How did our world change?
“Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.” (Prensky, 2001, p.1) What caused our students to change? It all began on November 9, 1989…two years after I began elementary school! As I was learning, growing, and changing so was the world and I didn’t even know it!
On November 9, 1989 the Berlin wall fell which began the rapid and radical changes that would eventually affect traditional educational practices. When the wall fell, “It tipped the balance of power across the world towards those advocating democratic, consensual, free-market-oriented governance, and away from those advocating authoritarian rule with centrally planned economics.” (Friedman, 2005, p. 52) No longer would people be governed from the top down. Their interests, demands, and aspirations could be expressed. When the wall fell “it was like unleashing a caged tiger.” (Friedman, 2005, p.53) A domino effect occurred and the world was forever changed. “The diffusion of personal computers, fax machines, Windows, and the dial-up modems connected to a global telephone network all came together in the late 1980s and early 1990s to create a basic platform that started the global information revolution.” (Friedman, 2005, p.57) A piece of the puzzle was still missing…connectivity. In the 1990s, the emergence of the Internet and the World Wide Web provided a low-cost solution to global connectivity. Individuals could post their own digital information for others to access in a way that would be simple for everyone to use. “This sudden revolution in connectivity constituted a major flattening force.” (Friedman, 2005, p.60) The invention of Netscape took connectivity one step farther making it even easier for millions of people to connect with people through their computer. “This development, in turn, wired the whole world together, and, without anyone really planning it, made Bangalore a suburb of Boston.” (Friedman, 2005, p.63 )
The domino effect continued with the rise of work flow software. “It enabled more people in more places to design, display, manage, and collaborate on business data previously handled manually. As a result, work started to flow within and between companies and continents faster than ever.” (Friedman, 2005, p.79)
More recently uploading and blogging have revolutionized the abilities of individuals in a community. These tools allow individuals “to upload files and globalize that content- individually or as part of self-forming communities- without going through any of the traditional hierarchical organizations or institutions.”(Friedman, 2005, p.95) Everyday people could now set up and send out their own products and ideas for free. Individuals are now able to be producers instead of only consumers. So many of my 4th graders have Facebook and Myspace accounts and they are only 9!
Growing up I never knew that all of these steps were occurring and changing the world as I knew it. After reading Chapter 2, I realized how the world in which I grew up changed and is a lot different for my students. However, I do not feel as though I am a complete digital immigrant. According to Pensky, digital immigrants do not believe their students can learn successfully while watching TV or listening to music. (Prensky, 2001, p.3) Currently I am listening to my IPod and doing my work because it helps me concentrate! So, I feel I am also part digital native. My generation grew up while the world was changing. I was exposed to pre-technology times and current technology resources. Some technology is foreign to me and I am an immigrant. However, some technology is not foreign making me a native. The students of today have grown up in a world filled with technology. “The next generation is growing up online, rather than adapting to it in their mid-adult years.” (Friedman, 2005, p.119) So, where do we go from here? Our current educational design does not meet the needs of our students? Our students are being taught by digital immigrants while they are digital natives? How can we close the gap between the natives and immigrants to reform the educational system to meet the needs of our students?
As digital immigrants where do we begin to catch up?
According to Pensky, reform begins with teachers’ methodology. Teachers need to learn the language of their students while still conveying what is important in a faster, less step by step method. We need to teach our students more randomly and parallel because “our students’ brains have physically changed” and so have their “thinking patterns”. (Prensky, 2001, p.1)
Teachers need to be able to teach two different types of content simultaneously. “Legacy” and “Future” are the two types Pensky discusses in his article. Legacy refers to our traditional curriculum of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Future pertains to technology knowledge and skills. Educators need combine the two types together to provide students with well balanced educations which will prepare them for 21st century jobs. This concept correlated with TPACK. TPACK encourages educators to integrate their content, pedagogy, and technology together in their lessons. (Mishra, 2008) Sometimes it is easier said than done. When teachers are immigrants it is hard for them to integrate the technology portion into their lessons. Teachers need to have proper professional development to help them learn the language of their digital native students so they can provide them with a 21st century education.
References
Friedman,T. (2005). The world is flat. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Mishra, P. (2008) TPACK. Retrieved February 8, 2010 at http://punya.educ.msu.edu/research/tpck/
Prensky, M. (2001) Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6.
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I think the problem is that too many teachers are content to teach Legacy curriculum. Unless they are exposed to ideas that help teachers understand the need to change, they will not make the effort. There are too many competing priorities such as NCLB. Perhaps school based professional development should include a book club and a reading of The World is Flat.
February 15, 2010 @ 11:45 amThis section reminded me of TPACK, too! I agree with you that we need more PD! I think also need more time to collaborate! Our computer teacher is struggling to fit in all the technology standards with the students. Many teachers at our school didn’t know until recently that there were technology standards, let alone what they are! I think if we were given time to collaborate the teachers could be informed of what tools the students have already learned to use and implement them in their classrooms. I think it wouldn’t be so scary to the teachers as introducing new tools and it would allow students to practice with the tools. Also, if the computer teacher could integrate our content into what they already have to teach teachers would feel that they were getting help in covering all their curriculum.
February 16, 2010 @ 1:02 pmI agree, Rachel. I feel like our generation is caught in the middle between native and immigrant. It’s hard when our kids are more experienced with the tools than we are. It’s like trying to be a tour guide in a foreign country. I think we need to be able to give up the reigns a little and allow our students to guide their own learning using the tools.
February 21, 2010 @ 8:37 pm