Introduction
Technological advancements have changed the way of life today, thus, affecting almost all sectors of the economy including education, transportation, and communication among others. Students in learning institutions have significantly changed because they are not the ones the education system was designed to teach initially. This is as a result of changing times and need change in methods of delivery. Students in the current world have changed in various perspectives such as their styles, clothes, slang, modes of study, and the way they view education. A huge discontinuity has happened with time, leading to major differences between the current generation and the past. Rapid dissemination and arrival of digital technology in the past few decades has led to irreversible changes. The terms digital immigrants and digital natives were coined by Marc Prensky in 2001 (Prensky, 2001a). He explained that the use of digital technology has led to changes in how students reason and the way they process information, thus, making it quite challenging for them to use outdated methods and excel academically. Students who have been raised in a world full of digital technology use require learning using the same media for them to learn effectively and gather attention. Such students are referred to as digital natives. Digital immigrants are individuals who were born before digital technology was widely adopted (Prensky, 2010). The term may also refer to people who were born after widespread of digital technology but were later exposed to it at a later stage (Prensky, 2001b). The main difference between the two is that digital natives have been using such technology since childhood (Prensky, 2010). This paper discusses the different ways in which digital natives are exploiting higher learning using digital technology. The findings are then compared with how digital immigrants are using technology to exploit various opportunities in higher learning.
Analysis of Application of Digital Technology in Higher Learning by Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants
Students in colleges and universities today are the first generation to use technology since childhood. Such students have spent their whole lives using video cams, videogames, cell phones, and digital music players among other digital technologies. Prensky (2001a) argues that today’s university graduates have spent an average of 5, 000 hours reading throughout their lives but more than 10, 000 hour playing computer games or other types of video games on cell phones. This is not inclusive of approximately 20, 000 hours of watching television. This means that emails, instant messaging, computer games, and cell phones are an integral part of their daily lives.
According to Della (2014), due to an environment surrounded by digital technology, how students in the modern world think and process the information they receive is quite different from their predecessors. Such differences have gone deeper and further than how educators realize or suspect. The structure of the brain is affected by different experiences. The brains of digital natives have physically changed due to their mode of upbringing thus affecting their thinking patterns. The problem present right now in education is that digital immigrants who speak a language that is outdated are the instructors of a population of students who speak a completely different language (Della, 2014). Digital native students often do not understand what digital immigrants say.
Echenique (2014) asserts that digital natives receive information at a fast rate due to the use of technology. Such students thus prefer multi-taking and parallel processing. Such students function best when computers and internet are used. For instance, they prefer accessing information through hypertexts. This makes it easy for them to get information because it takes less time and mental energy as compared to reading bulky irrelevant information to access particular information. Such students also thrive on frequent rewards and instant gratification. This is due to the fact that they are used to getting things done within a short time. They are, therefore, not patient enough to take time to carry out different activities.
Table 1: Differences between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants
Source: (Al-Ali and Gunn, 2013).
Digital natives use digital technology to get instant feedback. These students have grown up using social media, internet, and cell phones among others that enable them to connect to the world instantly. Most of the things they do take a short time to process thus they end up expecting the same from education. Different methods of teaching are used to ensure that information reaches students instantly. For instance, Blue pulse works well with digital natives because the technology allows students to communicate with tutors in real time.
Blue pulse was built to help students succeed in their studies. The application gathers feedback for instructors so that they can gauge it with student progress, understanding, and sentiment. Bluepulse helps aids in student retention ability and supporting teaching excellence in digital natives since they are well conversant with digital technology. This application is a confidential channel where instructors and students can get feedback from each other. Students today give inputs while their instructors improve outcomes, close learning gaps, and raise engagement thus leading to improved performance in higher learning. Digital native instructors improve course evaluations through providing formative feedback, engaging students in learning accordingly, track progress of their students, and spend little time working in the office.
