Where is your Digital Green Card?

After reading Digitla Natives, Digital Immigrants by Marc Prensky, there are some points worth mentioning. His generalization of the current generation being surrounded and using all manner of technology is a bit simplistic. Instead I would point out there are a multitude of technologies available and their access dictated by environment, cultural, and economic factors.  In addition, if a digital natives fluency is a lack of punctuation, correct grammar, and syntax, maybe they could take a few more lessons from the more heavily accented immigrants. Furthermore I would argue this distinction between natives and immigrants is minimized depending on other factors such as the person’s career. For example, one could assume two lawyers would communicate in much the same language whether face to face, electronic text, or video. In contrast, a webpage publisher would use a very different vocabulary set than say a tobacco farmer, making any communication electronic or “analog” very different. Both could be equally proficient in technology use and integration, but they will still speak differently.

What has changed since Prensky’s paper is the general assumption all students learn the same way. The integration of technology into the classroom has proven students learn in a variety of ways. A specific example is the use of computer tablets to help students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder communicate and learn despite non-traditional classroom instruction. It could also be said there is more teacher acceptance of technology in the classroom than previously while they teach legacy and future content. Lastly, there is David White and The University of Oxford and OCLC Research theory on digital visitors and residents. Their research looks at the digital natives and immigrant theory and argues technological adaptability is not generational, but it’s adaptation is based in useful integration into a person’s life. In my opinion this theory is more relevant in today’s day-to-day life with technology than dictating a person’s use of technology based on their age. Developers have focused on making technology easy to use and convenient, thereby reducing the learning curve and increasing the potential for enjoyment, regardless of age.