Adam+Daniels

My name is **Adam Daniels**. I am a chemical engineering at Drexel University. I will be graduating in June and am currently taking electives to fill my schedule, such as this class.

=** Digital Natives & Digital Immigrants **=

I really enjoyed the //Digital Natives Digital Immigrants// reading because it addresses many issues that I have personally encountered throughout my education. Like most of my peers I am extremely technologically savvy. While growing up my mom had worked for Comcast cable, as a result our household was used to test out new technologies such as; high-speed internet, digital cable, and On-Demand cable. As a result I was encouraged by my mom to play around on the internet (which was lightning fast compared to all my dial-up friends) at the age of about 8. My parents bought me my first Dell computer for my room when I was in the 4th grade. In 7th grade I decided to replace this computer with a powerhouse tower that I built myself. I reused some of the parts from my old computer such as; the 19" monitor, CD-rom drive, mouse and keyboard. I became a Digital Native by experimenting with computers at a very young age. I taught myself how to assemble a computer by reading forums on the internet and other instructional websites. The internet and computer quickly became my favorite resource for learning and expressing myself.

When addressing the question, will there always be Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants?, I think there will be a time when everyone will be a Digital Native. The only way that this may not happen is if there is another extreme breakthrough in technology that changes the way computers and the internet work. Now almost all children are being introduced to computers and the internet at very young ages. Since the students that are now graduating college are also Digital Natives, we will be able to have the same methods of thinking and learning as the students we will be teaching. Therefore, new teachers will have an easier time formulating lessons that are presented in a manner that digital natives will enjoy and begin to thrive as students. In my opinion this type of change is necessary for our country to continue to thrive as one of the most powerful and technologically advanced nations. If new teachers that are Digital Natives can turn learning into a meaningful and enjoyable experience for the students we are teaching, then the youth of our nation will become much more intelligent and their success rate will skyrocket.

-- Adam Daniels

Response 1: I like that you don't think there will be a difference since everyone said there would be. And I kind of agree, but I think that there will be new technology that comes out that maybe our students learn before we do. But I totally agree with you. It will just be hard to incorporate all of the students in the class with the technology since maybe not all of the kids will be as tech savvy (because of money issues or other things). and it's cool that you taught yourself how to assemble a computer! -Chelsea Morgan