Session 9 Part A

Part A

• What are some characteristics of digital natives? (What are they good at? What are they poor at?)

- They develop hypertext minds. They leap around. It’s as though their cognitive structures were parallel, not sequential.
- Digital Natives crave interactivity—an immediate response to their each and every action.
- It is not that Digital Natives can’t pay attention, it’s that they choose not to.
- Digital Natives accustomed to the twitch-speed, multitasking, random-access, graphics-first, active, connected, fun, fantasy, quick-payoff world of their video games, MTV, and Internet.
- The cognitive differences of the Digital Natives cry out for new approaches to education with a better "fit".

• Which portrait did you select? (In your blog, create a link to the portrait.) In terms of their digital background, how similar was that student compared to a Singapore student?

http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-interview-olivia

Olivia has a different digital background from a Singapore student. From her interview, I get this impression that she is living in the ghetto. From what I understand from her interview, it seems that she has a totally opposite digital lifestyle from a Singapore student.

Most of us are able to afford internet and technological gadgets as these are like the staple in our everyday life, whereas from her background, it seems as though her technology comes from the neighbourhood and the school's facilities.

I would say that it would be hard to compare her with a Singapore student because it is very rare to come across a student who does not own his/her own personalized computer or handphone.

But the similarities she has in her digital background is that she enjoys her technology-driven lifestyle as much as a Singapore student, she thinks that she has a world of her own in the digital platform (be it Myspace or with her iPod) and last but not least, she enjoys interactivity so much that she can spend her day surfing online looking up on stuffs or on emails.

• How might teachers in Singapore today engage and teach our digital natives?

I think teachers may alternate teaching the kids the traditional teaching method and the ICT incorporated teaching method in a ratio best exemplifies their curriculum studies lessons. I personally will not give up teaching them in the traditional teaching method as I do not want them to get too used to the technology aided method that they would get bored after a while. I would like to alternate their "taste" in the teaching environments my lessons are set in.