Digital Natives Blog Post Assignment

Blog Assignment #1

Marc Prensky has written several influential articles about Digital Natives. Please read his latest article on Digital Wisdom (link) and post your reaction on this blog as a blog post.

Your posting should include the following:


•Your reaction to the article (example: how this may impact education)

•Links to other web resources that you have found that relate to his thoughts (try to find at least one related link)
•Add your full name to the bottom of the post

Also, please post comments on what other students have written in their blog posts.

Web 2.0 Tools in the Classroom

Blog assignment #2

Create a blog post about a web 2.0 tool. Your post should include the following:


•Post describes the Web 2.0 tool (brief description) - (10 points)

•A link to the tool is provided within the post (10 points)

•Post describes how current teacher(s) are using the tool in the classroom (20 points)

•A link is provided to web content (example: forum posting from Classroom20) that provides evidence that teacher(s) are using the tool in the classroom (10 points)

•Add your full name to the bottom of the post

For help and inspiration, some links are provided on the class wiki.

Assignment 2

Web 2.0 Blog—WikiSpace

The Web 2.0 tool I researched was WikiSpace. This free tool allows individuals to create simple web pages that groups can edit. The link to this tool is http://www.go2web20.net/app/?a=WikiSpace. Currently teachers are using this in many ways. One tip that was suggested on the WikiSpace tool page was for students to create a wikified research paper. The students created a WikiSpace page with their research paper, and then linked their sources using the wiki. The students also incorporated videos and pictures on their space. Wiki pages are also being used for educational web conferencing. Presenters are able to post information and videos on wiki pages before conferences to help facilitate learning and provide resources for the future. An example of this is discussed in this blog post, http://itselementary.edublogs.org/2008/02/26/its-elementary-show-14-conferences-20-style/comment-page-1/#comment-22.

Jonathan Spreng

Assignment 1

Digital Immigrants, Digital Natives, Digital Wisdom Blog

This article was very interesting. Rather than discussing the difference between digital immigrants and digital natives, but rather focuses on digital wisdom. The author makes a good point at the very beginning of the article. He points out that given that many people growing up in the 21st century will be digital natives, a new distinction is needed, that of digital wisdom. Digital wisdom is identified as a twofold concept. This concept is first the use of technology, and then the access of information through technology. The author asserts that the wise digitally unenhanced individual will have less access to tools of wisdom than the digitally enhanced population. The article then goes on to discuss the use of technology in accessing wisdom and how digital use enhances how we interact with the world. For example digital devices help up plan, remember, and organize our lives every day. This is a very interesting concept and ties in with many educational theories. For example Lev Vygotsky’s theory on the zone of proximal development correlates to the use of digital information. The theory essentially states that an individual can only learn so much by themselves. It takes a peer or other social interaction to push that individuals learning to the next stage. Digital wisdom specifically addresses this. Through digital devices we are connected to the world to share ideas and increase learning, or we can access new information to take our own learning to the next level.

Jonathan Spreng

Assignment 2

A web 2.0 tool makes sharing information more interactive. An easy example of this, is social networking sites like Facebook. Another for video sharing is Youtube. In fact, this blog is a web 2.0 tool since it is an interactive site that shares information (actually an easy way to cheat on this assignment would be to put this link of the blog here since it is proof that teachers, or at least we the future and you the current teacher, use this technology... but I'll add another link later.) In fact, this link has a whole bunch of web 2.0 tools that one can use. This is actually a blog, which is a web 2.0 tool, telling about using web 2.0 when going back to school. This poster describes teachers using the tool to help students, but also in the office. "Some more specific services include: organizers, grade books, research tools, document managers, diagrams, and more." One site on their list that I have personally used is Easybib.com. This is a great way to make sure students know the correct way to make a bibliography. The days of having to remember, which no student could every memorize all of the bibliography formats perfectly, are over. Now all a student needs to do in order to find reliable sites is to make sure they are able to fill out all of the information that they need. It is a very useful application in a classroom.

Michelle Jones

Assignment 1

After reading the article about digital natives and digital immigrants, I can't help but semi agree with his ideas. Where I noticed some do not believe that technology will change us, I disagree. I watch my parents struggle to adapt to new technology all the time. They are the "digital immigrants." Even though my mom has a degree and is able to teach computers in class, when she first got a facebook I had to walk her through the uses. This is because technology has already started to change us. It has made us able to adapt quicker to a variety of different things. It also makes us able to multitask easier. Now, where I might argue against his idea is when it comes to whether our brain is actually changing or our ability to gather prior knowledge to make those adaptions are changing. Through technology, we can learn more faster so it is completely possible that our only change is in prior knowledge. However, this is still a change.

Michelle Jones

http://books.google.com/books?id=GE_o85oLetQC&pg=PA153&lpg=PA153&dq=digital+advancement+changes+the+brain&source=bl&ots=7JX5KHLFFk&sig=vbW8eypl7Yrxr30I9NW0cOMzHkE&hl=en&ei=Ph3nSqCaBJDSsQPhkIGbBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=&f=false
This link in google books has a section that talks about Marc's theory and how technology changes the way we learn.

Web 2.0 blog

A web 2.0 tool is used to get the most out of the internet. This can come in many different forms such as using Google sketchup to create a layout of a building to using a narrowed search engine to find what you are looking for. Web 2.0 tools simply let a user get more out of their internet use. At the Cash La Puder middles school the media teacher is very active on Weebly.
Weebly is a site that lets you create a free website and blog. The user can upload videos, pictures and many more items. Another web 2.0 tool would be Google reader this tool is very useful it saves the user time because it brings articles to them so they don’t have to looking for it. I recently have used youtube to help in me with a horse judging team I am coaching. I was able to look up class’s for them to judge as well as how to videos.
Sadie