Were You Born Before or After 1984? Why it (Might) Make a Difference

The educationalist Marc Prensky wrote an influential article in 2001, suggesting that people born after 1984 are the generation of digital natives, and their approach to learning and multitasking are different.  This has been hotly debated ever since!

Now two more educationalists, Paul A. Kirschner and Pedro De Bruyckere, are suggesting Prensky got it all wrong.

We can't access Kirschner and De Bruyckere's whole article, but a summary in InsideHigherEd.com gives a useful overview of the arguments.  Take a look here ...

What Makes a Digitally Competent Teacher? Edutech Tells All

We came across this useful posting on the Edutech website:- 

The 7 Characteristics of a Digitally Competent Teacher

 This is likely to be of considerable interest to our B.Ed. students, and the PGCert students training for their teaching certificate in Higher Education.   Also to our Teaching Artist community.

Edutech (Cool tools for the 21st century classroom) homepage - HERE.

Are you a Digital Native? Are your younger Siblings?

Interesting article here on the BBC News and Technology pages. Educationalists refer to the current generation as "digital natives" - it's a controversial subject, because not everyone is as comfortable in the digital environment as their most tech-minded peers.

This BBC article examines the topic in the context of an even younger generation:-

Do we need to rescue our kids from the digital world? 
By Jane Wakefield, Technology reporter