Digital Natives: Navigating Literate Worlds

Chapter 7:

"Not all young people are digitally competent, nor are they all interested in every aspect of the new media."

I think that our society can forget about this aspect of digital media and our youth. Especially as a teacher you can see that not every student is on the same page with technology and digital media. Some children are not lucky enough to have technology at home which that isn't giving them the experience to be comfortable with it. The only time they get to experiment with using digital media and technology may be at school. Also, there may be young people that are just not interested in the new media. I felt I grew up in the age of being called a digital native, but I could care less growing up having all the new gadgets and gizmos. The only time I ever went on the computer or played a video game was when I was over a friend's house. Now, today being a teacher, I am more digitally competent because I feel like I need to be up to speed on the new media to introduce it to my students and keep up with my students.

Chapter 8:

"Despite, and in a way because of these findings, most commentators and researchers would support the notion that the rise of the Internet has brought about major changes in many aspects of culture and society."

The way we do things today has drastically changed from 10- 20 years ago. We have the Internet that has made everything so easy for us. We google information, pay our bills, buy items online instead of at the store, read the news, use learning programs, etc... the list can go on and on.  The Internet has profided so many positive things that we don't really recognize today because they have become such habits. If we did not have the Internet just think of how many places we would have to go or visit to get things done. We have so many opportunities with the Internet to teach our children with through different web sites that offer learning.

Chapter 9:

" Extending the concept of participation by including activities such as communicating, peer-to peer connection, seeking information, interactivity, webpage/content creation. as well as visiting civic/ political websites (Livingstone, Bober & Helsper. 2005) showed that young people are participating in various ways online."

Young people are participating in things differently in this day and age than older generations. Our younger generations are participating, but mostly online where they are comfortable. If you ask any young person the way they communicate its probably through text or instant message. Society hardly talks on the phone anymore. Another media that people use instead of being in the same place is Facetime. Its become very popular to actually talk to someone and see them at the same time, but not be in the same place. The ways we participate in things have evolved and probably will evolve again. When I read this quote it reminded me of what my parents would say about the use of technology and young people. They would always say you need to stop texting and actually call the person up. My sisters and I would just give them a weird look and say why. We thought they were practically the same thing, but in older generation's eyes it is totally different.

Should Teachers Be Responsible For Developing Digital Literacies?

I feel as a teacher that I do have a responsibility to develop digital literacies. As I have said before and in our readings. The way society and our education system is changing and will continue to change. We need to teach sour students to be comfortable learning new media. For example, when I was in school all our testing was old fashion paper and pencil. Now it has all changed to be online. These students have to be comfortable using a computer and the programs or the test scores will not reflect the student's ability correctly. I also feel that it is not just the teachers responsibility, but also the parents of the child to introduce them to medias that they will have to learn how to use. If they get to experiment with using digital media at home, they will be more comfortable with it in the school setting.

 

Sometimes students are just as confused as teachers and sometimes teachers have to teach themselves things that students already know. It is our responsibility as teachers to keep up on the new media even if we are not comfortable with it. We will be happy to know about it in the long run while also helping our students.

“The Civic, Social and Multi Modal Lives of Digital Natives”

Chapter 4:

“Digital Natives are used to receiving information really fast. They like to parallel process and multi-task. They prefer their graphics before their text rather than the opposite. They prefer random access (like hypertext). They function best when networked. They thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards. They Prefer games to “serious” work.”

(2001a, p2)

I really enjoyed this quote from chapter 4. It says that Digital Natives are used to receiving information really fast. I think that society in general has gotten use to receiving information really fast. I feel that anyone today if they wanted information about something wants the information right away, so the first thing that happens is they just on their computer, Ipad, Smartphone, on another device and go straight to the internet for the information. This day and age hardly anyone goes to a book for the information especially Digital Natives. We want the information almost pretty much handed to us. Why not if Google just does it for you.

I can also relate to another part of this quote where Digital Natives prefer graphics over text. I would rather get information from pictures than reading texts. It may be that I am just a visual person, but I feel that Digital Natives do prefer graphics. I feel that you can especially tell that this true because on social medias and other websites they are always filled with photographs with very little text or if you are interested in the story that the photo is portraying you can click to read more.

