Adapting to Digital Age: Challenges and Solutions

This assignment discusses the challenges of adapting to the digital age, particularly for those who are not native speakers of the digital language. It highlights issues such as instructor 'accent,' time management, and technical difficulties in online education. Solutions include adopting a regular schedule, setting reminders, and identifying technological support before enrolling in courses.

LEARNING AND WORKING IN THE DIGITAL AGE
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Learning and Working in the Digital Age
(Prensky, 2001,p. 1) Suggests that today's students use computers, digital music players,
video cams, cell phones, games, video games, and other tools of the digital age. Further, he
describes “today” students as native speakers of the language in which the Internet, video games
and computers feature prominently. The "new language" is characterized by the presence of
academic articles and scholarly libraries within digital platforms, such as the Internet. Other
publications such as journal articles, preprints issues, and book reviews are also available.
According to (Prensky, 2001,p. 3), universities utilize different IT products, and processes such
as online libraries to undertake educational programs. Further, Prensky describes Digital Natives
as the young generation and Digital Immigrants as the older people who learned the digital
language. The immigrants retain some aspects of their "original accent" such as physically
showing people an interesting website, rather than sending the URL. Further, the author
examines challenges facing digital immigrants, such as failures of pre-digital instructors and
their "accent."
The main problem facing digital immigration is the individuals’ willingness and ability to
adapt to new technology. Prensky (2001,p. 3) suggests that Digital Immigrants face specific
challenges adjusting to the "new language." The older people retain a certain degree of their past
"accent", for instance, calling to confirm a sent email. Another challenge facing Digital
Immigrants is instructors who speak the pre-digital language; because they struggle to teach the
new style. For digital natives, these instructors seem unintelligible, and heavily accented. For
unwilling individuals, adapting to new technology is problematic.
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One of the challenges facing my online studies is adaptability. Notably, changing from a
traditional classroom to computer-based programs is difficult (Islam et al., 2015,p. 103). In some
cases, adapting to the online environment is challenging, because it takes time to understand
Course Management Systems (CMS) and other online education programs. The address
adaptability, I would identify benefits of e-learning and discuss the coursework with peers.
Another challenge is time management. Notably, computer-based education requires intensive
work and a lot of time (Kebritchi et al., 2017,p. 20). By adopting a regular schedule, students
efficiently undertake the various educational programs. To address time wastage, I would set
alarms and reminders. Further, technical issues such as lack of a "strong" internet limit my ability
to attend virtual classes. Also, learning and undertaking the Course Management System is
problematic. I would address technical issues by identifying suitable technological support
before enrolling for the course.
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References
Kebritchi, M., Lipschuetz, A., and Santiago, L. 2017. "Issues and Challenges for Teaching
Successful Online Courses in Higher Education." Journal of Educational Technology Systems,
46(1), pp. 4 - 29.
Islam, N., Beer, M., and Slack, F. 2015. "E-Learning Challenges Faced by Academics in Higher
Education: A Literature Review." Journal of Education and Training Studies, 3(5), pp. 102-109.
Prensky, Marc. 2001. "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1." On the Horizon, pp. 1 - 6.
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