Friday, May 25, 2007

I have a 'digital native teenager'

Today is special because my very own 'digital native' becomes a 'digital native teenager'. I woke up unnecessarily early this morning (Friday being the first day of our weekend here in Bangladesh) contemplating the changes we have already seen in the past 13 years and the changes yet to come with the impact of technology in education and on everyday life.

Violet_digitalnative

The year my daughter was born was when I bought my first laptop (a Mac!) and when I started to shift my career from music education into more broader learning technologies and IT specialisation. In the past few years I have enjoyed having a younger, enquiring mind in the house and am especially interested and intrigued by her approach to using technology tools. She accepts change and new tools without hesitation. She uses a variety of hardware and software including online places with confidence. She can be doing homework, IMing and listening to music (iPod) at the same time. (yes, I know some studies show this is not true, that in fact multitasking does not exist however the ability to sequence events at a fast rate is essentially what is happening here). She is interested in the online world and participates in online interactions and wants to join SecondLife (!!!). She wants a new laptop (a tablet PC, no less), she wants a digital camera, she wants a playstation (mean mother will not buy a playstation...maybe a PSP is the way to go?)

How different life is for my daughter to when I was 13! How different will life be for her daughter? We can only surmise, but I do know that as a digital native and as a third culture kid and a global citizen she is developing and fostering the ability to use technology sensibly for communication and interaction with others as well as for learning about the world as it continues to evolve. I am very proud of her

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1 comment:

Darren Draper said...

Happy birthday and I hate to say that I'm not far behind you (my oldest daughter turned 11 in April).

Great post and excellent job with Horizon.