Natives vs. Immigrants: Ridiculously Complicated

So much of what we had touched upon in class today resonated in my head as I read, watched, and contemplated Boyd, Prensky and Wesch this evening. I think the main divergence among their positions lies in their beliefs of the responsibilities and expectations of the digital natives and those of the digital immigrants.

Prensky celebrates the fluency with which youth (digital natives) engage in the digital world, and argues that digital immigrants will forever be compared to digital natives, but they they will never match up. Sometimes I feel as if the youth in our schools are leaps and bounds ahead of us in terms of technology and we are struggling to keep up. This thinking led me back to our discussion today about fear and control from the "digital immigrants" that are not quite sure of where technology and media fit into the education system.

Boyd argues that while digital natives are fluent and familiar with technology and gadgets, they lack the critical knowledge necessary to interact productively; Boyd even goes a step further to say that this is a skill that the digital immigrants can share with youth to encourage them to be critical consumers and producers. One of the most interesting concepts brought up in "It's Complicated" was danger - not the danger of technology or moving forward in a digital world, but the danger of assuming that youth are automatically informed and in tune with the digital world that they are so heavily a part of and that is a part of their lives. "Teens may make their own media or share content online, but this does not mean that they inherently have the knowledge or perspective to critically examine what they consume. . . . it is dangerous to assume that youth are automatically informed. It is also naive to assume that so-called digital immigrants have nothing to offer"(Boyd 177).

 Again, I was reminded of our conversation about "control" and the blocking of certain sites. Instead of widening the gap between teachers (mostly digital immigrants) and students (mostly digital natives), why not encourage the conversation that could enhance both the lives and school experiences of teachers AND students?!

Wesch (whose video I watched/used/shared last year) attempts to bridge the gap between natives and immigrants by stating that the power of media and technology together can be dangerous if digital immigrants and digital natives are not working together and having the conversations necessary to go beyond critical thinking. While digital natives are fluent in creating and consuming and finding/sorting/analyzing/criticizing/creating STUFF, digital immigrants can utilize these critical moments with them in order to help them find meaning and purpose. If we are to have a global conversation, we need to be able to first have that conversation right in our own classrooms. Natives and immigrants alike can each stand to learn from the other - and the stuff that we create and produce and consume and create again will be ridiculously amazing if we let it, and if we want it to.