Marc Prensky first coined the phrase "Digital Natives" in his 2001 article called "Digital Native, Digital Immigrants".¹

"What should we call these "new" students of today? Some refer to them as the N-[for Net]-gen or D-[for digital]-gen. But the most useful designation I have found for them is Digital Natives. Our students today are all "native speakers" of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet."²

Prensky claims that student's use of "computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones and all the other toys and tools of the digital age"³ have resulted in a fundamental change in the way these students think and process information. But for Prensky there is something more basic at play here and that is the divide between those who are Digital Natives and those who are not.

Digital Immigrants, according to Prensky, were not born into this digital world. It is not that Digital Immigrants are not able to adapt and use the new technology. On the contrary, Digital Immigrants can be very technologically savvy. Like all immigrants to a new culture, however, some will adapt better than others, but all will speak, to some degree, with an "accent".

For Prensky Digital Immigrants reveal their accent every time they print off an email, for example, or print the document that needs to be edited rather than edit it on screen. While this may seem to be simply a matter of generational differences, Prensky argues that these differences are causing some crucial problems in the delivery of curriculum in the classroom. He claims that "Digital Immigrant instructors…speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age)"⁴ and as a result they "are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language".⁵

Want to know more about
Digital Natives?


Read Marc Prensky's article:
Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants