Early childhood educators can expand their students’ understanding of storytelling (especially visual storytelling) in the digital native age. As an original digital native, students who understand information and technology. It is up to educators to help digital learners find answers while staying safe in the digital environment.

INTRODUCTION:

In a world where the internet is easily available and accessible, where there is limitless data and content on the internet and is growing exponentially, education has evolved very much. Along with this evolution of education, there come many new challenges that affect the education system immensely’

Today’s teachers, many of whom are digital migrants, moving from the analogue to the digital world, must find ways to connect with digital students and their caregivers. Another big problem facing schools today is miscommunication between teachers, digital immigrants and translators, students, and digital natives. Another issue that education will face in the near future is how digital natives learn; the “interaction” between students and teachers in the classroom (McNeely 2005).

One of the challenges digital technology creates for educators is children’s incredible access to information, images and entertainment. One of the biggest changes for 21st-century kids is the amount of variety, access and time they spend connected to digital media. While some believe that technology use from birth has linked the brains of digital natives to multitasking, the New Media Consortium Horizon Report notes that millennials use technology in the same way as their parents, and as passive media consumers.

The term used for these young tech consumers is “digital natives,” the digital generation who are more reliant on digital technology than previous generations. Some scholars have questioned the concept of “digital natives”, pointing out that children only become active when exposed to digital media from an early age. Hillary Sharpton writes that children are not born with technology, and the belief that digital natives are good at multitasking may be detrimental to their learning.

Today’s students are no longer the people our education system was designed to teach.” (Prensky, 2001) Ben McNeely, the co-author of Network Generation Learning, tells us that the digital native generation learns differently from past generations, namely through social interaction, teamwork, peer interaction and action and visual aids (2005). Along with the development of technology, students learn through contact and social interaction.

Schools and educators are now forced to pay more attention to the development of teaching methods while engaging digital natives in a way that suits their technology-driven and connected world. Around the world, many schools, school districts and individual educators are recognizing the need to change and change the mindset of many schools in order to better support their classes, students and the workforce of tomorrow.

Educators and students alike need to be able to adapt to current and future changes in the digital world. This means schools must adapt to the way students think and learn today. It is clear that education systems must adapt to incorporate digital practices into everyday learning.

Instead of arguing about how to support students with technology in the classroom, schools should support their students and allow them to explore their digital worlds. In addition to using technology (strategically) to help your students connect emotionally with stimulating content, technology can be a great way to make your classroom more interactive. One way to engage and expand children’s understanding of digital texts is through questioning and discussion after reading, viewing, or listening to the text.

An important step in helping children understand that digital texts are constructs is to remind them that they are the authors. There is an old pedagogical aphorism according to which a student cannot be said to have really mastered the content until he or she is able to use the material in some way. Research on digitally excluded children highlights the important role of education in children’s digital development.

The school could potentially be the only opportunity for some children to have a guided digital experience, highlighting the importance of integrating digital literacy into the broader curriculum. Here is a media literacy skills guide to help your students navigate the virtual world.

Also, like anyone who taught before the digital revolution took over, technology is by no means the only way to connect with students in the classroom or to be productive, or even revolutionary. While measurement technology is not only useful but necessary to optimize the education of today’s students, if reality is to deliver on its promise, it must be used with care, discretion and strategy. Embracing means using technology more seriously and thoughtfully. Storytelling also helps children distinguish fictional text from reality, which can be a valuable emotional life skill for our young digital natives as graphics and animation techniques become more realistic.

Jeff Licensees conducts workshops for teachers, parents and children on the changing face of media and technology and how to find balance and connection in an interconnected world.

Author and speaker Marc Prensky originally used the term “digital native” to refer to millennials born after 1980 because they were the first to grow up with networked computers. “Digital natives” are considered “native speakers” of common technological advances such as computers, iPods, cell phones, computer programs such as Adobe Photoshop, and gaming systems such as the Xbox 360 (Prensky, 2001). A digital learner is someone who was born in a pre-digital world but has since adapted to the internet and everything associated with it. Compare the scenario of how much teachers and administrators learn for themselves today with the thinking of young students from New South Wales (NSW), Australia, planning the school of the future.

FAQ’s

What are digital natives?

The digital generation who are more reliant on digital technology than previous generations are called digital natives.

What are the major issues faced by schools in educating digital natives?

Major issues faced by schools in educating the digital natives are miscommunication between teachers, digital immigrants and translators, students, and digital natives. They are also losing the interaction between the teachers and the students in the classroom.

What are the challenges that digital technology creates for educators?

The challenges that digital technology creates for educators is children's incredible access to information, images and entertainment. One of the biggest changes for 21st century kids is the amount of variety, access and time they spend connected to digital media.