week 2

Hi All,
I was fascinated by the term "digital natives or digital immigrant"(Prensky 2001) Students of the 21st century have embraced technology and eagerly await future technology. I am a digital immigrant so if I am going to "engage not enrage"(Prensky 2005) my students then I also feel that I need to embrace technology both now and in the future. We don't give students enough credit, they are very capable human beings. This brings me to the subject of internet access. Again I feel that if we educate students on appropriate internet use, they will be capable of using this tool to it's fullest extent. The web puts the world at their fingertips, lets educate them using their preferred method of learning. Net Alert is a wonderful tool for parents but can be extremely frustrating for students, we all want to keep our kids safe but are we suffocating them by not allowing them to use their good judgment, (that has been learned). As learning managers we will undoubtedly find it difficult to engage each and every one of our students. There are many factors to consider, such as ensuring we provide equity and equality of opportunity for all students. This will be an enormous task given the socio-economic diversity in schools. Students come from a wide range of backgrounds including religion, culture, disadvantaged and those with learning disabilities etc...But if we realize that all students are capable of achieving learning outcomes,we will hopefully close the gap between equity and equality. Unfortunately some schools are better equipped than others, which also provides great challenges for learning managers to provide equality.
Cheers Trish






On the Horizon (MCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001)
© 2001 Marc Prensky
"engage me or enrage me"Marc Prensky 2005
www.netalert.gov.au