What does it mean to be a "Digital Native"? Basically, this term describes a person who has used technology since birth. Digital natives are as comfortable with technology as those of us are as comfortable with pen and paper we used growing up. (I mean "we" as antecessors who didn't even have their own device to use while in college.) As I have worked in Canyons School District, I have seen students at the elementary level do some amazing projects integrating technology because they had teachers that were willing to let students use technology tools as part of their learning process in the classroom. This year I have seen teachers use iBooks so students could create digital, interactive books to use on the iPad. I have seen lower grade teachers building iPad and iPod labs in their classrooms, striving towards the goal of 1:1 initiative with students. Elementary students have created QR codes to use with their art projects so that when the QR code is scanned, there is a story that can be read that correlates with their art project. I have seen many examples of teachers making strides to speak the same technology language as the digital natives in their classrooms. The biggest example to me this year of someone who is a digital native is my daughter. She recently wrote a paragraph in the first grade about computers being the best invention ever made.
How many educators do we know that probably still don't know what Skype is and how it is used to communicate with others? Even though my role is to help educate teachers on how to use technology in their classrooms, my daughter still teaches me what it means to be a "Digital Native" in this ever changing technology world we live in. She teaches me not to be afraid of using technology and the importance of implementing technology as part of her learning process. I hope that as my daughter goes through the education system, that she will be able to use technology in a way that I used pen and paper for learning. I see the importance of implementing technology in the classroom and I commend the teachers who are making strides to look at learning through the same lens as the digital natives in their classrooms.
Posted by PJ Giles
Posted by PJ Giles
“We need technology in every classroom and in every student and teacher’s hand, because it is the pen and paper of our time, and it is the lens through which we experience much of our world.” – David Warlick
