Introduction

My name is Alicia and I am studying a Bachelor of Primary Education at Australian Catholic University. This reflective blog is associated with the COMM140 unit of semester 2.

I have created this reflective blog to express my personal views on technology and the impact technology has on humankind. I will also explore what ethical issues can arise surrounding the use of technology through driving questions that have been posed throughout the lectures and tutorials of the subject COMM140.

In my first blog post “Do Digital Native’s exist?” I explore the difference between a Digital Native and Digital Immigrant and outline the key differences between the two.

In my second blog post “To tweet or not to tweet” I explore the positive and negative impact that tweeting can have on your digital footprint. I also discuss the importance of thinking before you tweet and give examples of “good” and “bad” tweets.

In my third blog “An understanding of how technologies impact on the way humans communicate and the ethical issues that surround these changes” I explore a timeline of communication tools that were used in the 1900’s compared to the 21^st century and what ethical issues can arise through current technology and communication between people.

In my fourth blog, with constructive criticism from my peers I will rewrite either my 1^st or 2^nd question with alterations based on their ideas.

In my fifth blog I will show you two of my peers blogs with a paragraph of constructive criticism from myself.

All of the opinions stated in my reflective blog are my own, unless cited otherwise!

Happy reading!

Do Digital Natives exist?

Yes, personally I believe that digital native’s exist. Digital Natives are defined as
“’native speakers’ of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet”(Prensky, 2001). 

People who grew up in the 20^th or 21^st century are typically seen to be a digital native because they were exposed to technology at a very young age e.g. computers, laptops, smartphones etc. whereas people who grew up between 1940-1970 typically struggle to wrap their heads around the concept of technology and are therefore considered “Digital Immigrants”. (Prensky, 2001)

Digital Immigrant’s can be defined as people who were not born into the digital world but rather introduced to at a later stage of their life. They originally were conditioned to “old-school” type of life e.g. blackboards instead of interactive whiteboards/projectors and TV instead of YouTube or Facebook. 

In today’s era, young people especially are excelling at navigating themselves around a computer and are typically having to teach digital immigrants such as their parents and grandparents how to use the said devices. 

Digital native is a broad term for people who are particularly skilled in the technological aspect of life, not necessarily tech geniuses but have vital tech knowledge that can aid them for their future. 

Being a Digital Native is something that many companies look for when hiring, typically on resumes they make it clear that the applicant must have knowledge based around Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel for example. This is a prime example of Digital Native’s being recognised, hence proving their existence.

References:

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives Digital Immigrants retrieved from: https://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

‘Baby Girl With Computer, Laptop, Mobile Phone.’ By Evgen Manenko, available at https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-baby-girl-computer-laptop-mobile-phone-image35536989

To Tweet or not to Tweet

Twitter is a microblogging network that was created just over 11 years ago in March of 2006. It is rated number 8 in the top “60 Most Popular Social Networking Sites of 2017”, with approximately 320 million users as of June 2017. It is one of the biggest influencing websites with the likes of politicians, singers, actors and actresses signing in daily. 

Many influencers post every day to their followers, and their followers to them, this is where the issue of “To Tweet or Not to Tweet” arises. 

Influencers receive thousands of tweets on a daily basis, a mix between crazy fans and brutal hate tweets. With Twitter being a public platform, tweets are accessible by the world, despite the thousands of tweets that influencers are receiving- there is always a chance that they could spot 1 tweet from the crowd. 

Many users abuse Twitter in order to heckle influencers, sending horrible hate comments to celebrities they have never met and in some cases provoking them to respond.

Source: https://twitter.com/jk_rowling?lang=en

Although JK Rowling took a rather humorous approach, the comment itself that was initially directed at her was vulgar and disgusting. To think that influencers receive tweets like this daily is just disturbing to say the least. No one should have to read tweets directed at them personally intended to harm their integrity. 

Not only that but if you are going off into a vicious rampage targeting celebrities under an account that uses your credentials such as your first and last name and your employer or potential employer stumbles across the account, there is a slim chance that you will have a job following that.

Whether it be celebrities posting about their Starbucks Coffee or Politicians posting about the recent Same-Sex Marriage Plebiscite, everyone needs to be conscious about the impact their tweets can have.

Think before you Tweet.

References:

J, Jamie. (2017). 60+ SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IN 2017. Retrieved from: https://makeawebsitehub.com/social-media-sites/

An understanding of how changes in technology impact on the way humans communicate, and the ethical issues that surround these changes

Changes in technology are happening constantly, from using a Gramophone in 1980 to an iPod in 2010, from black and white TV's to flat screen LCD TV's and from blackboards to interactive whiteboards.

The world has been changing drastically every day, new projects and concepts are being developed in order to improve everyone's way of life.

Communication is a vital part of life but over time it has evolved, no longer does communication require face to face interaction or even speaking directly to another person.

