Notes on article 'Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants'

Here are some notes on the article 'Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants' by Marc Prensky. He is writing about the influence new technology and media has on young people minds, and whether it affects how they learn.

- The reason for the decline of education is because student have changed dramatically - "students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach"
- There has been a big change within young people, bot in there style or clothes but an unusual and singular quality has taken place - which has maybe changed things so dramatically that it will not go back - the arrival of digital technology.
- Our generation is the first to grow up with this - we have spent our entire live surrounded by it.
- On average college grads have spent 5000 hours of their lives reading and 10,000 on playing video games
- Through the new media of today young people "think and process information differently than before". - The difference goes further than educators realize.

- It is likely that students brains have physically changed.
- students are 'digital natives' of our era
- people who have not grown up with this same exposure to the digital world - "digital immigrants"- the older generation have a "different language".
- This could be a problem as less digitally able older people are struggling to teach the younger population that now speak a "different language".

-"Digital Natives" - young people are used to receiving information fast and having immediate gratification.
- the two different generations have different ways of learning, older generations don't believe that you can learn whilst listening to music because they did not do this or have practiced this unlike younger generations - teachers assume that there learning methods still apply to who they are teaching

- What can happen? can younger people (with the influence new technology has had on our brains and the ability to learn) learn the old fashioned way.

-Prensky believes teachers should learn to communicate in the style of there students, through method and content
- teach faster, less step by step
- need to teach more about and through digital technology, which students would find interesting.
- there needs to be a major shift in the method of teaching

- a video game was made called 'monkey wrench' to help people in the engineering industry to help understand new technology - it was phenomenally successful in getting people to understand the software.
- similar rethinking teaching methods needs to be applied to all subjects - need to make 'Digital Natives' methologies for all subjects.

Media Institutions

Here are some notes on different institutions in the media, I have looked at there funding streams, values, products and political affiliations.

ITV
Funding streams:
- has lots of different sources of funding
-'Sky' is a big shareholder
- There is a massive power struggle between the different shareholders
Values
- The official ITV website clearly gives its values which are:
- Commitment
- Boldness
- Integrity
- Excellence
- Commercial
- Some critics and the public complain that it always has a lack of good programmes and is not loyal.

Political Affiliations
- Does not have much political affiliations
- Just wants to make money, makes bad programmes (phoneline gameshows)
- Very capitalist and money orientated business, could sway more right wing
- originally was a more left wing organisation - the founder of ITV was more concerned with making quality TV rather than a more money orientated purpose, the founder had much more left wing values. However did not make much money and had to get more funding streams and the quality began to lack.

Products
- lots of merchandise
- trying to make the most money

Google

Political affiliations
- 98% of google employers gave votes to Democrats
- Conservative ads have been censored by google but not liberal
- Google has been bias through 'sponsored links' anti-religious and anti-Conservative ads in the past
- they are actively blocking advertisement

Funding streams
- Michael Mortis invested $12.5 million in 1999, there investment is now worth 3 billion
- he was promoted supporter of Obamas election

Products
- Google Chrome
- Google Earth
- Googlemail
- Sketch up (3D modelling programme)
- Google talk
- Youtube

Google is used hugely in Britain