1 Technology and Life as a Digital Native

Over the last twenty years, the world's reliance on computers has exploded. What used to take hours of searching through a library and encyclopedias is now information that is almost instantaneous, all it takes is a few strokes of a keyboard. My entire educational career I have used computers for assignments, projects, learning games, and presentations. One thing that is for sure, computers do not seem to be going away any time soon. Students and teachers alike must adapt to the ever-changing skills of technology and figure out how to utilize them as tools to further improve educational possibilities. With computers, information is easier to obtain which makes students with short attention spans more likely to complete their work, rather than struggling through hours of book research. Chapters 1 and 2 stress how important it is for students and their teachers to become competent in computer skills in order to achieve higher success in life and to avoid being left behind by more qualified competitors. Computer skills can make the difference between a student being accepted to college, getting a job, or receiving a much-needed promotion. I agree with the book's view points on this issue. In class it is always easy to point out during student-created powerpoint presentations which students are skilled with the program and which students are struggling. The skilled students have more elaborate and well-designed presentations which usually earn them higher grades than those unskilled students who had a white powerpoint with bland black font.

The thought of having my own classroom one day soon is extremely exciting. I want to make the greatest impact that I possibly can on my students and that is going to require that I use creative, technological resources to make learning fun and memorable for them. I plan on having my students create blogs to reflect on topics we have just learned or to further their creative writing and journaling skills. I have always enjoyed online review games teachers have created, like Jeopardy. These online games make students forget for a moment that they are working and learning, but at the same time they are expanding their knowledge through the use of fun activities. Through this course I hope to learn the skills to make my dreams of being an amazing teacher become a reality.

I agree with the title of "digital natives" that is being given to today's generations of children, at least in first world nations such as America. A digital native is someone who does not know a life without computers and such technology. I am a digital native. When I was a little kid the technology may not have been as advanced as it is today, I had dial-up internet, but I was very familiar with the technology and how to use it. My five year-old neighbor can navigate himself to youtube, select a dinosaur video that he wants to watch, and even skip the ads without even knowing how to read. Kids these days (digital natives) now have the steps memorized of how to get where they want on many iphones, ipads, and computers without having any literacy skills which is much more than I can say for many literate middle-aged adults (digital immigrants). It is always difficult when teachers are completely incompetent with computers. I think it hinders my performance as a student. One of my professors does not use a powerpoint or any type of teaching supplement besides lecturing. He does not have a single thing on the projector. As a visual learner, I struggle to understand a lot of the material in that course. I'm sure there will be many differences between how I use technology and how it is used by my future students. That is because technology is changing every day and as an adult I will probably have more to worry about than how to use the latest app. However, I do want to maintain proficiency in as many programs as I can to help my students as much as possible.