"Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part II" Written by: Marc Prensky

Marc Prensky believes that students of today have a mind that processes information differently than people from generations before them. Because of the high paced world, and emergence of video games and computers, children are learning how to learn in a different way. This way, although different, does not “fit in” with the old way of teaching, and therefore children often appear to be bored, or lost in interest simply because their attention span is used to something that is more stimulating. With this change in learning, the emergence of video games has been a helpful tool for educators, and has also proven to increase the scores of children who had previously been having difficulties in various academic areas. I do think that Prensky makes very valid points in how the use of computer games is much more interactive and hands on for children who are used to the more interactive lifestyle, and are proven to help them learn things much more effectively than before. In the end, the emergence of learning games has been proven to be much more affective to the new generation of students, named by Prensky as the “digital natives”. He believes that as each year passes, more educators will be turning from the traditional route teaching styles, and instead turning to the more interactive and entertaining technological styles to help their students to learn in the best way possible

"Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" written by Marc Prensky

Marc Prensky shows that there is a large difference between the students of the past, and the students of today. He refers to all people that were born or raised before the digital age began as “digital immigrants” and those who were born and raised in the digital age “digital natives”. By this, he means that “digital natives” are those that understand the language of communication and technology and thrive on the high, fast paced world full of TV shows, video games, and other forms of technological entertainment. However, “digital immigrants” are those that have had to adapt to the new technology, and learn to incorporate it as a useful asset in their daily lives. Prensky goes on to explain that our “digital immigrant” instructors are struggling to teach a generation who speaks an entirely different language, and are therefore less effective in their teaching practices. However, I somewhat disagree with Prensky for the fact that he believes the only way to successfully teach is to completely use technology and abandon the practices of the past. He also seems to imply that he hardly sees a way for a “digital immigrant” to possibly ever really make the transition into being a “digital native” and successfully use technology in an everyday format.