The Myth of the Digital Native
Kids today are born with a mouse in their hand, right? They navigate websites intuitively, clicking their way around the Internet with their eyes closed. Their teachers are stuck in the binder-paper-and-#2-pencil routine, while the students go home to blogs, wikis and websites. Our students are the digital natives, while we are the immigrants, relying on pre-teens to show us how to tweet and upload… right?
Well, no, not really. While kids today may be less intimidated by technology than their older teachers, they are no more likely to be competent with technological applications than a child growing up in a kitchen is a competent chef.
A few years ago I decided to introduce my 8th grade students to blogging. I suspected the on-line factor of the assignment would make writing more appealing to these digital natives. I was right about that — they were indeed very excited about posting their work on a blog. However, what I wasn’t prepared for was how much I would need to teach them about basic Internet use. Most of these students were from educated, upper middle class homes, and they had years of online experience, yet they needed plenty of instruction in basic