I’ve just been doing some writing around learner cultures/expectations when I came across this short but sweet article, The myth of the digital native, by Martin Owen, Director of Learning, NESTA Futurelab:
"Recently there has been much talk about a digital divide in our society. This is not the divide of other recent debates about access for poorer people to the benefits of ICT; this divide is supposed to be a generational difference in attitude and disposition to use technology. Those who are growing up now are referred to as digital natives and those who approach the technology with some maturity are termed digital immigrants (Prensky, 2001)."
Always good to see constructive criticism and I think Martin Owen has a good point, but as I have mentioned elsewhere (end of shameless self-promotion!) I think he is missing the main point of Prensky's original article, that is education needs to change. A message that is lost in the appeal of his metaphor.
Posted by: Stephen Harlow | Wednesday, July 07, 2004 at 04:59