Digital Natives

Technology needs to be integrated in classrooms because this is the manner in which the generation of Digital Natives learns, engages, communicates, and interacts. This now leaves us as digital immigrants since we have to adapt to and learn the new technology. This is what makes our generation-digital immigrants wonder; how can we teach, what we are just learning ourselves? Digital natives think and process differently from what we are accustomed to. They like to multi-task, receive information fast, learn through technology, and prefer graphics. Since they learn differently, their experiences and their brain structure are different from ours. This leaves our students in the hands of “unintelligible foreigners” who still believe in old school teaching and sometimes have little appreciation for these new skills. Therefore, if we want to educate Digital Natives, we have to accept and change our perception in our tactics and content. We can do this by communicating in their language and style, but not forgetting our heritage. We, as educators need to change our tactics, content, and think of new innovative ways of how to teach this new generation. During my years of elementary and high school, we did not use computers us much as we do now. A typing class was required but that was as far as it went, and we used computers only to write papers. Our generation, the Digital Immigrants, can begin to use more strategies that can be used in a classroom which  incorporate technology in lessons, change lessons to attract and engage students; you can do this by creating games or using software.