Digital natives and digital immigrants: students vs. teachers

After reading Prensky’s article "Digital natives, digital immigrants" (2001), we found several points which we agree with as regards the present differences between students and teachers considering the use of technology.

As future English teachers, we are aware that these dissimilarities are of paramount importance to get to know how our students learn; having in mind their interests, needs and motivation. If we consider what they care about, both learning and teaching can become enjoyable, entertaining and encouraging. 

Digital natives constitute a new generation, absolutely different from the one our parents were part of. Being a digital native means to be constantly in contact with technological devices and tools, which constitute a part of digital native’s life. In Prensky’s words:“Our students today are all ‘native speakers’ of the digital language of computers, videogames, and the internet.” (Prensky, 2001, p. 1)

From: http://sullimaybe.com/2014/05/02/chalk-festival/

 This new language he mentions is the one which digital immigrants are not always able to speak. But who are digital immigrants? And what makes them different from digital natives? They are the ones who grew up learning from books, their notebook or the blackboard and who might use technology successfully, but generally preferring the way they were taught.

For many years, digital immigrants have been teaching with a book and a blackboard. When technology spread, teaching became a great challenge for them. Nowadays, teenagers use technology much more naturally than them, and with such an ease that they feel the need to work harder to adapt their teaching to students’ preferences: “We need to reconsider both our methodology and our content.” (Prensky; 2001, p.3)

This reconsideration implies a modification in attitude and teaching style on the part of the educator, which is not easy to achieve. They need to accept that generations and the way they learn have changed. Teachers should take advantage of this technological widening, and learn from their students so as to create a comfortable environment in the classroom.

In conclusion, as future teachers we think that digital immigrants should open their mind regarding the use of technology in the classroom so as to engage students in their learning process, always considering their interests and needs in order to follow their learning styles.

This video shows a summary of what we've been talking about:

From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzOzBF4ihWM