Buckley Presents ‘Born Digital’ at Atlantic Cape Community College
Dr. Jeanne Buckley, Director of Library Services and Instructional Technology, presented “Born Digital: The Challenge of Teaching Today’s Digital Native Learners” at Atlantic Cape Community College in New Jersey on Friday, Sept. 23.
A “digital native” is a person who was born during or after the general introduction of digital technology, and through interacting with digital technology from an early age, has a greater understanding of its concepts. Individuals born after 1982 are generally described by this term, which for college faculty, means most of the students we teach. The term was coined by Marc Prensky in his work, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, which was published in 2001. In this article, he compares digital natives to a country’s native culture for whom the local religion, language, and folkways are natural and indigenous, compared with immigrants to a country who often are expected to adapt and begin to adopt the region’s customs. Most faculty are digital immigrants, who often struggle to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language-i.e. one formed by and through their interaction with digital technology.
Buckley’s presentation addressed this theme and included both quantitative and qualitative data on how students use today’s technology, how it is affecting them and their lives, and how educators can harness the power of digital tools to create meaningful educational experiences for them.