Digital Natives - A work in progress

In fourth grade (1994ish) I took a Saturday Academy class on the Internet. Webcrawler was the king of the search engines. A search for Legos only returned a few thousand hits. My family bought our first computer in 1995 and we signed up for the Internet with AOL in 1996. From that point on I have been riding the crest of the wave of technological innovation and obsolescence. I may not be a true native in that I remember a time before having a computer, but I have been here for a very long time.

I have been a student in classrooms with technology in grade school. In the primary grades the computer lab was a set of Apple IIes tucked away in the backroom of the library before the school modernized its labs. The teachers were not well prepared to utilize technology in the learning process. My only memories in the lab involved traveling to Oregon in a covered wagon. Many lives were lost. Other games, such as the Amazon Trail, were so simple to me I was like the four year old child where the learning games "were light years below [my] level, to [my] total frustration and rage." (Prensky, 2005)

The only real use of technology beyond research came into play my senior year of highschool in a college English class. We used Powerpoint to present a controversial topic. It was an excellent preview for my university experience. Not only were they used in almost every lecture, but it became an unspoken requirement that any student presentation must be accompanied by Powerpoint. In both cases the use of Powerpoint slides either enhanced an excellent lecture, especially when the slides could be printed out beforehand for improving note taking, or it amplified the terribleness of a presentation.

One of my university courses was developing web map applications using Google Maps and other technologies. I was a teacher aid for an undergraduate class on healthy communities and was able to teach the students how to develop their own maps for the neighborhood they were investigating with Google Earth*. The rest of the class was discussions on the reading. The class review showed that many students considered that single activity to be the most useful, and best, lesson in the class. It was like the student's professors reading from the textbook (Prensky, Digital Natives Digital Immigrants) in that the students were simply told what to think about the readings.

To be honest the assigned readings and videos did not change my mind about the subject. I am there with them. Prensky used a game to develop training for a CAD application. Let us investigate what is involved with creating a video game as the curriculum. With my current excitement for the upcoming game Dragon Age we will use Role Playing games as an example. Artists are not only needed to create the visual content, but they also need to be able to present information clearly (art and presentation skills) as well as background music and sound effects (more art). A world needs to exist for the story to take place in and it needs to make sense (science and social studies). Let us not forget the story the hero or heroine takes (English and psychology). The game itself needs to be programmed and balanced to make the experience fun as well (lots and lots of math and logic). It is the ultimate lesson plan integrating all the core subject areas. There are so many free or inexpensive tools out there to make it happen.

Technology is not the magic silver bullet these authors make it out to be. Freshman at Portland State University are required to make a web portfolio of their work for their end of year project. Undergraduate teacher assistants are responsible for teaching how to create web pages. The majority of these undergraduate educators are technology phobic and never became comfortable with the skills themselves, much less teaching it. Despite the similar age to myself they are digital immigrants.

Using technology to create and communicate can be amazing. Yet while people may be comfortable using an iPod, making a webpage is a frightening and difficult experience. Giving students the option to work in groups was the best discovery I ever made. Those comfortable with what they were doing could go solo without feeling dragged down. These are the natives who can parallel process and random access. (Prensky, Digital Natives Digital Immigrants) These immigrants, or naive individuals, still prefer content delivered in a legacy fashion individually. As a group they often operate as a digital native enabling me to teach to the natives without cramping the old fashioned style. It can work, and students are proud of their work when they can actually create a product that is meaningful for them.

* I promise I am not paid by or an employee of Google.