Wenger and Prensky

Wengers notions on practice communities were that everyone within this community shared the same interests, what mattered to them and was all about participation. This links to Prensky’s views on education, the digital native and the digital immigrant as they shared the same principle of different 'categories' for different groups of people. For example like stated Wenger explained how groups/cofp formed through what mattered to them and participation and this is similar to Prensky as he also 'grouped' digital natives and digital immigrants. Furthermore the digital natives supposedly shared the same 'interests' in that they we able with technology and had their own language. This is similar for the digital immigrants who are also supposed to be in one group of people who not as up to date with technology and struggle to enter and understand the zone of a digital immigrant.
Obviously their theories are completely different however the notions of them share similarities in that they are both based upon ‘grouping’ and the relationships, language and participating within these groups.

Week 9, threatens the notion of native/immigrant in digital culture

I think because of the way Prensky has categorised people, more people threaten his notion then assumed. His notion is mainly based upon age and that if you are 'younger' and born into the digital world then you are a native however if you are older and were born before this then you are an immigrant. Although it to some extent makes sense that if you were born into it you are native and if not then you are immigrant, however i don't feel its true for our society today. There are 'older' people who generally know a lot more than some natives for example my dad who i have already mentioned. Furthermore there are so many 'older' people (than us) who work in the technology industry, designing new gadgets all the time, software for computers, computers themselves, developing the internet. There is so much being done which is not necessarily by natives. Therefore i think someone who is threatening these notions are my dad perhaps and other peoples parents who have taught themselves how to uses 'new' technology and are even teaching others and furthermore any 'older' person who is working within the technology industry and for major i.t/new media firms.

Week 8 - Article 4

This article goes against the notion of Prensky’s theory that there are ‘digital natives’ and says they don’t exist.
The article says that the student’s computer levels haven’t budged in a decade. I disagree with this as ‘most’ students have had to have access to a computer for along time for work now, so we surely must have got better somehow? Even if its just students who have got faster at typing, through using the computer more, or learnt how to do a bit more on Microsoft word as they use it for work etc. Furthermore in university we have to learn how to use journals and access websites like them, to complete our courses and essays, so we must have improved in this way to. Also the article claims that ‘’every class has a handful of people with amazing skills and a large number who can't deal with computers at all," and I disagree with this to. Although I do not have evidence myself to prove the theory wrong I think it is quite bold to claim that this is the same for ‘every’ class.

Week 8 - website 3

There wasn’t too much to criticise in this article as the person themselves put question to some of Prensky’s thoughts but there were once again assumptions made, rather then fact. Furthermore the article proposed that ‘’Our Digital Immigrant instructors... are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language’’ which firstly goes on the fact that the new population are speaking an ‘entirely new language’ which may not be completely true? Furthermore it suggests that the immigrant instructor are struggling…. are they? and it once again speaks for immigrant instructors in general.

Week 8 - website 3

There wasn’t too much to criticise in this article as the person themselves put question to some of Prensky’s thoughts but there were once again assumptions made, rather then fact. Furthermore the article proposed that ‘’Our Digital Immigrant instructors... are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language’’ which firstly goes on the fact that the new population are speaking an ‘entirely new language’ which may not be completely true? Furthermore it suggests that the immigrant instructor are struggling…. are they? and it once again speaks for immigrant instructors in general.