Listen to the Natives

By Marc Prensky

Educational Leadership December 2005/January 2006

Digital Natives vs Digital Immigrants

Natives• Native speakers of

technology• Fluent in the

language of technology, video games and the Internet

• Our students!

Immigrants

•Not born into the digital world

•Adopted many aspects of technology

•Retain an “accent.”

•Us!

The problem?

• Our students, as digital natives, will continue to evolve so rapidly that we, as teachers, won’t be able to keep up.

The Solution?

• Shifting Gears.• Students Engagement• Collaborating with Students• Flexible Organization• Digital Tools• Programming• Legacy Versus Future Learning• School Versus After School• Student Voice

Shifting Gears

• Take cues from students’ 21st century innovations and behaviors.• May have to abandon own predigital instincts and comfort zones.• Value what our students know about technology.• Encourage student decision-making.• Involve students in instruction design.• Get student input on how they would teach.

The Use of Electronics to Improve Student Engagement

• Prerequisites for learning – engagement and motivation.

• Engage students the 21st Century way

• “Gameplay”– Same student demands but through complex

computer games.

Collaborating with Students

• Make decisions with students– Curriculum development– Teaching methods – School organization– Discipline – Assignments

Flexible Organization

• Solutions to herding – students’ involuntary assignment to specific classes or groups for the benefit of the educators.

One-to-One instruction

•Continually adapted to each student as he or she learns.•Capitalize on students’ individual capabilities.

Student Self-selection

•Allow students to choose their virtual learning groups.

Digital Tools

• Educating and evaluating students must include 21st century tools• Cell phones

– Deliver interactive lessons over a cell phone– Usage of short messaging to service to quiz or tutor– Have students access animations in anatomy and forensics

Programming

• Educators must help students extend their programming abilities.

• Write programming curricula and make it available for all students.

• Students can teach their peers.

Legacy Versus Future Learning

• Consolidate and concentrate important parts of our curriculum to make room for 21st century learning.

• Teach nanotechnology, bioethics, genetic medicine and neuroscience.

• Involve guest teachers.• Deliver this content through 21st tools.

School Versus After School

• Currently, our students are receiving their 21st century education after school.

• Teachers must find ways to integrate kids’ technology-rich after-school lives with the lives in school.

• “The cookies on my daughter’s computer know more about her interests than her teachers do.”

Student Voice

• Listen to the kids we serve!

• Value their opinions!

• Make major changes on the basis of the valid suggestions our students offer!