Marc Prensky

PART 1

1. What do you think of the term: Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants? I've never heard of these specific terms before watching these videos, but the ideas make sense.

2. Where do you fit in? I feel like I land somewhere in the middle, certain types of technology come easy to me or are things I use frequently, while others take longer for me to get the hang of or just arent something that help me enough in my day-to-day to bother taking on.

3. In regards to the Digital Divide, how do you see it impacting education? I like his mention of "open phone testing". In the real world when were faced with a problem, how likely is it that we have no access to the internet to look for assistance? or a friend who might know the answer. Seems like something that in the right circumstances and classrooms would be helpful to give students the best possible chance of being successful and feeling confident in the knowledge they already have.

4. What are the most interesting concepts Prensky presents? Why? Open-phone testing. And the mention of Google and how they offer staff time during the workday to tackle their own personal projects. 

5. Is there anything Prensky presents that you are skeptical about? What is it and why do you think so? He didnt say anything specific that I'm skeptical of, and I'm sure it depends on the time and resources available, but for a person whos giving lectures on technology I wish there was more to his presentations than him simply speaking and clicking through slides.

6. Do you think technology is important in an art classroom? Why or Why not? Technology is definitely important in an art classroom. Everything we use is technology, not just a cell phone or computer. 

 

PART 2

1. List the article  and hyperlink on your Blog to the article

https://thriveglobal.com/stories/now-is-our-opportunity-for-real-child-centered-education/

I really enjoyed this article, it was pretty short but he made a lot of great points in regard to how students are/were spending their time when schools were closed at the start of the pandemic and parents had to step in and ""replace" some of the education they were missing out on. He mentions "student-centered" in this article, which we speak about in classes a lot, the importance of a "student-centered classroom", giving the students a voice and a choice, but Prensky ultimately says that if a class were truly "student-centered" we would be handing over most of the function and structure of the classroom to students, which isnt whats really happening. Obviously, that probably wouldnt be successful and not much learning would get done in a 4th grade classroom run by fourth graders with no guidance, but expanding these narrow questions we ask students about their dreams and interests beyond what exists at school is so much more realistic than expecting them to stick to the 5 subjects listed on their schedule. Truthfully I just chose this first article at random because it was close to the top of the page and had a very recent date, but I'm glad I did and it was easy to stay interested since the topic at hand was one we've all been dealing with for the last year and a half. 

1. List the article  and hyperlink on your Blog to the article

https://thriveglobal.com/stories/a-huge-opportunity-for-parents-and-schools-if-they-dont-waste-it/

This article was interesting and had some pretty similar ideas to the last video we watched, Prensky is encouraging schools to ask students to use their phones to stay engaged in school. While students were out of the classroom and learning from home, Prensky offers suggestions that might help students be involved in their own learning and enlist them to help use technology that they are familiar with to stay active in the classroom. Though a lot of what he brought up, SurveyMonkey, blog posts, all seem like great ideas I'm curious to know what his suggestions might be for schools or areas where students and families dont have easy access to technology. It always seems like every kid has a cell phone or laptop but thats not really the case, and not every home or family has access to the internet, so I'm interested to know what Prensky might suggest to keep the same engagement with students who dont have the same technology available to them.