Digital Natives

Wow! Another great article at Life Without School

Unschooling and the Digital Native by Laureen

What is a Digital Native? From Laureen's essay:

The term digital native was coined by Marc Prensky, who explains it like this:

They are native speakers of technology, fluent in the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet. I refer to those of us who were not born into the digital world as digital immigrants. We have adopted many aspects of the technology, but just like those who learn another language later in life, we retain an “accent” because we still have one foot in the past.

Laureen writes:

I've read through some of the literature on this phenomenon, and I'm convinced that it falls short, because it's being written by people who self-identify as professional educators. As an unschooler, I don't believe in educators, I believe in learners. My personal paradigm rests firmly on the assumption that children are self-starters, and that the information they absorb is the information most necessary to them in the environment they inhabit, so I'm exploring this digital native idea with that in mind.

Prensky states,

Today’s students have not just changed incrementally from those of the past, nor simply changed their slang, clothes, body adornments, or styles, as has happened between generations previously. A really big discontinuity has taken place. One might even call it a “singularity” – an event which changes things so fundamentally that there is absolutely no going back. This so-called “singularity” is the arrival and rapid dissemination of digital technology in the last decades of the 20th century.

Today’s students – K through college – represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology. They have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, video games, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. Today’s average college grads have spent less than 5,000 hours of their lives reading, but over 10,000 hours playing video games (not to mention 20,000 hours watching TV). Computer games, email, the Internet, cell phones and instant messaging are integral parts of their lives.

Her family sounds much like ours! Check out her essay and see what you think!

Technology and Rain Delays

Today is the first NASCAR race broadcast of the season that we have not been able to watch on TV, since we do not have cable ... yet! Cable is scheduled to be hooked up tomorrow! In the meantime, we signed up for a 14-day trial version of NASCAR.com's RaceTrack so that we can watch the race live on the computer. And Bill has hooked the computer's display into our 42-inch television and the sound into our stereo. All so that we can watch a live-web cam of the pit as the cars sit covered, waiting out the rain. Such excitement! Hopefully, though, the race will begin sometime today and then we can watch it through streaming video.

Yesterday we got more things settled around the apartment. I discovered there are some hooks outside on the screened-in balcony, so I can hang a couple of my plants. I am going to have to find some outdoor plant stands, as I really only have room for a few plants indoors. And I'm more than a bit worried about how the cat (and Miss Munchkin) are going to deal with the three plant stands that I have for inside.

We moved my computer around a bit in the bedroom to ease up the bottleneck. I can now sit at my desk and still have room for someone to walk past me to the bed! And today I unpacked the bathroom boxes. That leaves just my office stuff (three boxes) to settle and Bill's computer corner in the dining room. We need some shelves for there, I think, or a desk with shelves above it. And a couple of more small bookcases to hold the books I brought. Really, small ones will work as I only brought a few books! Honest! Some to sell on e-bay, some to use this last year of homeschooling, and some I just wanted to read. But right now they are all in boxes in the hallway closet and it will be a lot easier to use them if we can actually see them!

All in all, we're getting quite settled in here and adjusting nicely!

Technology, Love it or Hate it?

Charles got an iPod for his birthday Tuesday. He had an mp3 player already, but it was about wore out and he had requested something bigger and better for his birthday. Of course, bigger and better also means more complicated! Charles does not deal well with most computerized technology. He has a difficult time reading something and translating that into action. If he can see it done, he is fine. But he has inherited my technology-blindness, if you will. I have tried to help him, and we are finally making progress in understanding how to convert his existing songs into the proper format, but man, has it been a struggle. It's like learning a new language, reading some of the technical jargon. I'll read something to myself, then read it aloud to Charles, and the two of us try to decipher what I just read. But, like I said, we are finally making progress.

Now, if you were to show Charles a new karate form, he would get it right away. Or if you were to put him in charge of a class of karate students, he would have no problem with that. The class would continue calmly and smoothly. But show him something that needs tools to work on, like a car, or something with technological jargon and pop-up warnings, like a computer, and he is lost. He has had to learn to deal with more of that, though, this year with David away to college. No more can he just throw his arms up in defeat and cajole his brother into helping him.

And what is Charles doing now? While his iTunes is finally converting all the files the way he has been trying to get it to since late last night? He is out squirrel hunting. I am not sure if he took his blow gun or his bow. I do know the squirrels are not in any danger, though. The cats trailing after Charles will successfully warn away any squirrel silly enough to get within shooting range.

Anyone need a Math or Science book?

My list is complete! Well, no, that is definitely not a true statement. I do have more books, more games and more software that I will have to sort through later on. I am just not quite ready to part with it all yet. Or I cannot get to it yet because it is out in the office building and that room needs a massive cleaning just to get into the door! But I do have the math and science books that I sorted out of David's room last week on a massively long list, complete with descriptions and prices. And there are a few pieces of software added in on the list. If anyone would like to look at the list, you can e-mail me at wdkmg@pipeline.com and I'll send it to you.

I sorted through my history shelves last December and felt quite proud of how many books I disposed of until Kat remarked that there appeared to be quite a few books still left. And she is right. I had five shelves full of history resources, got rid of probably 40 books or more, and those shelves all still appear to be full. What happened? Must be I had them double shelved, or piled on top of each other. So I need to go over them again with a more ruthless eye.

And then there are my language arts shelves and my biographies shelves and …. Oh, the pain of it all!!!

Oh! And yesterday Bill passed his certification test he has been studying so hard for over the past several weeks. So, in addition to his Microsoft certifications, he is now a CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate). Sounds impressive, doesn't it? Hopefully it will translate into more hiring opportunities in a higher salary bracket!