Lastly, it says that Digital Natives thrive on instant gratification, frequent rewards and want games instead of serious work. As a current school teacher I see this on a daily basis. Teachers are always trying to make learning more fun by making learning into games or adding some kind of hands on activities to keep students on task. A lot of schools also have reward systems in place when students are doing what they are supposed to or excelling at their work.

Chapter 5:

“By emphasizing the discontinuity of generations and “singularity”. Parents and teachers fear that they can no longer fully understand or control children and young people.”

            When I came to this part of the chapter I found it really interesting that they used the word “fear” or “panic.” That one day that children and young people will pass everyone up in the digital/ technology world. Yes, I feel that sometimes older generations have a harder time learning new things, but I do not feel that it will be out of reach for others to learn. I feel that it is the parents and teachers responsibility to keep up on new technology and digital media. I also feel that there are parents and teachers out there that are completely unaware of what young children and people are doing and that could be a problem.

Chapter 6

“The essential nature of traditional skill development for students further indicates that today’s students are not so different from previous generations: they still need to learn the same basic skills.”

I really liked this quote from the reading. I feel that a lot of people today make the comments today how different young people are or “this didn’t happen back in my day.” Our society may be different from back then, but the young children today still need the basic skills like the older generations. They may just be learned in a different way. Today’s learners need to be introduced to new material in ways that they know like through the use of technology.

 

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My meme shows what I feel life is like today. When we have young children they are drawn to technology and we often give them some sort of technology to play with to help them be good in public or just to keep them entertained. They are comfortable with technology growing up with it and then as they grow up and own technology themselves its almost like its glued to their hand. They are lost without it.

 

 

 

Digital Natives: Reflecting on the Myth

Forward:

"While it appears positive and celebratory, this characterization of young people is also strangely belittling: it assumes that young people spontaneously know everything they need to know about technology."

When I read this, it kind of made me laugh. To think that some people out there actually think that young people know everything about technology almost like they were wired from birth to know how to work every form of technology. Of course this is not the case. A young person has to be introduced to forms of technology in one way or another. Then it has to be learned by actually using the technology. There are young people out there that can get their hands on any form of technology and can probably use it without even thinking. There are also young people out there that are not so lucky and only see technology at school or from a friend.

Chapter 1:

"The current generation of young people will reinvent the workplace, and the society they live in. They will do it along the progressive lines that are built into the technology they use everyday-of networks, collaboration, co-production and participation. The change in behavior has already happened. We have to get used to it, accept that the flow of knowledge moves both ways and do our best to make sure that no one is left behind."

                                                                                                Green & Hannon, 2007, n.p.

If you think about this quote, it is so true. If you think of the work place 20 years ago to the present workplace is has rapidly changed. The way someone works and gets things done has changed through the use of technology which in my opinion has made things easier. If we need to get in touch with someone we can use cellphones, emails, text messaging etc... With meetings not everyone needs to meet face to face anymore, there is Skype, Facetime and other technology. These days people can also work from across the world because of all the technology that is available. Change is always occurring and it is not going to stop. The workplace will be different in the next 20 years.

Chapter 2:

"The distinction is, I think, much more about culture. It is about younger people's comfort with digital technology, their belief in its ease, its usefulness, and its being generally benign, and about their seeing technology as a fun "partner" that they can master, without much effort, if they are shown or choose to."

I think it is easier for young people to accept and use digital technology since they grew up with it all around them. With the older generations it was introduced into the world as this new thing that nobody knew really about. I have seen this with family members that completely will not use any digital technology. Before they even try in their minds they tell themselves its too hard or they will never learn. They also say that why go to something knew when the old ways work just as well for me, but I feel that they get left behind when they try not to learn new things. With the younger generations they see how beneficial digital media can be and it is fun to learn.

Chapter 3:

"Universities are losing their grip on higher learning as the Internet is, inexorably, becoming the dominant infrastructure for knowledge- both as a container and as a global platform for knowledge exchange between people- and as a new generation of students require a very different model of higher education."

                                                                                                    Tapscott & Williams, 2010, p.18

If younger people are changing in the way learn than higher education has to change with the new generation coming in. If you look at higher education today it has changed because it is getting people ready for the workplace and if the workplace is changing rapidly then the new generation needs to be able to use digital technology with ease and taught parts of technology they don't know about. Higher education nowadays is pretty much completely online the computer and you must be able to know how to work everything.

