I was attracted by the title of the session because I am also a digital immigrant wanna be native. Marc Prensky coined these terms; digital native and digital immigrants in “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” published in 2001  I was aware that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been integrated into curriculum design and implementation, providing invaluable teaching/learning platforms and functions for both educators and learners. I also believe that integration of technology into teaching has transformed the learning paradigm and, consequently, face-to face learning has started to give way to web-enhanced instruction via internet based resources and systems. BUT I was caught unguarded. I mean I was not ready for this shift! In my pre-service training (14 years ago)we did not receive any training related to technology and there are meager opportunities for ICT training in terms of in-service training. I am still trying to adapt to and appropriate educational technologies in my teaching and it’s good to know that I am not alone 🙂

Leap-froging the digital divide

Teresa talked about her Google search about digital natives and outlined the characteristics such as “thrive on instant gratification”, “parallel processing and multi-tasking”. Then taking characteristics of net-generation into consideration her the major question was; “Do I have to go back to the beginning and re-learn about the new technology?”. Her answer to this questions is “No”. Teresa thinks that teachers can leapfrog the digital divide by researching and experimenting with Web 2.0 Tools. I asked the same question to myself and my answer was “Yes”. Transition is painful and it takes time (I still use pen and paper to take notes :))

I feel that in addition to all kinds of teacher knowledge  including content, pedagogical content, curriculum, general pedagogical, learners and their characteristics, educational contexts and educational aims, purposes and values (Shulman, 1987) now there is TECHNOLOGICAL pedagogical content knowledge (Mishra & Koehler, 2006).  When Teresa asked the audience whether they used snipping tool majority responded that they did not know about how to get a screen shot. (which is perfectly normal we had not been taught and there is certainly need for training to leap frog this digital divide). There was an excellent quotation in the presentation; “Learning is not compulsory neither is survival”

Whenever, Whatever, Where ever (WWW)

In her presentation Teresa exemplified how to make use of some web tools (Webquests, Glogster, TeacherTube) and introduced some teaching suggestions.

I totally agree with her that technology brought about tools that have great potential to make classes rich and these technologies are tools to learn rather than something we learn from.

References:

Shulman, LS. (1987). Knowledge and Teaching: foundations of the new reform. Harvard Edcautional Review 57(1):1-22.

Mishra, P & Koehler, M.J. (2006). Teachers College Record 108(6): 1017-1054.