With the introduction of the first mobile phone in 1973 from Motorola, communication had just began to evolve. The mobile was not accessible to the public until 1983, it cost close to $4000 and the main feature was it's ability to make phone calls.

This can be seen as one of the first advances in communication for the wider public, the ability to be in public and answer a mobile rather than the house phone.

The first ever smart phone was introduced in 1994 and was called The Simon Personal Communicator, it's features involved email access, faxing, receiving pages and making phone calls.

Source: http://time.com/3137005/first-smartphone-ibm-simon/

In 2008 the first iPhone hit our shelves, a never ending trend that has followed us into 2017. With a new iPhone introduced almost every year pricing between $399-$1500+, consumers are desperate to save money in other areas.

An ethical issue that has been arisen by Apple Inc. is Jailbreaking. Jailbreaking being another word for hacking, gives consumers access to apps that regularly cost money to them for free. Although consumers believe the act of Jailbreaking is legal, Apple themselves released a statement saying that they believe it is "illegal and an infringement on their copyright."

People are now able to communicate constantly through Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Texting, Calling etc. And no doubt our abilities will continue to grow with the introduction of new technologies.

References:

Goodwin, R. (2017). The History of Mobile Phones from 1973 to 2008: The Handset That Made It ALL Happen. Retrieved from: http://www.knowyourmobile.com/nokia/nokia-3310/19848/history-mobile-phones-1973-2008-handsets-made-it-all-happen

Aamoth, D. (2014). First Smart Phone Turns 20: Fun Facts About Simon. Retrieved from: http://time.com/3137005/first-smartphone-ibm-simon/

Google Site, Insider. Ethical Issues - iPhone. Retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/site/katherinesiphone3/home/security

Ritchie, R. (2017). 10 Years Ago Today, Apple and iPhone Changed Our World. Retrieved from: https://www.imore.com/history-iphone-original

Do Digital Natives Exist? Rewritten

In regards to my blog post 'Do Digital Natives Exist?', I received some feedback from my team mate Danika Rait.
Her feedback follows:

"Hi Alicia

Regarding to the driving question, Do Natives Exist? You have shown to have a great understanding of the topic and have answered the question well. I like how you have addressed real life examples of the business world and how being a digital native can excel you in a career. You have provided good definitions for both natives and immigrants but maybe you could show examples of how an immigrant is affected in the workplace or day to day life, just like what you have done with digital natives. Something that could be addressed is how some teachers (being immigrants) must adapt to the digital native students in the classroom. Though I like what image you have used to assist your reflective blog.

Overall it was written very well and provided relevant and direct knowledge to the topic. It will help others understand what digital native/immigrants are and why they are labelled in such ways."

Based off this feedback, I decided to add some important parts to my piece.

Do Digital Natives Exist? Rewritten

Yes, personally I believe that digital native’s exist. Digital Natives are defined as
“’native speakers’ of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet”(Prensky, 2001). 

Growing up in the 20^th or 21^st century people typically seen to be a digital native because they were exposed to technology at a very young age e.g. computers, laptops, smartphones etc. whereas people who grew up between 1940-1970 typically struggle to wrap their heads around the concept of technology and are therefore considered “Digital Immigrants”. (Prensky, 2001)

Digital Immigrant’s can be defined as people who were not born into the digital world but rather introduced to at a later stage of their life. They originally were conditioned to “old-school” type of life e.g. blackboards instead of interactive whiteboards/projectors and TV instead of YouTube or Facebook. 

In today’s era, young people especially are excelling at navigating themselves around a computer and are typically having to teach digital immigrants such as their parents and grandparents how to use the said devices. 

As Digital Immigrants are typically from an older generation they generally find it difficult to adapt to new equipment such as technology, this makes it difficult for them in jobs such as being an educator. Teachers are often finding themselves using technology for many instances, hence being a Digital Immigrant could pose large issues for educators. 

It is clear that being a Digital Native in today's society is much more beneficial for the average person.

Being a Digital Native is something that many companies look for when hiring, typically on resumes they make it clear that the applicant must have knowledge based around Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel for example. This is a prime example of Digital Native’s being recognised, hence proving their existence.

References:

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives Digital Immigrants retrieved from: https://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

‘Baby Girl With Computer, Laptop, Mobile Phone.’ By Evgen Manenko, available at https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-baby-girl-computer-laptop-mobile-phone-image35536989

Peer review

In this piece, I was to provide a 100 word critique on two of my fellow classmates blog posts. Below is a copy of their name, student number, blog link, original blog post with the driving question and my critique underneath. 

Happy reading! 

Danika Rait

S00216031 

http://danikaacu.blogspot.com.au/ 

Is There More To Online Games Than Fun?