Digital natives also interact differently from digital immigrants. They mostly prefer to communicate via social media (Faraon, Cronquist & Kaipainen, 2011). Della (2014) posit that learners in the past used face-to-face meetings because they felt that that was the right way to handle things and to seek clarification. Students in today’s world prefer connecting through text messages and emails. For instance, they create Whatsapp groups to engage themselves in discussion about assignments and other group activities such as projects. Since digital immigrants were already used to meeting face-to-face before they got introduced to digital technologies, they tend not to value such online meetings and group work because they feel that such means may not work for them appropriately.
Digital natives want to have a direct influence in education. Technology enables them to have a command in their lives. Students who have been raised using digital technology want the kind of education they get to prepare them for various roles in future. They also tend to believe that approaches centered on learners should be applied to determine objectives in learning. For instance, conducting online course evaluations is a practice that allows instructors to collect feedback from learners in a way that is most appropriate to them. Through the feedback provided instructors provide information about various course components and how they affect learning. Digital immigrants are not quite aggressive in influencing the quality of education they get (Della 2014). They are mostly comfortable with the already existing methods of delivery as well as the content provided.
Additionally, digital native students prefer application of an interdisciplinary approach (Lai, & Hong, 2014). In the past, topics were organized into different subjects and then into departments. Most digital immigrants have used such systems and do not mind using them even though they have started embracing the multidisciplinary approach. Most students in the twenty first century want to get information and learn about various topics beyond traditional subject boundaries. Digital natives see a world full of connections and thus they expect education to reflect such a nature (Lai, & Hong, 2014). They, therefore, pursue several degrees or take classes after they have completed obtaining diploma. This is made possible through online learning where they can access study materials easily and spend less time studying because they can maximize the little time they get during odd hours. Nonetheless, digital immigrants mostly attend physical classes but have recently embraced the strategy used by digital natives.
Digital immigrants have realized that they have to keep learning because digital technology has been changing at a high rate. Due to changing technology and methods of learning, such people have learnt to keep up with such trends (Lai, & Hong, 2014). Most digital immigrants use digital technology due to the pressing needs otherwise they do not desire to do so. They also tend to use punctuation marks in tweets and emails unlike digital natives. Such people are mostly aged between 46 to 29 years. On the other hand, digital natives have learnt to quickly adapt to changes in learning institutions. Such people are aged less than 29 years. Most of the way they interact and carry out their learning is through online means and digital technology.
Table 2: Digital learning characteristics of “digital natives”
As cited in Lai and Hong (2014)
Conclusion
With the rapid rate of technological advancement, there have been significant changes in the way students learn in higher institutions. Different approaches have been used to change the way students learn. Most of the students in colleges and universities have been using digital technologies since childhood hence the need for them to use the same methods in learning. Their brain structure is quite different from those who have not been using technology since they were born. Digital natives use online platforms for discussions and group work, the also use applications such as blue pulse; they also prefer using a multidisciplinary approach to study, and tend to influence the content of their studies. Even though digital immigrants are not quite conversant with such methods, they have learnt to adopt them in learning too because it is the only way they will remain relevant for a long time.
Recommendations
Regular training should be conducted in learning institutions to inform students and tutors on current methods of learning that apply digital technologies. The training sessions should be held differently because both students and their instructors use different resources. Learning about such technologies enables them to appreciate them and also become more interested in them. This strategy will help to attract digital immigrants who are somehow reluctant to using digital technologies in learning.
Public campaigns and awareness should be raised for the general public to understand the benefits and new methods of learning using digital technologies. This helps to reach out to a large number of people in different regions and especially outside school setting. The strategy is also effective in school settings. Students should be encouraged to use social media and other technologies for educational purposes rather than for entertainment entirely.
Investing in research and equipping institutions with more digital technologies such as fast internet connection and computers also helps to boost digital learning and bridging the gap between digital natives and digital immigrants. Making resources easily accessible motivates all students to use them in their daily learning activities. Research helps to identify the most appropriate and effective digital technologies for different learning activities. This helps to introduce students to methods of learning that best work for them.
References
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