Running head: FORMAL REFLECTION

Formal Reflection 2
Alia Alsulaim
Wright State University

Formal Reflection

Summary
Ian Jukes and Anita Dosaj the InfoSavvy Group wrote Understanding
Digital Kids Teaching & Learning in the New Digital Landscape. The paper answers
many questions like, what do the latest neuroscience and psychological researchers say
about digital kids? What will change with learning digital age students? And how can
educator integrate new developments to current standers?
At the few beginning pages, the writers describe the childhood before 30 years. A
low technology that Limited by radio or TV and the information had exclusive resource.
News took many days to arrive, so people had to learn to wait and be patient. Schools had
authority, and teachers had respect.
Then they mentioned the current students situation. Like raising with single
parents or gay and lesbian families. In addition to most of the families are both parents
have a full job hours and that impact on children learning. To illustrate that, students
when arriving at their home after school there is no one expect to wait and take care of
them. So, their devices, iPad, TV, and mobile, are playing a babysitter job. So, digital
kids replace their busy parent functions, like learning and talking, by their devices. That
has a deep change in kids thinking and skills.
Many statistic numbers had argued that the idea of the time that kids spend on
their devises. For example kids spend 25 hours per a week watching TV, while they spend
with their father half hour, and two hours and have with their mother. There are 600
channels and 10,000-radio station. With all the media that digital kid surrounded by, the
ways that kids those days learning and growing are different.

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The change between the digital kids and previous generation is fundamental.
Digital natives are the children who were born in technology era and improve the skills
that appropriate with the developing in the technology, like multi-tasking. They use the
news technology and trying to figure out how does it work. They master completely
different skills than earlier generation like searching online, playing game online and
making friends from all around the world. On the contrary, the digital immigrants are
older generation and have some difficulty dealing with technology. They, for example,
print out the email to read it or read the table of contents of a manual technology device
before turn it on.
Research has proven that the brain is developing differently on
digital natives. So, the ways those digital natives learning are different than the digital
immigrants learned. Digital natives prefer using media in their class. Video and social
media are resources for learning with digital native, while digital immigrants learned by
traditional method that teacher is the only resource for information.
At the end of the paper, Ian Jukes and Anita Dosaj provide suggestion for
educators to simulate their teaching ways to fit the digital native. They interest on
teachers accompanied technology era. Like there is a trend to no child left behind, it
have to care about no teacher left behind either. When teachers use technology, they
will cross the gab between them and students. Teacher with technology talk same
language that students, digital natives kids, can understand it. Jukes and Dosaj
recommend making learning fun and faster. Also, using image and sound in classroom
more than text will improve the learning process.
Indeed, they believe that children those days are not different in ways that behave
or act only, they also have a difference brain skill interest. It is wrong to teach the digital

Formal Reflection
natives on the same way that digital immigrants learned. Kids those days have different
great skills and educators have to understand that and improve their learning method to
be appropriate for digital natives thinking way.

Reflection
I like the way that writers describe the generation based on the technology use. It
is important to me as a technology teacher that I know the terms Digital Natives and
Digital Immigrants. I searched more about those terms to found that CNN website
published that "digital native a term coined by U.S. author Marc Prensky in 2001.The war
between natives and immigrants is ending. The natives have won. (Joy, 2012). One of
description that identify the digital natives students that I lough about it is Students think
that Popcorn has always been cooked by microwave (Yune, 2008)
When kids walk into class at beginning of the year and teachers speak to them,
they instantly hear their teacher digital accent and theres an immediate disconnect. I
agree with this description %100 I dont want to be a teacher left behind, so technology
have to use in my class with balance and useful purpose. (Rudi, 2011) said about how to
reach digital native Teachers are learning the hard way that students struggle to sit
through a lecture and quietly take notes. Instead, they shine in an interactive environment
where talking, touching things, and processing information from every angle is
encouraged.
Although the article is published on 2004, it gives basic terms for the teacher.
Also, the paper tries to close the gab between the two generations by clarifying the
differences. Talk like a digital native and use technology, as a natural skill is a
fundamental issue that teachers have to concern about to when they learn students.

Formal Reflection
Enhance media to the class attack students to learn and share with other. Many
recommendations were mentioned in the article that teacher for digital native has to
interest on to promote the learning process.

References

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Joy, O. (2012). CNN News. What does it mean to be a digital native? Retrieved from
http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/04/business/digital-native-prensky/
Rudi, A. (2011). Learning solution magazine. Hybrid Learning: How to Reach Digital Natives.
Retrieved from http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/765/hybrid-learning-how-to-reach-digital-natives
Yuen, S. 2008. Slidshare. Teaching and Learning with the Digital Natives. Retrieved from
http://www.slideshare.net/scyuen/teaching-and-learning-with-the-digital-natives