May 25th Blog Entry:

Okay, I have to admit it. I might be a digital immigrant. I’m not so proud of this, I used to think I was pretty good with technology and the newest innovations, but really somewhere in all this traditional type of education I think I’ve gotten lost. I think that speaks to part of the problem with education as it stands now. You would think that a system dedicated to teaching young people would be more up to date with what young people need and use. I don’t really have any experience working in the school system, but from what I’ve heard from my colleagues is that they are pretty open to changing the system to be better for children, but somewhere along the line it doesn’t happen and the system stays the same. I think part of this may come from this digital generation gap, maybe despite our best efforts we don’t actually know what children need from technology, or what they can do with it. I think this is why this native/immigrant distinction is so interesting; it gives children credit for the technological ability they have and is trying to tell us we could learn something from them, which is exactly what I think we should be doing. I find myself yet again thinking about how we never give children credit for what they know and what they are able to learn on their own or in general. I can’t help but think that if I had kids things like this would be such a fantastic opportunity for them to teach me something and spend some time with them. Selfishly it would also be a sneaky way to find out some of what they do online without being that parent that pesters them about their online activities.