After taking the digital natives quiz, I learned I’m sort of a digital native. I didn’t know the following terms: modding, smart mods, and wiki (although I knew about wikipedia, so I get it now :) ). The terms I did know where: blog, IM’ing, and MM Online Games. However, I definitely think of myself more as a digital native than a digital immigrant. Like the definition states, I rely on technology for studying, work, play, and communicative purposes. My parents would definitely be examples of digital immigrants. Although they try, they definitely struggle to master new technologies. They just recently got cell phones and use the computer primarily for e-mailing … that’s it.
In her book, Tompkins defines emergent literacy as a view on how children become literate. So if I view myself as an “emergent digital learner,” I need to focus on how I am becoming literature through the means of technology. Tompkins mentions certain qualities of “young literacy learners” that I can relate to my experience as an emergent digital learner. One aspect of an emergent literature is that “children learn the functions of literacy through observing and participating” (84). The same holds true for technology. The more someone observes and participates with different domains of technology, the more familiar they will be with its functions. Tompkins also states how young literacy learners’ “reading and writing abilities develop concurrently and interrelatedly” (84). The more experiences one can have with different forms of technology, the more connections within technology they will have. And finally, Tomkins states that “through active involvement ... young children construct their understanding of reading and writing” (83). Emergent digital literacy learners will become more learned if they are actively involved with technology that is consistent with this new way of learning.
To meet the needs of emerging digital literacy learners, I feel it’s important to teach in a way that is consistent with the new ways of learning. This can be done by focusing on the new styles of learning the article mentioned and altering lessons to fit these new needs.
3 comments:
Great post! It looks like you are really thinking deeply about the the readings and making all kinds of connections. What's interesting about our technology learning now, is that we (by which I mean teachers 10 or more years ago) used to think about teaching about technology, and now we think of teaching through it. This connects well to what we have been talking about in the Gibbons text of figuring out what your learners bring to the table. We can take that digital native-ness and help them use it for learning goals, while at the same time supporting our students who come to us without those tools.
I had labeled myself as a half digital native and half digital immigrant, which I said because I only knew half of the answers. Erin, you only got half of the answers correct, but are very confident in saying that you are a digital native. I like the fact that you feel confident enough in your technology skills to call yourself that. I too rely on technology for a lot of things, but I really only know the basics. I think that it is great that you feel confident in your abilities, and you are also willing to learn more if needed. We owe it to our future students to know as much as we can in order to teach our students to the best of our abilities. I like how you used the word “altering” when talking about changing our lessons to meeting the needs of our students. Staying with what we know is right, but also “altering” our thinking and teaching will most beneficial to our students.
Even though you may have only known half of the questions on the quiz, I still would agree with you that you are not really a digital immigrant. You seem to use and keep up with technology enough to be considered a digital native. Besides for wiki, I think the other two definitions had little importance when considering your digital literacy. You seem to use a lot of sources of technology and have no problem multitasking. Therefore, I would definitely say that you are more digital native than a lot of other people.
I thought it was interesting to see that your parents just got cell phones and that they don’t use the internet much. Both my mom and my dad have kept up with technology pretty well considering other people their age. My mom has kept pretty up to date with technology because she was a secretary for a special education program and had to work by a computer all day. My dad on the other hand has a real interest for technology and has gone from being a math and science teacher to the computer teacher to the technology assistant for the school district. This made me realize how much of an advantage I have had growing up compared to other kids. I remember playing games by using huge floppy discs and connecting to AOL using a dial up modem. It just shows you how important it is for us as teachers and maybe even eventually parents to keep up with technology for the sake of our students and children.
I also like how you compared your experience as an emergent digital learner with Tompkins definition of emergent literature. I think that what you said and how you compared the two make a lot of sense. I agree that the more someone observes and participates with different domains of technology or literacy, the more familiar they will be with its functions. I think that this is the way that everyone should consider their emergent into both literacy and technology. I believe that the only way to learn and expand your knowledge is to become active in what we are trying to learn about by either observing and/or participating with the material we desire.
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