Exploring the Concept of Digital Natives and Immigrants in Modern Education

The concept of digital natives and immigrants refers to the different approaches individuals have towards technology. Digital natives are people born after the introduction of digital technology, who are quick to adapt to new technologies. On the other hand, digital immigrants are those who were born before the introduction of digital technology and may take longer to grasp new technologies. The classification between these two groups is not always clear-cut as technology adoption has been a unified phenomenon worldwide. The term 'digital native' is also synonymous with 'digital inclusion', emphasizing that being digitally included means one is able to use modern technology effectively.

DIGITAL NATIVES

Topic: Digital natives
Digital native can be explained as the person or an individual took birth during the period
of technology or computers. It can also be said that the familiarity of the children with
technology, computers and other internet tools. Although, the term digital natives was first
introduced by the Marc Prensky who is an education consultant. In 2001, the term is introduced
with a motive to understand the needs of modern students. It is seen that people of this
generation are more comfortable with the computers and internet technology. Additionally, the
young generation are advanced with knowledge of internet and technology. It has become an
indispensable part of the lives of an individual. The present topic is necessary to be discussed
because the gap can be analysed between the thinking process of present generation with older
ones. By considering this topic, the reader will be able to know the pros and cons of the current
study and its importance (Bennett and Maton, 2010).
The purpose of writing this essay is to evaluate the reasons generating conflicts between
the generations. It is seen that with the changing time introduction of technology and new aspects
has created challenges for the older generations. For instance, in offices the work is done with
the help of computers and other machineries (Makoe, 2012). The technology is changing faster
which has resulted in creating a gap between the new and old generation. Similarly, children
plays games over internet and use Facebook, You tube and other social networking sites. It has a
major consequence i.e. created clashes between the parents and children. Apart form this, the
major issue is being faced by the teachers who uses outdated language where they are struggling
to teach the new language. The digital natives have got an enhanced exposure to the technology
that has altered the way of interaction and responses. In order to attain the learning needs of the
children, the teachers are required to disconnect the way of traditional learning (Ng, 2012).
In context to above, the teachers are not only facing issues with their current level of
proficiency but also display resistance towards the integration of digital tools. Although,
technology can remain ineffective and complicated for the teachers because they are unable to
maintain the level of professionalism in-front of the class students. In addition to this, it has
created an unprofessional image in the minds of teachers for themselves. In order to meet the
needs of learning of digital natives the researchers suggested certain digital tools through which
immediate respond can be given. Besides this, understanding the use of digital technique not
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only result in offering several learning opportunities but also help in ascertaining the requisite
skills needed in future. For the attainment of digital natives learning needs, the teachers can
adapt Gamification as the technique of learning. It will help in generating interest in the digital
natives which can not be done through books. The outcome of using this technique is that it
provides an synergistic surroundings for the learners. There are different reasons for adopting
the concept of gamification as it renders appropriate way to impart learning in an appropriate
manner (Makoe, 2012). On the basis of above discussion, it can be asserted that digital native has
an existence because they are not specifically termed as a digital natives and immigrants but they
do exist. Generalizations are also assigned to digital natives who grew up with recent technology
who he segments as those born in 1980 or later. Much like national immigrants who grew up
speaking a foreign language before immigrating to a new nation, digital immigrants are said to
use technology with an accent and experience some difficulties expressing themselves to the
level of proficiency of younger generations who were born with technology surrounding them.
Firstly, the game technology are being prepared with a motive to enhance the thinking
and problem solving ability of an individual. It leads to enhance the memorizing power of a child
with reference to gain knowledge. Secondly, use of gamification leads to promote the creative
factor among the digital natives. It helps in encouraging the learners to think like a designer and
increase their learning powers. Lastly, by playing the online games the digital natives are able to
learn the about the social environment. In terms of evidence, the researches has explained
several approachers for the education of digital natives. It can be power point, Excel, Web quest
and many more techniques. Besides this there is one more term called digital immigrants are
those who born before the introduction of digital technology (Margaryan and et.al, 2011). They
are the people who are less quick to grasp the new technologies as compared to the digital
natives. However, it is controversial to classify between the digital natives and immigrants. Some
digital immigrants surpass digital natives in tech savvy, but there is a belief that early exposure
to technology fundamentally changes the way people learn. The actual classification of people
into immigrants and natives is tricky as the adoption of digital technology hasn't been a unified
phenomenon worldwide. In context to this, The term "digital native" is synonymous with the
term "digital inclusion". Being digitally included means that you are innately able in using a
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smartphone or computer tablets: modern technology has enabled the non-speaking to speak, the
non-hearing to hear and the non-seeing to see (Helsper and Eynon, 2010).
In context to above, it can be concluded that there is no empirical evidence of the single
new generation of young student. As per the study, a gap has been analysed between the parents
and children due to excess use of technology. Apart form this, it has become essential for the
teachers to draw attention on learning new languages in order to make the students learn. Besides
this, the rapid advancement of technology is also seen in the last decade specially in due to the
introduction of the social networking platform. Although, it can be suggested that there are
certain way to engage the learners towards technology effectively.
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REFRENCES
Books and Journals
Bennett, S. and Maton, K., 2010. Beyond the ‘digital natives’ debate: Towards a more nuanced
understanding of students' technology experiences. Journal of computer assisted
learning. 26(5). pp.321-331.
Helsper, E.J. and Eynon, R., 2010. Digital natives: where is the evidence?. British educational
research journal. 36(3). pp.503-520.
Jones, C., and et.al, 2010. Net generation or Digital Natives: Is there a distinct new generation
entering university?. Computers & Education. 54(3). pp.722-732.
Makoe, M., 2012. Teaching digital natives: Identifying competencies for mobile learning
facilitators in distance education. South African Journal of Higher Education. 26(1).
pp.91-104.
Margaryan, A., and et.al, 2011. Are digital natives a myth or reality? University students’ use of
digital technologies. Computers & Education. 56(2). pp.429-440.
Ng, W., 2012. Can we teach digital natives digital literacy?. Computers & Education. 59(3).
pp.1065-1078.
Teo, T., 2013. An initial development and validation of a Digital Natives Assessment Scale
(DNAS). Computers & Education. 67. pp.51-57.
Online
Digital Native vs Digital Citizen? Examining a Dangerous Stereotype. 2017. [Online]. Available
through: <https://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-native-digitial-citizen-stereotype-
mary-beth-hertz>. [Accessed on 20th February 2017].
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