Teaching in the Digital Age

Although I am definitely a digital immigrant, as I went through school the transition from typewriters to computers was complete.  I can remember when I applied for a summer job that required typing 40 words per minute (which should have been no problem as I was typing nearly 60 in my high school computer class).  The frustration was that when I arrived for the typing test it was given on a typewriter.  Just the feel of the keystrokes and the awkwardness of the machine was enough that I was unable to pass the test.  I can imagine some of the frustrations digital natives feel as they experience classrooms that are not set up for their way of learning, exploring and investigating.  Although digital immigrants feel comfortable with the information delivery method, students may experience the same frustration I felt for similar reasons.  They are asked to learn the same information as I was in science (for example), but if the delivery is awkward, confusing, and not what they are used to it could prevent them from being successful.  I try to be a "connected" digital immigrant, but I know I have a lot to learn and could certainly stand to implement more technology into my lessons.  The wedge between digital immigrants and natives is clear when students act obviously surprised when I, "know how to do THAT!"  In the "Vision of Students Today" video, I was astonished to see that all that a typical student does adds up to more than 24 hours - the poignant statement that reveals the multi-tasking nature of a digital native, which is very difficult for a digital immigrant to fathom.  I believe that one of the major problems facing digital immigrants is providing the time and training that make us better able to teach the digital natives that enter our classrooms on a daily basis.  It first needs to become district priority and then trickle down into buildings with professional development, evaluation, and follow-up.