Immigrants in the Digital Age

Prensky's article dealing with "native" students and "immigrant" teachers in the digital age brought some interesting assumptions into the debate. Prensky's overall premise is that today's students, having grown up with technology as an everyday tool, are far more competent and familiar with it than their teachers. This in turn leads to a disconnect that teachers need to work to overcome in their instruction. Essentially, the argument is that teachers must incorporate technology into their classrooms and instruction as a means of bridging the gap between them and their digitally minded students.

I find the distinction that Prensky makes between teachers and students to be a broad generalization. While I do believe that in many cases this generalization can be found to be true, I'm not sure that this is necessarily the case across the board. I especially find the generalization to be untrue as it pertains to newer teachers.

For example, I (being 26 and a child of the 80s) did not grow up surrounded by all of the same technology as current students. However, the internet, computers, and other digital-age technology came into play while I was still a student. Therefore, I do not believe that I am so much an "immigrant" as an "ancestor." Personally, I feel that I am competent with computers and digital media. I've been using the internet for research, Powerpoint for presentations, blogs for recording thoughts and other digital media from early on in their existence. Yes, technology has obviously advanced since I was a student, but I have learned it as it has come into play.

Prensky seems to take the view that there is no learning curve for the student, that the use of technology is almost inherent in their being by way of growing up around it. I would challenge that basic assumption, pointing out that for many students (especially the underpriviledged) technology is not a day to day fact of life in the home. Students are only "digital natives" if they have developed the skills through using the technology.

To move on from this dichotomy of digital native and immigrant, I would like to also look at Prensky's assertion that technology (specifically the example of cell phones) must be incorporated to make instruction effective. While I believe that the use of technology in the classroom is beneficial if used properly, I would argue that it is not necessary to the learning process and that, if taken to the extreme will only serve to make students dependent upon the technology.

Prensky says, "Today's students have mastered a large variety of tools that we will never master with the same level of skill. From computers to calculators to MP3 players to camera phones, these tools are like extensions of their brains. Educating or evaluating students without these tools makes no more sense to them than educating or evaluating a plumber without his or her wrench."

Essentially, it sounds to me as though Prensky is arguing that we cannot evaluate a student's abilities apart from these technological tools. Are we then to believe that students are no longer capable of doing math in their heads, researching in books, or creating art apart from technology? If this is the case, I believe that we are failing our students by allowing them to become dependent upon technology. While I believe that modern technology allows for more production in the workplace and convenience, I think that we have a problem if we are not able to function apart from it.

Powerpointlessness

Based on what I read in his article, McKenzie would define powerpointlessness as the use of technology, specifically Power Point, solely for the sake of using technology. He would say that using Power Point and an abundance of visual effects for the sake of having a flashy presentation, rather than using it as an enhancement of the information, is powerpointlessness. Basically, it is the use of effects and technology in place of actual information substance.

I have seen Power Point used poorly, both in professional and academic settings. Most commonly I see slides that try to put up to much information, speakers that rely on their slides to communicate to the audience and essentially read the slides as note cards rather than using them as visual aids, and spelling and/or grammatical errors that are distracting.

I think that in order to teach students to think and communicate thoughtfully with Power Point, we need to provide them with suitable examples of its use and also instruct them in the proper construction of a presentation. We need to be sure that they know the emphasis must remain on the substance rather than the style. The diagram in McKenzie's article lists several ways to teach students to use Power Point (his antidotes for Power Point Poisoning). I think that sharing this diagram and having a clearly defined rubric spelling out what is expected would go far in helping students to develop their Power Point skills. I think that perhaps the most important thing that we can do as instructors is have the students ask themselves, "What purpose does this element serve in my presentation?" Have them evaluate the purpose of their effects and slides. It's okay to have some things that are their to be visually compelling, but if a students' entire presenation is there to "look cool" something is probably amiss. We, as instructors, need to help them find that appropriate balance.

Technology and Critical Thinking Skills

Bloom's taxonomy of critical thinking breaks down the thought process into varying levels. Beginning with the base of knowledge and expanding upon it into areas of comprehension, application, analysis, sythesis and evaluation, Bloom's taxonomy describes the various levels of critical thought and the learning process. The incorporation of technology into the learning process can enhance the development of higher order thinking and problem solving skills.

While some teachers only allow the use of technology to enhance the knowledge and comprehension stages of learning without taking students deeper, the proper use of technology in the classroom can impact all stages of learning. Technology can address the varying levels of learning as follows.

Knowledge - the use of specific search engines can allow students to discover facts relevant to their area of study. Students should be instructed in how to conduct research on the internet and how to make it their own work, rather than simply printing the information verbatim from the web site.

Comprehension - some websites allow for the evaluation of student comprehension of material through games and more traditional assignments (i.e. questions on the subject, tests and quizzes, etc.)

Application - the knowledge that a student gains can be applied either through further research and development of a position on a topic, through the creation of various media describing their findings or through a more active use of the internet such as a Web Adventure.

Analysis - students can use web sites like Think Tank to divide their information into useful subcategories and help to organize their research.

Synthesis - students can use the web to help develop their projects and combine the information that they have found in new ways.

Evaluation - students can review their work or the work of others online or they can create surveys to gather feedback on their own work.

These examples are only a few ways in which technology can be incorporated to enhance the learning process. By incorporating technology into all stages of a lesson, a teacher can enhance the lesson and allow for more student interaction with the information.

First Reflection Blog

My name is Jason Arneson. I am currently the senior admissions counselor in the undergraduate admissions office at Trinity International University. I work with all of Trinity's incoming transfer and international students. In my spare time I play bass for the worship team at my church and work with our junior high youth group. I also lead a once a week bible study for a group of junior high guys. I have been married for just over three years and my wife and I are expecting our first child (a daughter) in February. We currently share our house with an excitable German Shepherd named Bear.

I completed my bachelor's degree in English/Communications in 2004. I intended to go into journalism, but after my internship the summer prior to my senior year I found that the work didn't appeal to me in the way that I thought I would. However, with only a year to go I went ahead and finished my degree. During my senior year of college I had the opportunity to work as the editor-in-chief of our student newspaper. My responsibilities included meeting with each writer, evaluating their work and coaching them on how to improve. I thoroughly enjoyed this role and it caused me to consider the possibility of teaching as a future.
After graduation, I took my current job in admissions. My work with high school students, coupled with my volunteer work with junior high students, again caused me to think that teaching may be a valid career option. Now, with the tuition waiver benefit available through my job and our first child on the way, my wife and I decided that I should go ahead and complete the MA/T to get my certification.

I feel fairly comfortable with current technology. I have experience blogging, using digital cameras, scanners and CD burners. I have also had experience with a variety of Microsoft office utilities and have done some mass marketing email design as well. The only thing that I have almost no experience with is the Mac operating system. That is something that I would like to get a better handle on (either in this class or on my own) as I know that Mac is the standard in the district that I live in.

As far as expectations for this course, I essentially hope to gain some insight into ways that technology can be incorporated into the classroom to the benefit of my students. I am excited about finding ways that I can improve my instructional skills and student engagement through technology. My only concern is that what we learn in this class may later not be applicable to my teaching environment (i.e. we may be taught to use technology that is not available in our later teaching settings). I know that, to an extent, this was my wife's experience. She completed her bachelor's in elementary education and had a course similar to this one. However, technology in her school was not as readily available.