How the VALA conference started: What digital natives want from their library
I tend to agree with the following comment: Watching a little kid coached to slur out this script line-by-line is disturbing. And the concept of digital natives is flawed, simplistic, and a disservice to young people. More and more librarians & educators are coming out to say that this generational stereotyping leads us to act on assumptions that don’t reflect reality. We need to assess learning needs, not guess at them. 2 weeks ago
I agree with that comment too.
One video that doesn’t suffer from that problem is at http://www.youtube.com/watc… – it shows a two-and-a-half year old playing with an iPad.
This makes it clearer that (I think) it’s more about what technology enables people to do than about what people are inherently able to do – as shown by a cat playing with an iPad, at http://www.youtube.com/watc… 🙂
I think there’s still some merit in "digital natives" – there are people who expect, and do better with, newer technology – but it’s important to realise that this doesn’t correspond very well to age. And assuming that it does, does a disservice to both younger and older generations.
Deborah