Digital Natives vs. Net Gen

I am a 24 year old graduate student. My iPhone accompanies me wherever I go, I am addicted to facebook, I organize my schedule for the day by whats on TV, and my day is ruined when the server is down. I would say I am a product of the Net. Gen. My parents however still own flip phones, watch PBS, and read the New York Times at the kitchen table every morning. They would be considered Digital Immigrants. My father has helped edit my papers since my freshman year. I sit in my college dorm room, write a term paper in Microsoft Office, send him the finished draft in an email (not as a link, instead I copy and paste the entire Word document in the email because he does not understand how to download the pdf format) and he prints the paper out and edits it while sitting at his desk; typical Digital Immigrant. He then makes his corrections on the paper, goes back to his computer and makes the corrections on the computer screen, then sends it back to me to read, print and turn in. Its a great father/son, writer/editor, Net. Gen/Digital Immigrant relationship.


The concepts stated in the article make complete sense. I like to work in groups, learning is defenitly more fun when it is interactive, and I am a better student when my professor shares the same passion for technology as I do. It's cool to see my professor engaged in a conversation on their blackberry! Its even cooler when I can friend them on facebook! Digital natives at times cannot relate to their professors. Where we use LOL, JK, and FML, they use facetious, pull a leg, and I Am Distressed. The language may have changed through technology, but the messages remain the same. The attack on Pearl Harbor caused America to enter WWII, A+B=C, and water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. The objective is never-ending. Continue to find new methods to teach by while incorporating the same concepts that we have been taught for years. Create an App that allows us to disect a frog, have the entire class blog their journal entries, and text the teacher with the answers to the quiz. By creating new technological ways to interact with students, the Net. Gen, Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants can all finally get on the same homepage.