1965 and made it available free of charge to manufacturers all over the world. Sony and other companies began designing new compact and portable tape recorders and players to take advantage of the cassette tape's smaller size.

Compact Disk: In 1974, an initiative was taken by L. Ottens, a director of the audio industry group within the Philips Corporation in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. A seven-person project group was formed to develop an optical audio disc. In March 1974, during a meeting of the audio group, two engineers from the Philips research laboratory recommended the use of a digital format on the 20 cm optical disc. It wasn't until 1977 that the directors of the group decided to establish a laboratory with the mission of creating a small optical digital audio disc and a small player. They chose the term "compact disc" in line with another Philips product, the compact cassette.  Rather than the original 20 cm size, the diameter of this compact disc was set at 11.5 cm, the diagonal measurement of a compact cassette.

Sony Walkman: In 1978, Masaru Ibuka requested that Kozo Ohsone, general manager of the Tape Recorder Business Division, begin work on a stereo version of the Pressman, the small, monaural tape recorder that Sony had launched in 1977. Sony invented the compact and extremely lightweight H-AIR MDR3 headphones for their new cassette player, just 50 grams with comparable sound quality. The name Walkman was a natural progression from Pressman. On June 22 1979, the Sony Walkman was launched in Tokyo. Journalists were taken to Yoyogi (a major park in Tokyo) and given a Walkman to wear. According to Sony, "The journalists listened to an explanation of the Walkman in stereo, while Sony staff members carried out various demonstrations of the product.  By 1995, total production of Walkman units reached 150 million and over 300 different Walkman models have been produced to date.

With this as an introduction, let´s start reflecting:

Questions to consider:

·         Did the teachers in 1800s felt natives or immigrants to that technology?

·         Did education evolve because of all these devices?, How?

·         What do the teachers (digital immigrants) need to do to catch up with technology?