Prensky's basic view is that the current teaching styles of modern day is outdated and is no longer designed to teach students of "today". Students whose whole lives now involve and some would even say revolve around technology. He ultimately thinks, methodology and content need to be reviewed and updated for the "Digital Natives".
For the most part, I would have to say I agree with his views about Digital Natives and immigrants, however there are a few things I find slightly odd and maybe differ on.
Prensky's view that they "think and process information fundamentally differently" and they at least have "changed thinking patterns" is one of the things I find odd. Surely throughout time, thinking process and information have continually evolved and transformed to a point where it now seems unrecognisable.
We live in an ever changing society, and due to the radically changing world that we live in, I think the change in thinking and processing information differently is not out of choice but out of necessity. That is, it has caused students to HAVE to think and process differently or else they will be left behind. With the explosion of media, multimedia and technology, students today are bombarded with so much information that, I think the process of thinking had to change as the amount of information we received was also changing. It becomes a sink or swim moment, either keep up with the new world or drown in it.
When it comes to teaching methodologies I do agree with Prensky somewhat, however, I don't think that there can be a clear line drawn between should the digital natives learn the old way or should digital immigrants learn the new way. I think there needs to be a middle ground. Okay, so it might slightly favour the digital natives but I don't think the digital age necessarily enhances everything. Take manual arts for example, I think it is brilliant that teachers can integrate the new age digital technologies such as CAD to design what you are going to make but obviously the old teaching methods will need to come into play for the practical side of things.
I definitely believe that there is a place for ICT in classrooms and the idea that games should be integrated into learning, is a fantastic idea. The idea of having a game where students can learn geography and culture etc is one of brilliance. Even from my own experience, I know playing a game where you had to memorise flags and name the country, had me playing it for hours just so I could continue to learn different ones.
In saying all of this, I think there also needs to be some, as Prensky likes to put it "powering down" time. To some degree I think living in a virtual world can effect students in the real world where they are unable to socialise in situations that they may encounter in everyday life.
As teachers I think we need to accept the world is changing and so have the students that we will teach. They will be forever evolving into new learners and with that we will need to focuses on new methodology, and the content which is delivered. It may not be a balance of the old and new way but I think a happy medium is really what we as teachers should strive for,.
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