Overall I am not a fan of Prensky’s way of thinking. Not that I don’t see a place in schools for technology
and games and interactive learning. But
I think in Australia, on many levels, we need to stop being the little brother
to the American way of life and this extends into our education systems.
I can only speak for the school age children I know and admittedly
most of them are in regional Queensland, but unlike the children Prensky exemplifies,
a 4 year old can’t play Halo 2 (and I can’t think of a parent who would let
them), I also know that my 3rd grader and all his school mates do
not have "multiple e-mail addresses"…
I am also offended by the pidgin hole he places me in, ‘the digital
immigrant’, and his statement that I would think that education can’t be
fun.
I think he forgets that it was us immigrants that made the
technological world – we are the ones that have perpetuated it’s development
and have adapted to it and facilitated it’s integration into society – and in
turn it is possible the ‘digital immigrants’ are actually the digital creators.
Isn’t the innocence of children lost soon enough? Do we
really want 4 year olds playing MA computer games to be the norm?? Isn’t there an ethical dimension to this argument
as well???
Hi Gail, I found your post on Prensky very interesting. I had some similar thoughts regarding the tech skills of everyday young children. If you would like to check my blog my address is jackiecqublog.blogspot.com I am all for integrating technology into learning and think it is fantastic but my initial reaction was that Prensky seemed a little to enthusiastic about computer games and I became even more sceptical when I saw that one of his businesses was the development of computer games. I actually had to re-read the article. I still think he was a little too passionate about computer games being THE solution to engagement but I did change my thinking to the extent that I believe he was focusing on a specific group of learners having difficulty engaging traditionally. Having a 5 year old and 8 year both of who have no idea what halo is, I think his example of a 4 year old was a little out of context as well. I guess we wait and learn... :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent post Jackie. I think it is essential that you and Gail think critically about some of the learning theories being offered in the course. If you find theories that you can relate to and believe then future ICT learning design should become clearer and evolve in your own head.
DeleteWhat do others think?