Are Digital Natives a Myth or a reality?

As a young adult I have always wondered what the teaching environment would look like in 50 years time. A digital native means that as a young child I was brought up during the age where digital technology was advancing and these types of technology were used throughout my education. Digital natives are a reality of our 21st century world. Look around you, a 21st century classroom setting has interactive whiteboards, take home iPads, laptops, online marking systems and so much more, this is our reality. It is deeply concerning that children are faced and strained with constantly using technology whilst both at home and at school leading many students to the ultimate reality of struggling with lack of sleep. to an extent a lack of communication skills isolating themselves from the real world. This is evident in Lambert and Cuper Telematics and Informatics article (2008) response to digital natives where they discuss the associated problems with technology impacting the educational system but the benefits that technology brings to the classroom.

The digital natives of the 21st century places both students and teachers at a remarkable number of positive and negative factors. The positive factors associated with digital natives becoming a reality is that the use of technology in classrooms can excite students about the school environment. This also prepares students for the future and that it can also encourage students to learn spontaneously encouraging them to learn about topics that interest them providing them with information that may have not been available to them in a normal school setting. Similarly teachers need to use multimedia technologies within the context of students’ familiar Lambert and Cuper (2008). Whereas the issues associated with digital natives becoming a reality is that technology use in the classroom can allow students to become distracted, it removes students from opportunities to socialise and it can also discourage creativity in students limiting their capability to problem solve. McNaught, Lam, and Ho (2009) found that so-called digital natives (students) were not always more digitally-oriented than the so-called immigrants (teachers).

There’s no denying that technology has great benefits for schools. However, any conversation that does not include the potential dangers of the widespread use of technology would not be complete (Lynch and Matthew 2017). In reference to this the situation of Digital natives becoming more common in the 21st century means that students' brains will develop at a more complex rate but further leads to more potential dangers placing my position on this question in a two way stance. Teachers and future- teachers, therefore, should teach and be taught how to deal with online information (Wineburg & McGrew, 2016) underlying the key that all 21st-century teachers must follow technology guidelines.

From my findings and understanding I would utilise this information in the future under the conditions of my own classroom setting implementing technology when I believe it is needed providing my students. Providing them resources to get the best out of their learning, with the factor of being a digital native to using it to their full advantage

References

Au-Yong-Oliveira, M., Gonçalves, R., Martins, J., & Branco, F. (2018). The social impact of technology on millennials and consequences for higher education and leadership. Telematics and Informatics, 35(4), 954–963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.10.007

Kirschner, P. A., & De Bruyckere, P. (2017). The myths of the digital native and the multitasker. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 135–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.06.001

smail, N. (2018, September 19). Modern technology: advantages and disadvantages. Information Age. https://www.information-age.com/modern-technology-advantages-disadvantages-123465637

Webanywhere.co.uk. (2018, July 27). Top 6 benefits of using technology in the classroom. Webanywhere.co.uk. https://www.webanywhere.co.uk/blog/2016/02/top-6-benefits-technology-classroom/