Digital Natives Podcast

Today's students have been raised in media-rich environments and have been defined as "digital natives" by consultant, author, and educational software designer Marc Prensky. According to Prensky, "Our students today are all 'native speakers' of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet" (Prensky, 2001, p. 1). In my podcast, I interviewed three of my Kindergarten students who are deemed to be digital natives. From our conversation you will note that although they predominately view technology as "fun", they also use technology frequently and cannot imagine life without it. As eductors, we must help our students advance their academic language and digital language skills by incorporating meaningful applications of technology into our classrooms. "The ability to harness the power of Web 2.0 tools wouldn't be as critical if it were not for the fact that we are educating our students to succeed in a globally connected economy" (November, 2008, p.3). Engagement and learning will increase when today's educators begin to take the time to learn the language of digital natives.

References:
November, A. (2007). Banning student 'containers'. Technology & Learning. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/7468

Prensky, Marc. (September/October, 2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon. 9, 2-6.