Digital Age-Are we stifling our students with the lack of technology we know and use?

"Are we stifling our students with the lack of technology we know and use?" Many of our students know how to use much more technology than we do. Technology has changed so much since I was in high school. I remember when I took computer programming and we wrote programs for huge computers. The teacher was the only one who actually ran the computers that we wrote the programs for. Today, many of our students could teach us a thing or two about computers.

In the article, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”, by Marc Prensky, it describes digital natives as our students in kindergarten through college today and digital immigrants as people who grew up before the digital natives. I am a digital immigrant who is continuously learning technology. I agreed with the article when it mentioned that as educators we need to change our methodology and delivery of content into the way our students understand and learn. As an intervention specialist, part of my job is to help teachers figure out why a child may not be learning a specific skill. Sometimes, the child may not be learning the skill because it is not being presented in a way that he or she learns and understands. A lot of times the child needs shown a skill in a quick, short session with visuals and a hands-on experience. This may be because of the video games and computer games that kids are playing so much. The article says that kids today process information and think differently than past generations. We need to know how to teach these students, so they can succeed.

Students spend an average of three in half hours online, according to the video, “A Vision of Students Today.” This shows educators that students are using computers. We need to be inventive with our lessons and incorporate technology into them. The video reported that students felt that only twenty-six percent of what they have to read is relevant to their life. As educators, we need to be having kids read relevant material to their lives. If we don’t make our teaching and assignments relevant we are going to lose them.

The article, “A Day in the Life of Web 2.0” was very informative. I liked the Monday report blogs that the teacher’s posted. These blogs give support staff an opportunity to build on the curriculum that the classroom teacher is teaching. It also enables strategies and ideas to be shared among the teachers and staff. I am realizing how these blogs can be so valuable to a whole school.

Communication is a key component in our world. If we did not have internet access, we would lose a big part of how we communicate with others throughout the world. “The Machine is Using Us” video shows us ways we use the computer. It also gets the message across that the information on the internet is made possible by all of us that utilize it.

Today’s learners are different than the learners we have taught in the past. As educators, we need to keep updated on technology and strive to change our methods of teaching to reach our technological students. It is critical that we read and learn from research what strategies are best for these digital age students. We do not want to stifle our digital age students learning by not being able to use and teach the latest technology.

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