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Date Posted: 17:20:35 03/10/11 Thu
Author: Ludmila Ameno Ribeiro
Subject: task 3-


Hi group! This is what I have written so far, about task 3.
Tell me what you guys think of that, please! Just to let you know, this text was not revised yet. So in case you find plenty of mistakes, we will correct it later, ok?
Regards.

Task 3- Write a position paper about the digital generation of students and the challenges we face in teaching them.

The new generation of students is defined as Digital Natives, and they are the ones who have always had the technology available just as they had their first baby toys. To picture better the previous statement, one can visualize the development and improvement of technology and connect that to those students growth, who were at the same time, incorporating all those digital gadgets as part of their lives. To contrast with this new type of students, were also created the definition of Digital Immigrants, those who were already born before digital technology and had to learn and adapt to this new culture of technology. Digital immigrants are pretty much compared to land immigrants, because some will use the new language and adapt to the new culture of a country better than others, in the same way happens to digital immigrants some will be very fluent in using technology while others will struggle a lot to benefit from it. Those definitions were created and proposed by Prensky (2001), and according to him the Educational System needs to change and is carving for a new methodology that would better fit and be more attractive for all Digital Natives, who are so used to with video games, emails, text messaging, social network and who are very multi-tasking type of people.

There is a tendency to think that teachers are from a different land than students, but reality is a little contrary than that. In every generation there is a gap, and it is the teachers’ duty in all stages of humans’ history to learn how to adapt this language talked by younger generations, in order to decrease this empty space provoked by what is not comprehensible. In other words, changes in the classroom practice are extremely relevant in order to improve education and to create a reachable approach to this new type of student. What was being done during the teachers’ time, the way the subject was taught and how teachers learned can’t no longer be the same, specially for this new age of students who are so used to quick thinking and doing so many things at the same time. Prensky (2010) suggested that the subjects brought by teachers in the classroom should be real and relevant to students’ concepts, and should not be just a preparation for a test, adding up the author also made some suggestions of how teachers can improve their practice.

Simple changes can make a big difference in the classroom, from understanding students’ passions and interests; by guiding students to become more independent and research for themselves; by giving students’ time to relax and think about the importance of everything; activities that have a motivational stimulus are ways pointed by Pransky (2010) of helping kids to achieve their bests by giving them spaces to be themselves. Since students are so complex nowadays, and with all researches made in the Educational field it is finally easy to perceive that, from that one can assume that teachers’ role have changed a lot from owner of the truth to a guide of life’s discovery. The same type of school that the poetry of Drummond(1930) and the philosophy of Piaget had described many decades ago, it is now finally making sense. Students no longer need to hear about experience, they want to experiment facts and to be able to conclude things for themselves.

In the conference presented at Columbia University about Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants, Harding (2010) expressed that a great deal of pressure is made for teachers to incorporate the technology in the classroom, but according to this presenter usually teachers are very skeptical about the use of those gadgets for teaching and don’t know how they can apply them correctly for educational purpose. He also stated that if teachers feel that students are so different from themselves, it can build a bigger barrier in the classroom and by that the subject being taught can even further from students’ reach. When teachers learn that they are not that different from their students, they are than changing their approach towards practice and by that probably, better results can be obtained.

Teachers have many challenging when teaching this new generation, from competing for attention, to create a more interesting class, it can all be accomplished from the moment teachers believe and perceive themselves differently. Harding (2010) said that just because teachers are not Digital Natives, it does not mean they cannot be good in using technology, they can as long as they are willing to try to learn how to use the digital technology for their own benefit.

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