Native or Adept?

Digital Natives:

The term digital native has been used frequently over the past 5 years or so (maybe longer).  It is oft used to refer to our students - implying that they are native to the digital world.....naturals.

I don't think that our students are digital natives.  At least not all of them.  I think they are digital adepts, of that I am certain.  But natives?  No.

Lets look at the word native.  According to Websters the definition of native is:

       : born in  particular place
      or
       : belonging to a person since birth or childhood 

             (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/native)

In turn, the term "digital native" implies that a person has been active in the digital world since birth or childhood.  It's a term that people have been throwing around for many years.  At that time it was a good umbrella phrase to identify the technology abyss that existed between parents and their children.  A nice catch phrase.

I think it means something much more ominous.

If we look at our students today and consider the true meaning of the term digital native we can see that there are only a few that truly qualify as such.  Those would be the students in our elementary schools.  I will come back to them because, for teachers, they are scary.

Deep breaths.  It'll be ok.

The other kind of student I call digital adepts.  Digital adepts are children that have adopted technology as we see it today....chat, tablets, social networking, smartphones, etc.  They didn't have it when they were young but they have taken to almost instinctually.  They are like the late blooming actor that has found she loves performing in musical theater and is really good at it.  It wasn't something she did in the past but once she dipped a toe in that ocean she found she had a natural flair for it.  She wasn't born into the theatrical world but once she was exposed to it she loved it.  She is skilled.  An adept.

I compare my own two daughters to this type of student.  Both are now in college.  In elementary school we didn't even have an Internet connection in the house.  Eventually I got one for work but it was sloooooooowwwww.  28.8kbps.  Good for nothing but basic email.

Towards the end of middle school they received their own phones.  Nothing like the phones we see today.  Basic flip phone model but you could send and receive text messages if you could be bothered typing them out on a numerical keypad.  1,000 message per month limit.

Moving into high school they still had the same model phone (which they kept hidden in their pockets because they were "embarrassed" about them); Eventually moving into the smartphone world in the last years of high school where they had full Internet access, etc, etc.

There's no way that I could consider them digital natives.  They were very good with their technology though.  They picked it up naturally.  Due in equal parts to nature and nurture.  They knew as much, and at times, more, than I.  But they learned it.  They picked it up as a novelty.  Today those devices are a huge part of their life and neither could imagine being without it.

I also have a son.  He is in elementary school.  When he was born, Internet access in the house existed.  When he reached the age where he could observe, interpret, and draw his own conclusions we had in the house tablets, computers, game consoles, and even televisions with permanent Internet connectivity.  Outside of the house we had, always, at least one smartphone on hand granting us immediate Internet access from anywhere.

He knows no world other than the one where that stuff exists and is readily available.  To him access to information is on-hand 24x7x365.  It has always been there.

I like to use maps when driving long distances.  No - not the app.  Real maps.  I get a kick out of using the actual, real, physical paper maps, figuring out routes, etc.  Not my son.  I don't think even knows such a thing exists.  Nope - if we need to figure out how to get somewhere his first thought is....."Google it".  If we are discussing possible solutions to anything in our house his response is "why don't we just Google it".  If he and I are playing a video game together (part of our nightly routine before bed....along with maybe watching an episode of Dr Who, Matt Smith is his favorite, and then rounding it off with reading a book, usually Harry Potter) and we get stuck rather than take the time to figure it out he immediately wants to "Google it".

Of course we don't......we work together to figure the problem out and he gets a very real sense of satisfaction from that.

Now you may think that he is that way because his father works in tech and that sort of stuff is picked up by younger kids.....that maybe he is mirroring what he sees because one of his parents works in the industry and he is not representative of all kids his age.

I don't think so.  And I have some evidence to back it up.

This is a true story.  About a year ago a first grade teacher at Wauwatosa School District was trying to get a feel to see if she could use her web page to post things for them to use at home.  She asked her students "Who has a computer at home".  Out of all of her students none of them raised her hand.  Thinking that was odd she phrased it another way.  "Who has access to the Internet at home?".  Again none of them raised their hands.  Now she was really confused.  While she did not expect ALL students to have Internet access she thought that at least SOME would.  Putting some more thought into it she asked the question yet another way.

"Who can Google stuff at home?"

Every single student raised their hand.  Suddenly the light bulb came on.  Children that age are born with that access around them.  Of course there are always exceptions but for the most part children of that age have some sort of Internet access present somewhere in the house.  It might be mom's laptop, dad's tablet, or even an older siblings smartphone.  They might not be able to use it but it's there.

It is so much of a commonplace thing in households now that our children just entering school know no other world than the one in which readily accessible Internet connectivity, and all the information that can be retrieved from that, exists.  It is so common that they don't even realize that it is something unique.  They don't recognize that someone had to buy a device to use it.  They don't recognize that someone had to subscribe to Internet access to make it happen.  They don't recognize that the possibility exists for it not to be there.

And the thing is.......it's been that way since they can remember.  THAT is the difference.  Our elementary school students are true digital natives.  They are not like the older children in middle and high school.  Those students (as of today) can, for the most part, remember what it was like not to have it.  Sure, most of them probably shudder in horror at the thought, but they are of a different age.  Todays elementary students consider Internet access, and the devices that go with them, as natural a part of a household as we would have considered telephones (land lines that is) and televisions.

I mentioned earlier that this was a scary thought for teachers.  Here's why.

Middle School and High School teachers haven't really had to deal with that mindset in the past.  They have more than likely dealt with the digital adepts...the students who have been granted access to technology and are very good with it.  And that has been a good preparatory experience.  But the true digital native?  The one who knows no other world than one with technology and readily available Internet access?  They are not quite at the secondary schools yet......but they're coming.....and our Middle School and High School teachers will be working with them very soon.

For some of our teachers that is a scary thought.  It is quite intimidating because it is a cultural change in their classrooms that they need to accommodate.  They are stepping up to the challenge though.  We had hundreds of teachers over summer break, many of whom were at the lower end of the technology comfort zone, voluntarily attend numerous technology integration training sessions.  A good deal of them were from our secondary schools because they recognize the challenge that I have mentioned here.  

The natives are coming.