Part 4:The Digital World and Young People

SECTION 4
Questions 31 – 40

Questions 31 – 33
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

31. What impact does Marc Prensky believe that digital technology has had on young people?
A. It has altered their thinking patterns.
B. It has harmed their physical development.
C. It has limited their brain capacity.

32. ‘Digital immigrants’ tend to access computers
A. using their native language.
B. less efficiently than young people.
C. for less important information.

33. What example is given of having a ‘digital accent’?
A. having less effective typing skills
B. doing things the old-fashioned way
C. being unable to understand instructions

Questions 34 – 40

Which theorist makes each of the following points?
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, next to questions 34–40.

Points made

34. Current teaching methods don’t work.
    …………

35. Many students don’t understand computers.
    …………

36. Computer technology doesn’t interest all students.
    …………

37. Students can still learn the traditional way.
    …………

38. Students still need to learn research skills.
    …………

39. We should use computer games to teach.
    …………

40. Computers can’t replace educators.
    …………

Theorists
A – Allen

data-end="663" />B – James

KEYS

31. A
32. B
33. B
34. B
35. C
36. A
37. B
38. A
39. B
40. C

TRANSCRIPT

Section 4: The Digital World and Young People

Lecturer: In this lecture series, we’re looking at changes occurring due to the rapid spread of digital technology in the last decades of the 20th century. By digital technology, I include any computer-related devices such as email, the internet, cell phones, instant messaging, to name but a few. Today’s lecture focuses on the ideas of Mark Prensky, and what he believes are the major effects that high exposure to digital technology has had on young people today.

Lecturer: Firstly, what exactly does Prensky believe? He argues that because today’s young people have been born into a digital world and spend hours simply playing with technology, they’ve changed in fundamental ways. He believes they’re evolving differently, and as a result, process information differently from previous generations. It’s even possible that these young people’s brains have physically changed, although whether this is literally true isn’t yet known. Nor does Prensky go quite this far.

Lecturer: Prensky divides people into digital natives and digital immigrants. Today’s young people are the digital natives, and they belong in this new digital age, because they were born into it and grew up as native speakers of the digital language of computer technology, whereas digital immigrants are those born in the generations before the digital age. Just as those who learn a second language often retain their foreign accent, the immigrants are usually, in varying degrees, not quite as effective at speaking the digital language as the natives are.

Lecturer: For example, they’re more comfortable finding phone numbers using a phone book or looking up information in an encyclopedia, rather than using the internet as a primary source of information. Prensky calls this the digital accent. Another example of the digital accent is scanning a manual for a computer program, rather than assuming the program itself will teach you how to use it. Basically, people with a digital accent have never really stopped relying on their original non-digital means of sourcing information. They prefer doing things, as they’ve always done them, without typing something into a computer.

Lecturer: Prensky predicts that, due to all this, changes are in store, mainly in the area of education. But, what do other educators and theorists such as Thomas Allen, Samuel James, and Peter van der believe?

Lecturer: Samuel James, from Sydney University, agrees with Prensky’s predictions. He believes that educators are no longer successful in the way they teach. However, not surprisingly, Prensky has been criticized by more traditional theorists, like Peter van der and Thomas Allen. They disagree with many of Prensky’s assertions.

Lecturer: Van der argues that a typical classroom is more varied than Prensky believes, with students coming from a range of backgrounds. He maintains that a large percentage of these students are not necessarily proficient with technology, and not all students today fit the one stereotype. And Allen adds that even though most students today have easy access to technology, some just don’t find the digital medium appealing.

Lecturer: James disagrees, though. He believes that all today’s students do share the same basic interest in and knowledge of digital technology. However, James believes our younger students can communicate with their digital immigrant teachers, and can still learn using methods which have proven to be successful in the past.

Lecturer: James’s theories are taken a step further by Allen, who recognizes that both digital immigrants and natives have to deal with vast amounts of information in today’s electronic society. Allen maintains that while most young students are proficient in playing computer games and using the web in quite basic ways, they’re not used to using the computer at advanced levels, for example, to conduct complex information searches, which are so necessary for university study today.

Lecturer: Irrespective of Allen’s research, James believes it’s possible for computer games to play a major role in making classroom learning more stimulating, and he cites many instances where this would be possible today. However, Vander asserts that rather than focusing on developing games, we should think of better ways to assist teachers, because no computer program comes close to doing what a human teacher does every day.