The Digital DIVIDE!!

Contemporary western society is saturated with technology. Social and economic realities are engrossed with technological advances that have apparently paved the way into the future for my generation, and even more for the generation immediately following my own. However, though I often feel quite drowned in the wake of all these fundamental changes to education, communication, and society as a whole, I am well aware that I am not the only one who is feeling my way through digital darkness. Technology has fundamentally transformed society, and, in so doing, has torn asunder two cultures: the digitally fluent . . . and all who came before. After reading Prensky's article "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants," I emerged with three questions: am I a native or an immigrant; is it healthy and beneficial for students to learn primarily through video games; and what is the role of "legacy" content in "future" learning?



According to Prensky, a new generation has emerged: the "N (net) - generation" or the "D (digital) - generation. He explains that these new digital learners have grown up in a world of technology, where television has for the most part completely replaced book learning, and the internet provides learner's primary source for information and research while encyclopedias and the Dewey Decimal System are as dead as Latin. However, as I read through his article, I found myself repeatedly questioning whether I was a part of this generation, or the one that came before. I remember life without the internet, but only vaguely. And even if it cost me my life, I could not tell you what 500-600 stands for in the Dewey Decimal System. Though I grew up with a deep love for reading and consider myself fluent in the classics, I am likewise enclosed in a media-driven society and I am well aware of popular television shows and sufficiently scripted in film and music. Though I am not by any means a technological guru, I feel comfortable and quite dependent on computer language and technology. I will admit that I find a world without computers, or even without my cell phone, quite frightening and night-marish. Therefore, I cannot entirely associate with those of the past generation. At the same time, I feel that my learning style has been molded by a society not yet technologically savy, and therefore my teaching models are stuck in the past century. At the same time, I am well aware that the average high-school freshman knows literally worlds more than I can even fit my mind around as far as computer programming and state-of-the-art technology. Where do I fit, then? Am I a Digital Native . . . or a Digital Immigrant? Or would I be considered an outsider: born into the old world, but who has lived in this new digital realm for long enough to have only a small accent?



My second question: is it really a reality to think that students will learn better if all of their lesson plans are forged into video-games? Call me old fashioned, but I definitely struggle with this idea. I will admit, video-games have never been an addiction (or even much of an interest) of mine; however, I find it difficult to believe that effective learning can take place strictly in video-game settings. Prensky believes, "We need to invent Digital Native methodologies for all subjects, at all levels, using our students to guide us. The process has already begun – I know college professors inventing games for teaching subjects ranging from math to engineering to the Spanish Inquisition." I agree that video-games can be a great supplement to teaching; however, I struggle with the idea of using them as the primary content matter. I understand his premise that the minds of student's in this generation are fundamentally different because of the technology that they have been saturated with. Still, technological advancement should not be equated with complete technological dependency. I fear that students who become too relient upon the technology of their environment will become lazy, and unable to exercise full mental capacity because their computers become, in essence, their brains.



This, then, leads me to my third question: what is the role of "legacy" content in "future" learning. Prensky sub-divides content areas into that of legacy: past learning pre-digital revolution, and future: obviously future learning during and post-digital revolution. I am well aware that changes in the fundamental structure of the education system will take a very long time (much longer, in fact, than would be ideal for today's learners). However, as we (as educators) begin to mold structures and organize frame-work for the "future learning" of the "N-gen," I am interested to know what role past learning content will play. Reading is clearly still necessary, but what about writing? Will computer screens replace our students need for paper and pen? And what about cursive? What need do we have for scripted writing when type is the future of learning, and even digital signatures can be created technologically. What is the role of text books, when the internet is literally right at our finger tips? And who needs higher level math classes when computers are so much more efficient than mentally sweating through the quadratic formula? However, I feel that I speak for all Digital Immigrants when I express my fear and even frustration with the fact that, though technology is great, we will surely lose many valued educational tools through the transformation into this new digital world. Just as ancient oral story-tellers were able to memorize an unbelievable amount of information before the development of written language, so we who were and are forced to learn in a more tedious and perhaps less efficient manner also take with us something that those who are handed everything through technology will never experience.

In my struggle, then, to grapple through this digital divide and the pros and cons faced by the "N-gen" and new educational models catered to their needs, I find myself wavering back and forth. Looking ahead to the future, I definitely see a lot of bright and positive potential to the changes happening in educaiton. At the same time, I feel that somethings may be sacrificed through the digital divide that future generations may really mourn the loss of.