Has my thinking changed?

I do feel that my thinking has changed on the use of technology and young people. I felt that I was easily swayed to think that technology has a negative effect on our younger generations and their education, but I feel now that this is not the case. I just feel that they are changing with the times like everything else around us. The younger generations are just more comfortable with technology and maybe the older generations can learn from the younger generations that technology is a valuable tool.

Visual Metaphor:

                     We are not born with the knowledge, we must learn to have the knowledge.

 

 

 

 The image I chose was of the younger generation and technology. Technology has to be learned. The younger generation is not just born knowing everything about it. They learn from the adults modeling it around them and teaching it to them. Once they have grown up around it they are more comfortable using it.

 

Thirst

The image that I chose above from the Thirst presentation was the image that stood out to me the most. The whole presentation was an eye opener. As I went through the presentation I remember learning in school that most of our water on earth was not accessible, but as a young student it really didn't hit me the way this presentation did. It really made me think of my water usage and how I can start preserving water. What was so powerful about the presentation was that the facts about water and how the lack of water is or will be turning into bigger problems. I think that the ironic thing about the image I chose is that its going to be a thirsty world , but if you look at the image we are surrounded by water. Our world is mostly made up of water, but we either can't use it or it will be gone.

"Digital Media Effects on Conventional Reading and Writing Practices"

The quote that I chose from "Does Digital Media Make Us Bad Writers?" is:

"Writing always changes given the context. It molds itself to the changes.”

  Society says that our writing is not what it use to be and they are right, but is that a bad thing? I have always been one of those people that said to others that our writing has gone down hill and people do not care about spelling, grammar and punctuation. You have the older generations saying that the writing back then was beautiful. Well, that all might be true that the writing was beautiful, but writing done change as we go through time. I remember when I was in grade school the thing to do was use instant message. My friends and I would be on there for hours talking on the computer. Now look, we have text messaging which is pretty much a mobile computer where you can get in touch with anyone at anytime. Writing changes as we advance in technology. I have just come to the realization of this.

The quote I chose from "Literacy Debate: R U Really Reading" is:

"Some literacy experts say that reading itself should be redefined."

With technology booming and always advancing, children are using that technology. Some want to say that instead of reading books children are reading on the Internet and that is why reading and writing skills have gone down and test scores have declined. In my opinion books are great, but reading is reading. An individual doesn't have to learn reading and writing skills just from a book. They can be learned everywhere from a newspaper to the internet. Both books and the internet hold knowledge for individuals to learn from. I chose the above quote because I feel that we as a society need to redefine what reading really is.

                                                        Web Evangelist or Traditionalist
I stand between the Web Evangelist and the Traditionalist. As a Web Evangelist, I think that the use of technology and the internet can endless. We are at a time where we can google anything we want to learn or know about. A tool that we didn't always have these younger generations know how to use like the back of their hand. Reading on the internet I feel is just like reading from a book. We are still taking in knowledge of something, but I also feel like their are important things we can not leave out and that is why I am also a Traditionalist. I feel some skills should not be lost, forgotten, or left behind. Just because we are evolving constantly does not mean we need to leave it behind. For example, I have heard that cursive writing is not a requirement to be taught in school today. That is a type of writing that many documents are written in today such a the Declaration of Independence. If cursive writing is a lost art. Then one day, people will not be able to read apart of our history.

                                                            Visual Metaphor
For a visual metaphor I chose the image below of people playing tug of war with a computer. The meaning I put with this image is that as individuals we have to balance out the use of technology and traditional skills that should not be lost or forgotten. We should not let go of either, but find a happy median.

Texting and Multi-modal Texts

The video that I watched on texting really opened my eyes. I feel like I have been one of those people that says look at how bad our writing has gotten because people always text and do not care about spelling, punctuation, etc... The important tings I learned from the video is texting is not the decline of the use of writing. It made me realize that texting is not writing at all. It is a way we speak which is called fingered speech. We write like we speak. It is not a decline in writing. it is an emerging way of speaking. Speech and our way of writing will always evolve over time.