Week 8 - Website Analysis 1

In your blog criticise each website (without giving details that would send a reader directly there) in terms of up-to-dateness, usability and practicing what it preaches

Website 1

This particular website offers many articles, one in particular that directly references Prensky featuring the writer’s thoughts on digital immigration. The articles are written from an academic perspective, referencing clearly and in the appropriate style, so it would be useful for research purposes. This website offers a different view on the Prensky’s ideas, but is still written in a balanced and thought-provoking way.

One of his main issues surrounds the way in which Prensky homogenises the young and ignores their (or our?) different demographics. He believes that the young haven’t been subjected to the same amount of technology as each other. Throughout this course my eyes have been opened to the impact that technology has on our learning methods and think that social demographics feature highly as a variable in the effect of ‘new media’. Will a child who has been brought up in an environment where the family can afford the best and most recent technology, video games, computers and phones have the same “accent” as a child who was brought up having only library resources or school computers to ‘keep up’ with this fast paced way of learning? Although I can also understand Prensky’s view in that as a whole the younger generation has changed.

The author also finds it difficult to believe the impact of new technologies on our neurological structures will be as great as Prensky infers. He believes that we are de-emphasizing older ways of learning that are still relevant and essential today. He recognises that the way we learn is changing but thinks that we don’t learn from computers, we learn through them.
The website is an attribute to itself. The author makes it clear how he believes children will look at the internet as a main resource to learn with, but will not want to leave old ways of learning behind. This website isn’t a particularly new way of learning, it’s a non-interactive, linear article, but it can be found in a new way.

On the whole, I agreed with his main ideas. I do not think that a video game can be an effective teacher, and neither does he. He outlines how teachers need help in adapting to these changes and I agree. Although games and technology can be effective, they aren’t as interactive as teachers, they can’t sense the mood of the room or adapt their ideas to struggling children. They can’t give personal help or guidance in the way that a teacher can and I think the only way that we can use this technology to our advantage in learning, is to get teachers involved with it and to use it as a part of their overall lesson plans, but not as a replacement.