After reading the article Digital Native and Digital Immigrant by Marc Prensky, I have defined myself as a digital immigrant, however I have been so engulfed in the digital world I posses a lot of characteristics that make me think and learn like a digital native. My elementary education was definetly not digitally based. I learned how to do the basics of reading, writing and math slowly, step by step, using a paper and pencil. When I entered middle school digital technology began being integrated into the classroom. There were more software programs and the internet became more common and advanced. We began learning how to use programs that were more programs that finished tasks for us quickly and efficently. This is especially common in math classes. For example we learned how to make a graph on a calculator and find the value of two points by pressing buttons.
This new technology has wired me to think and learn as a digital native for several reasons. I find it difficult to read long chapters, I multi-task, I am easily bored and I consider myself a visual learner. Mostly I remember information better if I learn it through an activity or a game than if I read it on paper or hear it in a lecture. However, I consider myself a digital immigrant because the basis of my education was not through digital means and I believe that learning is more effective and long lasting without the use of technology, however, beacause of the world I am surrounded by I now think as learn like a digital native.
Though it is inevitable that children with learn digitally in the future I dont nessisarily believe that digital learning is the most effective way to educate. I feel that learning how use something that does a task for you isnt the most effective way to educate. I feel that learning how to use something that completes a task for you rather than thinking through it and figuring it out doesnt develop the students brain. For example, using a calculator to find the value of two points on a graph didnt make me any smarter because I did know why the answer was correct or incorrect.
One argument I strongly agree with in Prensky's article is that digital natives learn differently than digital immigrants. Technology is only going to become more common, so I believe that educators need to take that into consideration when designing lesson plans. Kids now and in the future (I predict) will thrive on instant gradification and fast learning, rather than slow step by step learning.