Marc Prensky's Article

What stood out most to me in Marc Prensky's article were his points regarding the "digital natives" and the "digital immigrants." I never gave it much thought until now, that students currently in the USA have all grown up with technology.  They are, or can be almost fully immersed in it, compared to generations before.  Prensky mentions, "Today’s average college grads have spent less than 5,000 hours of their lives reading, but over 10,000 hours playing video games (not to mention 20,000 hours watching TV). Computer games, email, the Internet, cell phones and instant messaging are integral parts of their lives."  This does not surprise me too much; however I do believe that there are pros and cons with both and that there can be a happy medium between the two. Therefore, digital immigrants and digital natives should both adapt in different area to discover this. I understand we as a society cannot restrict growth in certain areas, such as technology, but when is too much of something counter productive?  Too much of something usually has its concerns as well.

There has been, and there will be more technological growth in education, and it is our responsibility as teachers to adjust accordingly to students’ learning style. Teachers must teach to both the digital immigrants and digital natives as best he/she can. There will always be students who are at different places and who have different levels of awareness in the tech world, due to accessibility, social economic status, etc; therefore, we must be familiar and able to relate to students at either end of the spectrum.

Classroom Scenario

Middle School: 4 1 hour long blocks each day.  Between 30-35 students in each class, 1:1 laptop to student ratio, Smartboard, document camera.

Student NET: Research and Information Fluency

Teacher NET: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

Spring 2012 Class Blogs

Joshua Wenzek
Lauryn Ernster
Beth Ross
Arica Johnson
Kristine Stipp
Jordyn Wilson
Monica Adair

Blog Assignment Week 1

I haven't always wanted to be a teacher and have never gave much thought about even furthering my study in university.  It wasn't until receiving a soccer scholarship where I had the option to study in university and choose a potential career path.  After discussing with my parents and advisors, we all figured that with my past experiences in athletics and coaching, that being a physical education and health teacher would be a positive option for me to take.

I am not too comfortable with technology.  I still have and use your basic motorola flip phone, due to the lack of care or need for this "new technology."  This is probably because you can be afraid of what you do not know; therefore, it is easier for one to just avoid it and go on with what one's familiar with.

My feelings on technology in education is simply based on the idea that if it is beneficial for the learner, than it is valuable.  I think that it can be very positive in the classroom; however, if not used appropriately, or too much, it can certainly flirt with being counter productive.