Prensky's theory on Digital Natives is not without its detractors. There are those who say that Prensky's call to arms to is unnecessary, that students of today are no different from any other generation of students. One of these is Timothy VanSlyke. VanSlyke holds a Master of Science in Education with an emphasis on Instructional Technology from Western Oregon University.

VanSlyke contends that while "younger students [are] proficient in using the Web, they [can] not adequately perform advance searches or evaluate the validity of the resources they [find]."⁴⁷ Will Richardson agrees. Richardson is the Supervisor of Instructional Technology at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in New Jersey. In his presentation to the Building Learning Communities conference he contends that young learners who have difficulties reading or are not familiar with effective research techniques will cut a search short if they run into difficulties while searching.⁴⁸

VanSlyke believes that "legacy content such as reading writing and logical thinking"⁴⁹ needs to continue to be taught in public school. In fact VanSlyke contends that it is foolish to even think of completely revamping school curriculum. He feels that a better pedagogical approach is to have a "flexible process of negotiation and adaptation, wherein certain elements of both cultures are retained in a new combination with one another".⁵⁰

One of the most significant problems that VanSlyke has with Prensky's theory is its one-size-fits-all approach. VanSlyke feels that Prensky is creating a stereotype that simply does not exist. In VanSlyke's experience "a typical classroom is much more diverse"⁵¹, filled with students who come from a range of backgrounds and with diverse learning skills and needs. He is not so certain that computers are as ubiquitous as Prensky implies, nor are all children as interested in computer games.

While he does believe "that students are changing, as are the times"⁵² and that these changes may require a rethinking of the current approach to instruction and learning ultimately it all comes down to a process of mutual "adaptation rather than a one-way street".⁵³

Want to know more about
what Will Richardson has
to say about Digital Natives?


See Will's excellent Power Point
New Internet Literacies