"Online technology has advanced so much that children are able to use it in classrooms as well as at home. Online games have developed to be more than just fun. The generation of ‘digital native’ children have grown up with technology being so natural to them. When incorporating learning based objectives and motor skills, it can possibly have a significant impact on individual’s development. An article by Marc Prensky: Digital Game-Based Learning(2003), speaks about how the children of the 21st century, are not drawn to the violence of online games but are to the learning that the games can provide. Children that are going into grade 1 have been seen to recognize and quickly pick up new games and due to the basic understanding that they have.

Besides fun there are many positives that come with online gaming for children. Looking deeper than the colours and characters, children can develop their motor skills. This is through understanding complex puzzles, overcoming obstacles and learning to collaborate with others. These skills can assist the generation through school and even though to their future careers.

Online games can vary in so many ways. With new developments coming out all the time, we can now personalise these games. If a child needs to focus on a certain area, games can fill those needs. In a classroom environment, this can be extremely helpful. When playing multiplayer games, it assist with filling the fire and achieving better than other classmates. A great website to use in the classroom is http://www.coolmath-games.com/. The range of educational games can be extremely fun and enjoyable for teachers and students.

Figure 1, Cool Maths Games, (Constructive Media, 2017) ©

With my experience creating an online game, I have found that there are so many ways that you can integrate motor skills such as hand eye coordination and better the learning performances of children. Using bright colours and fun characters, I could make the object of the games simple but have the obstacles changes size and speed to increase skill level. "

Prensky, M. (2003) Games2train: Digital Game-Based Learning, 1(1). Retrieved from, https://goo.gl/FC4jZJ

My Response: 

Danika, you have provided an essential understanding of the key concepts of the driving question. You gave your direct opinion and justified it adequately, I genuinely liked that you provided a website based example that children use constantly in schools. This prime example demonstrates your knowledge substantially.

However, I noticed you used only 1 reference; although having excess amounts of references can also be unfavourable, when only using 1 reference this can demonstrate a lack of research and authenticity on your behalf. If you decide to rewrite this driving question response, I would recommend venturing out to find more reliable sources on top of the one you already have.

You should definitely check out http://www.teachthought.com/learning/why-people-play-video-games/ it’s a great website to understand why people play video games that you could add to your piece

Overall great piece and great work! 

Michael Ringin
S00218909

https://bloggingthesemesteraway.blogspot.com.au/

Do Digital Natives Exist?  

                    Figure 1, A Boy and his Blog, (Sfarnas Animation, 2009) ©

"Our society, being in the middle of the largest and swiftest technological revolution of human history, has seen a great division. Two categories of people have been reborn into the 21st century. Firstly, the one who knows how to operate the new post-modern technologies. This is one who has the fingers of speed. They know where every letter is on a keyboard instinctively. They discover and collect information not through hours of library searching, but with their personal, electronic, pocket-sized encyclopaedia. This is the native, specifically the “digital native”. Marc Prensky identifies them as “the first generations to grow up with this new technology” (Prensky, 2001). As the agricultural native knows how to grow food from the ground, the digital native instinctively knows how to operate smartphones, tablets, and computers.

The second “new” person has...well…struggled with these new technologies. They are quite easily identifiable, holding their phone with one hand and use the other to type, rather slowly when compared to the digital native who holds their phone with their fingers and type with their thumbs. It’s not that they will never figure out this new technology, they just need a lot more time than their stereotypically younger humans. This is the “digital immigrant”. Much like all immigrants, with time and experience they will adapt to their new environment and integrate into the community. “Older boomers did not grow up in a digital world, and yet are increasingly becoming online students” (Ransdell et al, 2010). The digital immigrant will fade out and become native, just like everything in human history. What remains to be seen is when the next native and immigrant conflict will begin, and what it will entail. Maybe space flight, maybe time travel. Who knows? The only thing that is known is that during great technological advancements and inventions, there is always an immigrant, and always a native."

Reference List

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon Vol. 9 Issue 5. Retrieved 3 September 2017 from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/10748120110424816

Ransdell, S. Kent, B. Gaillard-Kenney, S. & Long, J. (2010) Digital immigrants fare better than digital natives due to social reliance. Retrieved 3 September 2017 fromhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy2.acu.edu.au/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2010.01137.x/full

Sfarnas Animation. (2009) A Boy and his Blog. Retrieved 4 September 2017 fromhttps://brookesaltmarsh.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/digitalnativesandimigrants1-1n5cbfq.jpg

My Response:

Michael, you gave an exceptional understanding of the difference between a Digital Native and a Digital Immigrant, you answered the driving question with a great understanding of the topic and it showed throughout your answer. I liked that you recognised that “digital immigrants will soon fade out” and the wide range, although not excess amounts, of references you used.

If you decide to rewrite this driving question response, I would recommend discussing that digital natives don’t necessarily need to be tech genius’ but rather have the ability to navigate themselves around technology for to improve their own way of life or for their own needs.

You should definitely check out https://www.nature.com/news/the-digital-native-is-a-myth-1.22363 which states that “Digital Natives are a myth”, this can be something you could contend in your final piece.

Overall a great piece, keep it up!